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she gave me the students’ word study list for the week. She expressed that they needed
more practice with diphthongs. I knew that diphthongs were, but had never worked
with them in a classroom setting. I know how difficult they can be, so I was excited to
I did my lesson during the daily 5. I was a 15-20 min station for word study.
word study game. I created a game in which I had the words on pieces of paper in one
cup and different commands for the students to do in another. The student whose turn
it was had to blindly select a word from the cup and a command from the other. He or
she was to perform the command and the rest of the group was to guess the word.
Some of the commands were to act it out, name an antonym, name a synonym, draw a
picture, and describe it. The students especially had fun when they had to act out the
word. If the group was unable to guess the word, the student whose turn it was was
allowed to pick another command. After the second command, if no one had guessed
it, they could say the word. Once the word was guessed, the student had to write it on
the board. This practiced their spelling and writing skills with the words.
The students’ responses to the game varied. They enjoyed the more “fun”
commands, such as draw it or act it out. They had a more difficult time coming up with
synonyms and antonyms for the words. Often, the students gave rhyming words
instead of synonyms. Surprisingly, some of the rhyming words were made up words. I
did not expect this from second graders. Another issue I ran into was when the students
Hannah Rocke
Word Study Mini Lesson
were instructed to name antonyms to the word, they simply named things that were
different, not the opposite. I know that the students have discussed synonyms and
If I were to do this game again, I would have more actions that the students
enjoyed doing. I had more “boring” commands than “fun” commands within my game.
When multiple students got the “boring” commands in a row, the students became
uninterested. By having more “fun” and “silly” commands, the students will be
I have seen how tedious and unexciting word study can get in the classroom, so I plan to
keep it fun and eventful. When students have fun learning, they will retain the
information better. Also, they will have a specific memory to refer to when spelling a
word, rather than out of pure memorization. They will be able to make more
connections while in groups with their peers. They will also be able to collaborate with