A Deeper Look into Word of the Day

I am loving how much everyone is interested in the Word of the Day process I use. My kids love it too! I have received some e-mails asking to see how I actually incorporate these into my daily activities. I truly would love to show you!

Now, keep in mind, I teach 5th grade, so I will begin with how I use it in my classroom. But...from there I will show you examples I created for each grade level.

We do Word of the Day EVERY DAY! lol. Kids cannot get enough exposure to vocabulary in my *humble* opinion. (Check out my blog post of "What's in a Word?" to hear more about this!)

The students have a vocabulary journal that they use each day. We do not only do Word of the Day in this journal but also analogies, prefixes and suffixes, etc. But...each day they have a Word of the Day to glue in their journals.

I have these set out every morning for the students to grab one. My 5th graders are responsible for getting this done as their morning work (or since we are departmentalized...just as soon as they come in!) Above is an example of one of MINE. I do these with the students as we go over them and fill in some of the information they share with me. I do not do the illustration each day for time purposes, but I allow the students to come up to the ELMO and show off their illustrations. I love seeing their drawings! :)

As you may notice, the students will need a dictionary for much of this, I allow the students to share dictionaries because we do not have enough to go around. Even though they are sharing dictionaries, they are not working together. I want this to be an individual learning situation (in my classroom.) You do whatever you need to do!

I also make sure the students use every blank page in their journal (like the backs of pages.) SAVE THE TREES! lol.

My journal is nice and neat but the kid's journals start looking pretty worn...that is OKAY! We want them using these! My students love to refer back to these words often!

Okay Side Note: Let's chat about analogies. Raise your hand if you have a hard time teaching them!!! ME!

I found the most awesome anchor chart on Pinterest! I recreated it for my classroom.

This anchor chart has saved the lives of me and my children. Exaggeration? Sure. But really...it is so helpful. Now, why am I talking about analogies? They are on the 5th grade Word of the Day form...so if you teach 5th grade, you may want to create this too!

Now, moving on. I (like I said) teach 5th, but have taught 3rd for 7 years and I know how important vocabulary is for 3rd graders as well. And 4th...and...well everyone! :) Below are some samples for my 2nd-4th grades of Word of the Day. Each grade level is scaffolded for the appropriate level of learning for that age of child. Take a look at each of them to see the differences.

2nd Grade:

3rd Grade:

4th Grade:

**There is also a blank template provided in each grade level so you can add your own words if needed!**

I hope this helps you see how I implement this program in my classroom! My students really do love it and I KNOW it works. Total (by the end of the year) we will have learned over 140 terms! Talk about expanding our vocabulary! :) Hope this helps! Happy Teaching!

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