Hi friends! Today I want to chat about teaching vocabulary. I tried out a new way of introducing the words today and it went really well, so I thought I’d share.
Have y’all ever tried smore.com?
This site allows you to create your own newsletters. I learned about this site at a PD class last year, but I never found a good use for it in the classroom. My coworker who teaches math uses it everyday for her lessons, but I could never find a way to routinely use it. Over the weekend I thought about trying it out for a little vocabulary introduction. For all your Reading Street teachers, this week we are covering skills from the story Exploding Ants. I used those vocabulary words and made a slide for each word in Powerpoint.
And then uploaded them to the online flyer (smore)!
If you’re teaching these vocabulary words and want to use the flyer, you can find it here. Since all of my students have their own Chromebook (I know, so lucky!) I simply email them the link to the smore and everyone has access to it.
We discussed each word and created this little study guide as we went along. It’s amazing how adding a sticky note makes it fun! 😉
Lastly, we did a modified version of my Quick Draws. I gave them 15 seconds of brainstorming time and then 1 minute on each word. They HAD to justify their drawing when the time was up and they couldn’t use an example from the smore…they had to create their own!
We talked a lot with the word ‘critical’ about how it could also mean ‘serious’. For example, a person might be in critical condition after a car accident. They had to use the word as the definition said. This student drew a vet giving a dog a shot. She said it was critical that the vet gave the dog the right medicine. 🙂
This example was for the word ‘enables’. The mailbox enables the mailman to deliver mail in a safe place.
I LOVED using smore in this way! It’s my new favorite way to teach vocabulary!
Have you used smore in your classroom? I’d love to hear your ideas!
I'd love to see how you colleague uses it for math! Such a cool site – thanks for sharing!!
What fonts did you use for your PowerPoint? Cute idea!
KG Second Chances Sketch and KG Seven Sixteen 🙂
Have you stopped doing word nerds and replaced it with this??
No, I still use lots of activities from Word Nerds, but sometimes our schedule just doesn't allow for a day to day vocabulary routine. Plus, I like to change it up! The kids get bored with the same thing every day, so this was just a little something different. I liked it! 🙂
!!!