Wednesday

Words Wall for Revising


My Tier 2 Vocabulary board is growing!  Last year I used chart paper and tombstones for those overused "dead" words.  We did a fun activity that got kids up, moving and talking about the shades of meaning for synonyms and antonyms for "good" and "bad."  Then this year I got a great idea on Pinterest to have envelopes for my "dead words."  The boring word is crossed out on the front, and the list of words we create is pinned below.  After a week or so, the words below are removed and placed in the envelope.

Much of the list is student generated, because I wanted to get some of those words in their receptive vocabulary into their productive vocabulary.  But of course, for those kids in my class who already have an impressive vocabulary, I added about 25% new words to the lists.  It was a fun addition to my collection of lessons on improving word choice.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Word-Choice-Activities-420762As kids are revising their narratives, they can go up to the board to take better words from the appropriate envelope, then replace them once they've spelling them correctly.  The kids helped come up with the words, and the kids get up to it to revisit "their" words.  It's a truly interactive bulletin board!

The board is pretty cluttered at the moment because we tackled a biggie: "said."  You can see up to 6 distinct sections of words because we classified them into loud, soft, ask, tell, emotional, and "other."  As the year goes on, I look forward to more and more envelopes filling the space!

The lettering for the title, "Words We Change When We Revise" is just a fun, bold font.  I cut up the letters to make them stand out more than if I had just cut the words.  It took a little more time, but I figure if it's a bulletin I keep updating all year it's worth it to make it eye-catching.  And it really is one that can be built on all year.  The current list of green envelopes are more for narrative writing.  Once we start transition words for non-fiction writing, I think I'll switch to a new colored envelope, and another new color for persuasive terminology. 

This was a logical extension to my lesson on adding dialogue to personal narratives.  Next time I'll talk about crafting power sentences and creating mood in our narrative writing.  These lessons will help kids understand the concepts for the reading portion of the state tests on a deeper level because they are using the techniques to strengthen their own stories and become better communicators. 

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