Vocabulary
Examples of Activities for 4th Grade
Defining Depictions
Synonym Bingo
Can be used for ELL students
In this activity, the teacher needs a list of words, construction paper, markers or color pencils, and possibly a dictionary.
First, the teacher gives the students a list of words that they can choose from. If they select a word that they are not as familiar with, they can look it up in the dictionary. After selecting a word, the student is given construction paper and markers or color pencils and asked to draw a picture of that word. For example, if a student choose the word "volcano" they would draw a volcano and label the parts.
This is a good activity for ELL students because they get to draw a picture of that word. One thing I would do for the ELL students, is give them words that are in English, but right next to the word, give them the same words in their language. This way, they can see what the English word is like next to their language. This also helps them in drawing the picture if they can see their language next to the English version.
One thing I would change for this activity, is that I would give my students words that start with a specific letter and then, in the end, we would make an alphabet book of the subject we are learning. For example, if we are learning about the solar system, we would have an alphabet book of the solar system at the end (in this case, I would let them print off pictures depending on the word they choose).
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This is a good activity for when children are learning about words and what they mean.
http://www.fcrr.org/documents/sca/G4-5/45VPartThree_Word_Meaning.pdf
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In this activity, the teacher needs Synonym Bingo cards, chips to cover up the words, and cards that has the words on them.
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First, the teacher would hand out the Synonym Bingo cards to the students along with chips to cover up the words. Before starting the game, the teacher would tell the students how to play so that all of them know. After that, the teacher picks up the first card from the deck and calls out a word and the student has to find a word on the Bingo sheet that is a synonym of the word that was called out. For example, if the word was "under," the students would look for "below" as the synonym. The teacher keeps doing this until a student either calls out "Synonym Bingo!" or raises their hand (depending on what the teacher wants). This can be played for multiple rounds by either giving the students new Bingo cards or by letting them trade with someone else.
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One thing I might change is that I would do one with the whole class first to show them what to do before giving them their own sheets. Another thing I might change is that, instead of using chips, I could use dry erase markers after laminating the sheets; that way the chips won't get everywhere, but they are still able to mark off the words.
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This is a good activity for when children are learning about synonym words and/or reviewing them.
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http://www.fcrr.org/documents/sca/G4-5/45VPartOne_Word_Knowledge.pdf
Vocabulary is defined as the words that children need to know to be able to communicate well with others. The words mainly used for explicit vocabulary are the tier 2 and tier 3 words, but they can also be tier 1 words as well. Tier 1 words are really important for oral development because they are the most common words and so children need them to understand how to talk to others and how to read. Some tier 1 words include clock, table, and come. According to Reading Rockets, there are four types of vocabulary: listening vocabulary (words that we hear), speaking vocabulary (words that we speak), reading vocabulary (words that we need to know to understand what we are reading), and writing vocabulary (the words we used when writing). All four of these types are important for understanding vocabulary.
http://www.readingrockets.org/teaching/reading101-course/modules/vocabulary-introduction