Vocabulary Detectives 2

This is the second set of my FREE Vocabulary Detective Cards that I created when teachers told me how excited they were about my first set. Using these cards is a great way to motivate students to learn new vocabulary words and to be able to find synonyms, antonyms and homonyms when they read books in class.

Here's how I do it..

Make a Detective Jar. A Mason jar with a wide opening is the best to use.  Print a label for it on a large piece of white paper that says "Detective Jar".

Make copies of the cards for your students. Explain that you'll be running a weekly contest and that you'll pull three cards from the jar at the end of the week.  Be sure to have prizes for the winners. I order them online in bulk from the Oriental Trading Company.

Explain that there must be correct answers on the cards in order to win a prize.

Tell them they shouldn't cut the cards until they've entered the information on all cards. When they're finished they can cut the cards and fold them in half, then put them in the jar.


Hope you and your students enjoy these contests! Thanks for stopping by!

       

Snowball Synonyms

I'm having a great time creating my snowball lessons! I guess it's because Mother Nature opened her seasons door and winter entered like a bull. There never seems to be a gradual change in our area. One day it's in the 70's and the next ay, it's teeth chattering 30's. We had an unusual October Nor'Easter that set the pace for others to follow.

 I remember my cousins coming to visit from Mobile, Alabama, one winter. They were 10 and 7 years old and had NEVER seen snow. An over night snowstorm dropped 6 inches on us and when we woke up the next morning, it was truly a "winter wonderland".

What we didn't realize is our cousins had run out, grabbed our sleds and were flying down our back hill with reckless abandon. They didn't realize that you have to HOLD on to the sled and steer it, otherwise, a tree just might jump out in front of you. I pulled on my snowsuit and went flying out the door, waving my arms and yelling STOP STOP! 

They were too far away to hear me and before I knew it, they were flying down the hill, waving wildly back at me. They must have thought I was cheering them on. Fortunately, they made it to the bottom of the hill safely.

My Snowball Synonyms is a cut/paste activity. I love these kinds of activities because kids love hands on activities. Match up the synonyms, paste them in the snowballs, while thinking of snowball fights with friends and making snow forts with HUGE snowballs!

Have fun!

Ruth