Word of the Week, WOW for short, is a weekly activity that my students absolutely love. Once a week I give small groups of students a word to unscramble. Groups race each other to see who can unscramble the word and find the definition the fastest. The winning group reads me the word, definition and uses the word in a sentence. I write all of this information on a reusable poster at the front of the room.
Students attempt to use any of the WOW words in their writing, homework and classroom activities. Each time a WOW word is used that student receives a small sticker to place on an animal shape attached to the interactive bulletin board. Once his/her whole shape is covered he/she moves up to the next shape. The kids love accumulating little stickers. It works even better than candy and I don’t have to deal with the sugar high!
I choose the WOW words based on curriculum relevance and excitement level. Most words tend to be either adverbs or adjectives. The students are encouraged to use these more interesting words when writing. Why say “great” when you could say “wondrous”? Like most activities, it is hard to get every student excited. However, the ones that do choose to actively participate reap immediate benefits. It is also really nice for me to read stories with a more interesting vocabulary.
