iTHINK JOURNAL

Students create sculptures out of prepared strips of paper, which represent different aspects of themselves. After all students are finished creating their sculptures, they share them with the class and explain how their sculptures represent themselves.

Can help students visually see what they have in common.

Create a bingo card with different characteristics or experiences in each square. Have students go around the room and try to find peers who match the descriptions, then write down their names in the corresponding squares. The first student to fill a row, column, or diagonal (or gets a black-out) shouts “BINGO!” and wins a prize.

Students form pairs with someone nearby. Then, they have three minutes to discuss a “would you rather” question posed by the teacher. Students are then asked to form a new pair and repeat until all the “would you rather” questions have been asked.

Ask students to avoid pairing up with the same partner multiple times.

Students listen to the teacher’s prompts and organize themselves in a line (ex. alphabetical order of last name) or in blobs (something they have in common).

Some prompts ideas include:
Line up in chronological order of your birthdays.
Line up in order of how many siblings you have.
Find those allergic to the same things as you.
Gather with those who have the same color clothing as you.
Gather in four blobs: those who traveled to class by car, bus, walking, or another way.

Small group members must identify three things that they have in common with each other. The weirder, the better! Teacher may put prompts on the whiteboard if they want, then give students time to talk. After the time is up, students report back on what they have in common, and the entire class votes on which group had the strangest three things in common.

If you could have a different liquid come out of each of your fingers, what liquids would they be and why?

Have students pair off, group up, or discuss as a whole class.

Hello _______, Halloween is near, what will you do when it is here? Hello ___________.

Hello _______, winter break is near, what will you do when it is here? Hello ___________.

Have students use an accent, impression, or otherwise different voice to greet the class.

Monotone, robot, quiet, valley girl, Southern, British, middle school giggly, etc.

Students share a takeaway they had from an assigned reading or other homework assignment.

Holding a ball of yarn, a student greets someone across the circle and rolls the ball to that person while holding on to the end of the yarn.

The student who receives the ball greets another student and rolls the ball, making sure to hold onto the unraveling strand.

Continue until everyone has been greeted and the yarn has created a web across the circle, then unravel the web by having students greet each other in reverse order until the yarn is wound up again.

Post a chart with ways to move, greet, and topics to share.

Call out a direction from each category in the chart. Students follow the directions to find a partner and greet them.

E.g. “Swim, high five, favorite book”
Students pretend to swim to find a partner, greet them with a high five, and then share what their favorite book is.

Have students break into small groups.

In their groups, students take turns sharing their name and three facts. Two of the facts are true, but one is a lie. The other students in the group must determine which fact shared by the student was a lie.

Write a bunch of icebreaker questions on a beach ball.

Toss the beach ball to a student at random. Have them share their name and answer the question closest to where their right thumb landed. Once the student has answered the question, they throw the ball to another student. This continues until each student has answered a question.

A student starts out by introducing themselves to the group (“Hi, my name is Caitlin, and I like cats”).

When another person in the group hears something they have in common with the person speaking, they walk over and link arms. They then say their names and what they have in common (“This is Caitlin, and my name is Chance, and we both like cats”).

Chain links continue talking about themselves until eventually, everyone’s arms are linked into one gigantic chain.

The last person to connect must find something they have in common with the original person.

Ask all students to recite the alphabet until you randomly say stop.

Each student must share their name and come up with something they like or are excited about that starts with the letter the group stopped on.

Once each student has shared for that letter, you can repeat the alphabet and stop on a different letter.

Students break into small groups/teams, which are stationed in a circle in the room. Each team is randomly given a definition (upside-down; they should NOT look at the definition right away) on a colored sheet of paper, which corresponds to a set of puzzle pieces. Each puzzle piece has one letter written on it. All puzzle pieces for each team are mixed in a pile in the center of the circle. Each team chooses one student as a “collector.” When the game starts, the collector will go to the pile and try to find their pieces. Once the collector has all of the pieces, they bring them to their team’s station. The team can then flip over their definition card and begin arranging their letters into the word described. The first team to finish their word wins a point. Students rotate between colors until they have done all the vocabulary puzzles. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins.

Teacher hands out bingo cards with vocabulary words in each box. Then, the teacher reads off definitions to the vocabulary words, and students can mark off the boxes of the words they think match the definitions. The first student to fill in a row, column, or diagonal shouts “BINGO!” and wins a prize.

Divide the class into teams of three or four students each. Designate one student on each team as the artist, then give all of the artists a vocabulary word. The artist must draw what the word represents so that their team can guess what the word is. The first team to correctly guess the word earns a point. Then, the teams choose new artists, and a new vocabulary word is selected. Repeat the game until all students have gotten the chance to draw, and/or until all of the vocabulary words have been used. The team with the most points wins.

Have students identify unknown, confusing, or interesting words as they read and discuss a topic. As students identify the words, they should write them down in their vocabulary journals along with the exact sentence in which the word appears in the text. Students should then find text definitions for the words, then write their own definitions (not from a dictionary).

Word:
Resource & Page #:
Sentence:
Student definition:
Synonyms & Antonyms:
Picture/Symbol:

Have students match a lettered column of words to a numbered column of definitions. Make sure letters on each square of the grid match the lettered words. Students must find the magic number by matching the correct word and definition and entering the number into the appropriate square on the grid.

Create a table with 6 columns and 6 rows (or 4 columns, 4 rows, etc). The top row should be labeled with categories that relate to the unit of study. Each cell should contain a vocabulary word that correlates with the column’s category. Cover the cells with sticky notes (or something else) that hold a number of points. The number of points should be the same on each row. The top row should have the least number of points, and the bottom row should have the most. Divide students into teams, and have them designate a speaker. The speaker selects a category and point amount, and students must create a definition for the vocabulary word in the form of a question. Award points if definition is correct.

Word: Uncheerfully
Prefix: un- (not)
Queen
Root: cheer (happy)
Suffixes: -ful (full of), -ly (doing something)
Together: doing something without cheer

Name the affix (prefix/suffix).
Pronounce it.
Define it.
Give an example of a word that contains the affix to illustrate its meaning.

Pick 5 prefixes/suffixes.

Make a list of words for each prefix or suffix that correlates to a topic.

List words with a prefix and a suffix. Have students find the “hidden” word (the base word).

Give students a list of words. Students decide if the word has a prefix or if it’s a “pretender.”

Communicate is a pretender. “Co-” can be a prefix, but not in this word.
Coincidence, on the other hand, is a prefix word!

Students are given a clue or definition for a word, and shown how many letters are in the word.

Students take turn selecting letters to fill in the word. If they get a letter wrong, a part of the hangman is drawn.

If students do not fill in the word before the entire hangman is drawn, they lose. Teacher can make the hangman as detailed or simple as they would like to alter the difficulty of the game.

Hangman can be changed to other characters as well, such as a snowman.

Set up a trash can as a makeshift basketball hoop. Write several vocabulary words on the whiteboard.

Students take turns trying to throw the ball into the trash can. If they make the basket, they get to choose a word to define. If they miss, a word is chosen for them.

Students are given a list of clues/definitions for vocabulary words and must use those clues to fill in a crossword puzzle within a specified amount of time.

Students are giving synonym matching worksheets containing a list of words and potential synonyms.

Students must match each word with its correct synonym within a set time limit. The student(s) with the most matching synonyms wins.

Explain the topic students will be learning about (or name the standards for the lesson). Provide an overview of prerequisite content or concepts. Note headings and subheadings of reading material in bold or italic font ahead of time.

Students write what they know about the topic and what they want to know about the topic prior to reading.

After reading, students write what they learned.

Select a key word/concept. Write it on the whiteboard. Give students a limited time (3min) to list word associations on their paper, then ask them to share their associations. List ideas without comment.

Give students the chance to inquire of each other: clarify, challenge, model with questions, establish ground rules for sharing ideas.

After discussion, students turn over papers and note what they’ve learned about the original idea/concept: definition, paragraph, summary.

After reading, students reflect on what they know after completing the lesson.

Provide students with an alphabet chart and study guide. Have them create an alphabetical list of terms/ideas/concepts they think are connected to the topic. Students do not need to fill in every letter.

Ask students to share/compare ideas with peers.

During/after reading, students adjust their charts.

Select words/phrases that represent important elements of a reading. List the clue words/phrases according to sequence of the original text.

Students use the words to create their own stories and make ideas of what they think the text will be. Share, compare, and discuss predictions.

After reading the original story, students compare their versions with the original. Describe similarities and differences. Focus on setting, characters, plot, and other literary elements if reading fiction.

Students individually think about what they already know about a topic. They then discuss what they know with a partner before sharing their thoughts with the class. Can be used when introducing students to a new topic, unit, or subject.

Students break out into groups. Each group is assigned a section of the reading, and must become “experts” on their section before sharing with the class and reading the entire text. This can be used when the reading is longer, so it might be less overwhelming for students.

Play a short clip or song of something related to the text’s theme. This can give students a preview of what the text will be about and what they should expect.

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