Dictionary Fun and a Thank You Post-It Idea! Plus a Guest Post FREEBIE!

We have been busy as can be in 6th grade this year! We've started working on our CAFE menu (more posts about that and the other resources I'm implementing at a later date!), done a TON of writing, dove right into life science, and are finding out what life was like in the Stone Age. Add in a few specials, grammar, and spelling - and you know how our days look! Oh - we also had a special guest speaker come in. The bottom of this post shows the Post-It thank you we did for her!

 

 

The activity pictured below was one we did to practice dictionary use after learning the Expand Vocabulary strategy of "Use dictionaries, thesauruses and glossaries as tools". I knew my 6th graders understood dictionaries, but I wasn't sure how well. This activity sure gave me a great idea though!

 

 

The students had to complete a sheet finding the words with the most syllables (based on the prompts given). Often, they knew a really long word - but that meant that had to use the guidewords in the dictionary to find it. It also taught them to look for prefixes/suffixes because those words were often longer than the base words!

 

I only gave my 6th graders 15 minutes to complete the ten questions. At that point, they counted up how many syllables they had and we saw who our "winner" was (the person with the most syllables!).

 

 

Here's a closer look at one of the sheets that is included.  

 

You can pick up three different "Dictionary Fun" sheets here for just $2.00 in my TpT store. They work great for centers! I've successfully used them with 3rd, 5th, and 6th graders. The concept was a bit easy for my 6th graders, but it made a great review!

 

 

 

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Make sure to head over to Denise's blog Sunny Days in Second Grade to see my latest guest post. There's a 13 page math FREEBIE in it for you! But hurry - because the offer is only good for one week!

 

 

 

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Finally - I saw this idea from FlapJack's Education Resources last year, and I knew I wanted to try it! Each student's voice is heard and they are all expected to say thanks. Tabitha's example is WAY cuter, so make sure to check it out!

 

 

I think it turned out pretty well! What do you think?

~HoJo~