Hannah Rocke

Word Study Mini Lesson

When I told my Cooperating Teacher that I needed to do a word study lesson,

she gave me the students’ word study list for the week. She expressed that they needed

more practice with diphthongs. I knew that diphthongs were, but had never worked

with them in a classroom setting. I know how difficult they can be, so I was excited to

work with the students and help them.

I did my lesson during the daily 5. I was a 15-20 min station for word study.

During this, I had students come to me in groups on 5-6. At my station we played a

word study game. I created a game in which I had the words on pieces of paper in one

cup and different commands for the students to do in another. The student whose turn

it was had to blindly select a word from the cup and a command from the other. He or

she was to perform the command and the rest of the group was to guess the word.

Some of the commands were to act it out, name an antonym, name a synonym, draw a

picture, and describe it. The students especially had fun when they had to act out the

word. If the group was unable to guess the word, the student whose turn it was was

allowed to pick another command. After the second command, if no one had guessed

it, they could say the word. Once the word was guessed, the student had to write it on

the board. This practiced their spelling and writing skills with the words.

The students’ responses to the game varied. They enjoyed the more “fun”

commands, such as draw it or act it out. They had a more difficult time coming up with

synonyms and antonyms for the words. Often, the students gave rhyming words

instead of synonyms. Surprisingly, some of the rhyming words were made up words. I

did not expect this from second graders. Another issue I ran into was when the students
Hannah Rocke
Word Study Mini Lesson

were instructed to name antonyms to the word, they simply named things that were

different, not the opposite. I know that the students have discussed synonyms and

antonyms in the classroom, so I was surprised by these responses. I do, however,

understand how difficult these concepts can be.

If I were to do this game again, I would have more actions that the students

enjoyed doing. I had more “boring” commands than “fun” commands within my game.

When multiple students got the “boring” commands in a row, the students became

uninterested. By having more “fun” and “silly” commands, the students will be

engaged in the game and learning longer.

In my future classroom, I plan to incorporate games within my daily word study.

I have seen how tedious and unexciting word study can get in the classroom, so I plan to

keep it fun and eventful. When students have fun learning, they will retain the

information better. Also, they will have a specific memory to refer to when spelling a

word, rather than out of pure memorization. They will be able to make more

connections while in groups with their peers. They will also be able to collaborate with

each other to determine the rules, patterns, and sounds.