Word Study

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Best For: Phase 2 +

Description: This is an activity where students are asked to delve a bit deeper into the meaning of new vocabulary. As well as the usual image and definition students are used to finding in vocabulary activities, they are asked to categorise the word in terms of parts of speech, give an example sentence to show they can use the word in context and look for base words and word families. This activity has been adapted from the word study approach to spelling.

These were the instructions given to students

Each student will explain two words to the class.

• Teach the class how to say (pronounce) the word correctly
• Find a picture
• Categorise the word (is it a noun, verb, adjective?)
• Write a definition
• Write the word in a sentence

• List any related words

Ranking: I like this activity because students are forced to *understand* the word, not just copy a definition from the internet that they may or may not understand. They also start to think about the different categories of words and how they are used. They can play around with words adding pre-fixes and suffixes, seeing if they can turn the word into an adjective, verb etc.