1-2-3 Come Do Some Apple-Themed Vocabulary Building With Me

Apple-themed week, continues with some interesting vocabulary building activities.  Part of all of the themes that I did with my Y5's, included the vocabulary that they needed to learn that would help them understand apples, pumpkins, butterflies etc. 

The science aspect of what we studied, provided a plethora of new words.  Having children label the parts of an apple, is a quick, easy and fun way to reinforce a few of them. 

To visually show the "peel" or "skin" of an apple, I made this "craftivity" as a flip open.  The "skin" is flipped off to reveal the inside of the apple.

Students add a bit of color, cut and glue the words, or write them.  If you look closely at my sample, you can also see the front that says: Kelli's apple, as an interesting way for students to write their name. Click on the link to view/download the Label An Apple Craft.

Another way I reinforced vocabulary was for students to write the words.  To cover yet another standard, I often had them put the words in alphabetical order. 

I designed a sweet apple knOWLedge bookmark, with a list of apple related words on it, plus a worksheet on the side for students to write the words in alphabetical order.  Click on the link to view/download the apple vocabulary bookmark. 

Word finds are also fun for students.  These not only reinforce vocabulary, but help increase spelling skills.  This one features 18 apple-themed words. Click on the link for the apple word find.

No matter what grade I taught, I always encouraged my students to use adjectives in their writing to make things more vivid, and to incorporate them orally when they were describing something.  

Having children think up words as they use their senses to feel, taste, and smell an apple, also helps increase vocabulary. 

As they share the words that they come up with to describe their apple, list them on the board. 

Use the  apple adjective worksheet before or after your brainstorming.  I've included a completed sample that you can also share. Click on the link to view/download the apple adjective activities.

As a part of our science requirements, we also studied the 5 senses, which fit in perfectly with adjective use.  I challenged my students each month to increase their use of adjectives by using all of their senses when describing something. 

To make this easy, I designed a simple and quick worksheet for them to fill in each month.  I called these Sensory Word Anchor Charts.  Each month I chose a different word that would be appropriate for that time of year. 

For example, for September, I used an apple.  Click on the link to grab a copy of the monthly sensory adjective writing. 

Finally, another way to build vocabulary and increase writing skills, is by teaching antonyms and synonyms for the words that your students use and are learning. 

In keeping with the apple theme, I made up antonym apples with synonym leaves.  Cut them into puzzles to play all sorts of matching games. 

The apples provide 132 words to help build student vocabularies.  There's also a blank apple template to fill in with whatever, plus 80 synonym leaves with 2 blank leaf templates. 

Encourage students to make up some of their own antonym apples and write in synonyms too.  For more practice with antonyms, be sure and check out my list of 290 antonyms.  I've included a cover in this packet, so that students can make their own antonym word booklets.

Thanks for visiting today. Time to clear the clutter on my desk and in my mind.  I'm off for a walk to soak up some sunshine, with the tail-wagging Chloe. (My black poodle pup!)  The air smells so fresh from the down pour last night.  Wishing you a happy day.

 "If a child can't learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach them the way they learn." -Ignacio Estrada

1-2-3 Come Exercise Your Brain, and Play Some Apple Games With Me!

Yesterday I shared "Apples on a Roll" to help reinforce numbers and math skills.  Today I have 2 more freebies: an apple maze and an apple word find.   I designed several mazes according to skill level, from super simple for PK kiddo's, to difficult for older students, or something to challenge "early finishers" with. 

I enjoy designing mazes and word finds, within a themed object, like the apple.  These are quick and easy table top activities, or something to plug in, for those students who manage to get everything done in a short amount of time, and are forever asking: "What can I do now?"   Mazes are great practice for spatial awareness, and higher-level thinking with logic, plus a wonderful fine motor skill, as children navigate from beginning to end.

Click on the link to view/download the Apple Mazes.

For more "a-maze-ing" fun, click on the link to view a plethora of online mazes; suitable for a computer-center activity.

My students also enjoyed word finds.  I made them for every unit, as they are a quick and easy way to reinforce letter recognition and spelling.  Kids love them and they are an excellent way to review the vocabulary that you want to build for that particular theme.

For our apple unit, we started by labeling the parts of an apple; these provided our new vocabulary words, which went up on our word wall.  Searching for them in a word find was a fun way to reinforce them.  Click on the link to view/download the Apple Labeling "craftivity".

There are zillions of word finds available online, as well as a nice selection of word find generators. I used to create my own word finds, by typing in all of the words first, and then filling them in with letters before and after.  This was pretty time consuming, so I switched to using a generator to make an "instant" word find. Simply type in a list of words, and then click submit. 

A downfall of most of the automatic programs, is that they create only using CAPITAL letters.  This is not how teachers want students to search for a word, that they have learned to spell appropriately.  This also proves near impossible for little ones who are just learning how to match upper to lowercase letters.     A-Z Teacher's Stuff     is my favorite program. It offers both upper and lowercase options, shapes, fonts and spatial find options.  In my apple word find, I have included Johnny Appleseed.  I have not found a program that allows me to do both upper and lowercase in the same word find, so I use the result as a "teachable moment" by asking students: "What's wrong with johnny appleseed's name?"  Looking for: "It should be capitalized."  Click on the link to view/download the Apple Word Find.

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"The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery." -Mark Van Doren