Students will be surprised by how often they see their Word Up vocabulary words in the real world. Isabel Beck, an expert on direct vocabulary instruction, created an ongoing game called Word Wizard in which students can earn credit on unit tests for using vocabulary words in their speech and writing or for bringing in examples of the word from the real world. Set aside a specific time in class to ask for any Word Wizard examples for students to share.
Possible examples from the real world could include:
- Words from an overheard conversation
- Clippings of the word found in newspapers or magazines
- Words heard on TV
- Words found on the internet
- Pictures taken of words on a billboard or an advertisement
You can post these examples on the word wall or create a separate dedicated space for their word artifacts.