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Topic “Vocabulary/word finding”
name 3d shapes eg sphere
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| 3D shapes Printed cards with pictures of the shapes and their names. Selection of 3D shapes. | 1. Use simple 3D shapes like cube, sphere etc. 2. Make a model with them and label the different shapes you can see. 3. Match the shapes shown in the cards with the 3D shapes. 4. See if the child can name some of the shapes they can see. 5. Ask the children to use their shapes to make the same model. See if they can name the shapes as they go, and tell you where they are. | Start with a small number of different shapes - e.g. cubes and cones. |
| 3D and 2D shapes Printed cards with shapes and names. Selection of 2D and 3D shapes. |
Indicate one or two using fingers
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Sing shortened versions of well known number songs A number of quickly drawn speckled frogs Blue-tack | 1. Sing 2 Green Speckled Frogs. Use lots of animation 2. Stick one/two green speckled frog pictures on your finger/s to illustrate the song 3. Can the child copy your actions with speckled frogs on his/her finger/s 4. If the child does not want frogs on her/his fingers stick them to the desk in front of the child and point to or touch the frogs right number of frogs as you sing 5. Do this activity with a friend who will be a good role model for the child. | Make this a fun activity Keep the pace snappy Use simple language (2/3 words only at one time.) Give children time to process information and requests. Where possible work in a quiet place, and make sure the child is attending to you. Work for short periods only but repeat often. |
| Adapted song of 10 little monkeys Miniature figures of people or animals | ||
| Snack time Fruit pieces | ||
| Stickers on fingers Two quick drawings of hands Small stickers |
recognise vocabulary for basic number operations
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Calculation Lotto Duplicate the resource if there are more than 2 players. Cut up the calculation cards. Some children will need some visual prompts to help them remember what the mathematical vocabulary means. | 1. Each child has a Lotto base board with the addition, subtraction, multiplication and division symbols. 2. Put the calculation cards face down in a pile. 3. Each player picks a calculation card from the pile and matches it to the appropriate symbol on their base board. 4. If a player can't use a calculation card because they have used up all their spaces then they return the card to a discard pile in the middle and miss their turn. 5. Other players can choose to take a card from the top of the face-down pile or from the pile of cards discarded by other players. 6. The winner is the player to cover their board first. | Use a visual prompt initially, prompting players to find the words on the prompt and match them to the symbols. Take this prompt away when children become familiar with the words. You can make the game more challenging by asking children to give the answers to the simple calculations on the cards. |
writes words for familiar objects
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Role play Access to areas for role-play e.g. a pretend cafe area, a pretend train or station. Scrap paper for writing tickets or menus. | (1) In a train /station area can the child write for tickets e.g. '2 tickets please' or ' tickets to London'. The message can be posted or given to the station manager/train driver. The child may need a model to copy the phrase at first or you can write half the phrase for the child and allow the child to finish the writing on their own. (2) In a pretend caf can the child order a meal e.g. write 'burger and chips please' and give this message to the 'waiter'. (3) 2 children can work together - one child orders food and the other child is the waiter and writes the order down. You may need to provide models for the writing child to copy e.g. a number of food items written on a pretend menu. The child ordering can then copy his/her choice and hand it over. (4) Children can be encouraged to make their own menus maybe using a picture of food items with the food name written by the child underneath. The 'customer' child can then point and ask for food items. |
Dictates captions for pictures
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Photos from home or from school life | 1. Look at the picture. Talk about what is happening. Ask some easy to answer questions. 2. Stick the picture in a book to take home and say 'Tell me what to write and you can show Mum'. | You are aiming for more than a one-word answer. Prompt the child to say more by modelling a 2 or 3 word phrase and then asking the question again. Wait and give the child time to respond. Praise all efforts. |
| Pictures cut from a catalogue or paper | ||
| Child's own drawings |
Produce meaningful print signs or symbols
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Produce meaningful print Photos of the child doing everyday activities Drawings by you or the child of daily activities e.g. playtimes plants grown, food eaten. Pictures of favoured toys or toys the child owns Pencil grips | Stick the photo or the cut out picture onto a clean page. Draw a border round the picture and fill with zigzag marks as 'decoration'. The child may need to follow the dots to do this. Colour over the zigzags to make a picture frame for the 'book' Label the photo or picture e.g. 'Child's name jumping.' 'Child's name toy car'. You write the 'jumping' or 'toy car' and leave a space for the child to write his name. You may need to provide dots for the child to overwrite his/her name. Use a painting or drawing the child has done. Write most the child's name for them.........can the child finish the name off? The child may respond to being able to choose a 'special pen' to write his/her name Make Christmas cards or birthday cards or thank you cards. As before, do most of the writing inside yourself leaving the child to finish off some/all of his/her name. Reward all attempts. | Short work sessions Using a really short pen can help a child to hold the pen correctly or use a pen grip. This work can be collected into a 'book' to take home or read to others. |
| Computer | ||
| Child's drawings or paintings etc Letters of the child's name written large and cut out individually. |
Names pictures
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Making a book of special things Catalogue pictures of toys or favourite food Glue | Cut pictures from catalogues that you know interest the child, stick one picture onto a page and spend some time looking and talking about the picture e.g. say 'What's that?' Use the child's words to write a label under the picture. Make up a small book of favourite things which can be shared with a teacher or a parent. Can the child take this to an adult and show them with comments on the pictures? | Try not to worry about getting messy or the final results of this 'art work' not being perfect! The object is to get the child to name the picture with one or two words. Try to make the child feel proud of their work so that they are more likely to talk about it spontaneously - even if it is only using one word. Follow the child interests to get an enthusiastic response! |
| Photos of everyday school life Photos of everyday school life Glue | ||
| Home made pictures Home made pictures Glue | ||
| Make a collage Stickers any glitter/cotton wool etc | ||
| Paintings Paints Glue |
attempts to copy own name
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Arranging letters of name in order Pencils and paper Magnetic letters or letter shapes. | Help the child copy round the letters of their name. Play a game matching the letter shapes to the drawn letter shapes of the child's name. Reward and praise all attempts. Can the child arrange the letters of their name without copying a written template? Set out most of the letters of the child's name so that to start with they have only to complete the last 2 letters - then the last 3 letters etc. | Make these activities as snappy and rewarding as possible by using lots of praise and maybe giving a small reward e.g. sticker for good attempts. |
| Colouring-in hand drawn letters of the child's name Overwriting the name | ||
| Writing the child's name on the computer in large letters | ||
| Overwriting the child's name using a dotted template |
spell phonically regular words
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Play four in a row Materials Sheet of paper, filled in as a 'board' A dice Different coloured pens Preparing the board Create a landscape page with 6 columns and 7 rows. On the first row number each column from 1-6. Select the short vowels (e.g. a, e, i, o, u, y) or vowel digraphs (e.g. ay, ai, ee, ea, oi, oy) that the children need to reinforce. Next to each number write a different vowel or vowel digraph that the children need to reinforce. | 1. Establish the sound of each vowel (or vowel digraph) with the players. 2. Give each player a different coloured pen. 3. The first player rolls the dice and chooses any of the empty boxes in the column that corresponds to the number on the dice. 4. They write a word containing whichever short vowel or vowel digraph is at the head of that column. For example, if they throw a 3 and the 3 column is 'ee' they could write the word see. They write it in their own colour, underline the vowel or vowel digraph and read the word out loud. 5. No one else can now use that box. 6. Each player has one throw per turn. 7. If one of the columns becomes full and the player throws that number they are allowed one more throw. If it's still the same number they cannot write a word during that go. 8. The winner is the first person to get 4 words in a row either horizontally, vertically or diagonally. 9. If there is a time issue it can be 2 or 3 in a row. | Children need to learn the phonic spelling patterns to enable them to read and write fluently. At the beginning of the game it is important to establish what happens when they can't think of a word or they get it wrong. Do you give them a word? Do they forfeit their turn? Sensitivity is required depending on the pupils' needs. The aim is to have fun whist learning! |
spell high frequency words
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Using a race track game to learn high frequency spellings Set of 20+ cards with target high frequency words Race track or loop Dice Counters | 1. Read through the words with the player(s). 2. Place the cards face down. 3. Players take it in turns to pick up the card, use S.O.S. to spell the word, throw the dice and move around the board. 4. Winner is the first person to finish. 5. Repeat the game after reading through all the words again. 6. A spelling 'test' could be introduced when the child thinks he is ready to try this. | New words need to be added gradually. There could be several copies of each word or selected word. S.O.S. = simultaneous oral spelling = saying the word and then saying each letter of the word while writing it. The card can be turned over while they are trying to spell the word. A variation could be asking the child to write the word on a whiteboard. |
| Using mnemonics to teach spelling A short list of words the child is finding particularly difficult to remember - 'tricky words' Whiteboard and pen | Mnemonics are memory triggers to help learn words. They are especially useful for irregular words such as 'said' and 'because' e.g. said = said ant itching, don't. Include the word to remember as the first word in the mnemonic and use short vowel sounds as far as possible. because= because eagles can add up so easily |
use a strategy to remember spellings
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Visualisation A4 paper Thick marker pen Paper and pencil or pen for pupil to use. | 1. Ask the pupil to visualise (see inside their head) something familiar: e.g. their TV and what's on top of it, beside it, etc; or their kitchen. 2. Write words in large unjoined lower case letters in thick felt tip on A4 paper - maybe important bits in a different colour or larger. 3. Hold the word up in front of the pupil. 4. Discuss visual features (e.g. two o's looking out of the middle of the word school). 5. Pupil shuts eyes and tries to 'see' the word. 6. Ask 'What colour are the letters?' 'Change the colour' 'What's the first letter?' What's the last letter?' 'Put the letters inside a picture' etc. 7. If the pupil gets something wrong, ask him/her to have another good look. 8. The pupil writes the word down, and checks it is correct. 9. It may help visual recall if the pupil looks up towards his/her top left when trying to remember the word. | Phonics is especially important in spelling, but it is not enough. Pupils need to remember the spelling of specific words. Phonics will make some bits of any word easy to learn. When using the methods described here, focus especially on the bits which are difficult to remember. Research has shown that if pupils establish their own best method, it helps them remember words better. Some people find it easier to visualise with their eyes open. If your pupil prefers to do it this way, allow it. If they can say the letters in reverse order, this is a good sign they are visualising the word. |
| Tracing Paper - A4 size or larger Thick felt tip Pencil and extra paper to write on | Use the style of joined handwriting the pupil uses or is being taught. When he/she is quite confident with tracing, you may want to ask the pupil to trace with eyes closed, and focus on the movement. It is important the pupil checks at every stage - otherwise he/she may be learning a misspelling. | |
| Spelling pronunciation Pencil and paper, or whiteboard and dry-wipe pen | This is useful for irregular words, especially those containing 'silent' letters or vowel sounds that are not very clear. It assumes the pupil has enough phonics to allow them to spell the word the way you have pronounced it. For instance, if you emphasise the "or" sound in motor, this will only help if they know that this sound is spelled with the letters o and r. Examples of other spelling pronunciations are fry-end for friend, skissors for scissors, |
To develop vocabulary around a specific topic
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Topic books - Ring binder and paper or some blank exercise books - Topic pictures | 1. Choose a topic - this can either be curriculum related (at school) or around an activity you will be doing e.g. a trip to the seaside (at home). 2. Explain that you are going to think about all the words you need to talk about that topic. Aim for 5-6 words. 3. Think about what sort of things you will see and do. You could write these down - let your child think of as many as they can. 4. Together look for pictures to stick in the book for each word. 5. Write down the word for each picture and fill in a word web template. 6. Put the word webs together to make a book that you can use to discuss your topic. | |
| Bingo - Bingo cards - each with a list of your topic related words on it - you may wish to put a picture/symbol alongside each picture. - A set of definitions of the words (descriptions of what the words mean). | ||
| Alphabet Game | The category cards in this game are general - you may like to add more speicifc ones related to the topic you have been working on. | |
| Topic Trees / Mind Maps - Blank sheet of paper - Pens - Cards with different topics on them (optional) | You can use a different colour for each set of branches. | |
| What is that Word? Game |
To be able to name items from different categories
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Think of a... Game - category dice - click here to print or - category cards - click here to print - if you do not have a printer you could make your own. - normal dice (optional) | 1. Print and cut out the catgeory cards and/or dice. You can make your own if you do not have access to a printer. 2. Explain to your child you are going to play a game where you think of items from different categories, e.g. 'animals' - you might say 'cat'. 3. Choose either the category dice or cards to play with. 4. Roll the dice or choose a card. The person has to name an item from that category. If the same category comes up later in the game, you need to think of a different item. You may want to keep a list of the items that have been named as a reminder.
| To make the game harder, when you roll the category dice, or choose the category card, roll a normal dice to give you a number of item to name from that partiucalar category. |
| How many can I think of? - Pen and paper | Count up the number of suggestions the child has made. Next time you do the activity, the child can try to beat their score. |
Activities to develop vocabulary through the use of synonyms
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| What are synonyms? - synonym picture cards and words - click here to print - You could also make up some of your own picture/word cards - click here for word list. | 1.Cut out the picture cards and word cards. Explain to your child that you are going to talk about "synonyms". 2. Explain that the word 'synonym' means two different words that have the same meaning. 3. Give an example of a common synonym e.g. 'woman' and 'lady'. Show the picture card and the two written words. 4. See if you can match all the words to the correct pictures. | |
| Find it! Thesaurus Activity - Thesaurus | You could create your own dictionary of key words by collecting the sheets together and making them into a book. This could then be used as a reference for writing. Focussing on new words that are being introduced as part of a topic would be helpful. This will help increase your child's understanding of the topic and increase the vocabulary they are able to use to discuss their learning. |
Using word webs to learn new vocabulary/words
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| What word am I? - A selection of word webs you have already completed with the word in the middle covered. - Post it notes
| 1. Choose a word web and cover the attributes of the word with post it notes as well as the word in the centre. 2. Explain to your child/student that you will take the post it notes off one by one and they have to try and guess the word that is hiding. 3. See how quickly they are able to guess the word.
| This activity will help your child/student to recall words that they have learnt. |
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