This is a sponsored post by Vocabulary.com.
I love using Vocabulary.com in my classroom, and I’ve used it with my students to help them build their vocabulary and practice their skills for going on four years now. Since starting to use the online program, I’ve seen my students grow their vocabulary knowledge, become stronger writers, and improve their test scores. And while I use the Premium version in my classroom, there are plenty of ways that middle school and high school teachers can use the free platform in their classrooms.
Play The Challenge
One way to incorporate the free version of Vocabulary.com in your classroom is to have students play The Challenge. It is an adaptive game that automatically adjusts to a student’s level, and it is ideal for helping students learn and practice new vocabulary.
Try This in Your Classroom: Have students begin the class period with five minutes of working on The Challenge. This routine will give you time to enter attendance and get ready for the class.
Make Your Own List
As a new teacher, I remember reading each text before teaching it to compile vocabulary lists for my students. It was a time-consuming process, and quite often, I wasn’t even sure if I had selected the best words for my students to learn. With the free list maker tool on the Vocabulary.com site, teachers can use the free account to curate their own vocabulary lists! It’s fast and straightforward. To create your own list, select the “LISTS” option on the top toolbar. Then, copy and paste text (you can copy up to 100 pages of text) into the text box. The list maker will automatically generate a list with definitions for you.
Try This in Your Classroom: Before reading a new text in class with your students, create your own vocabulary list using the list maker feature. By doing this, you’ll know which words you can use to help your students better understand the text. Once the list maker feature selects the words, you can even project them on the board for your students to review before reading.
The Online Dictionary
Students can use the online dictionary on Vocabulary.com to look up and learn new words they encounter. There are a couple of reasons why I prefer the Vocabulary.com dictionary for students over other online dictionaries. For starters, Vocabulary.com is built with the student in mind. In addition to the standard denotative definition, Vocabulary.com also provides two different explanations to help students learn the words, a visual word family graphic, synonyms, and real-life usage examples. For the sentence examples, students can even choose a category from which to read the word. In total, there are seven categories: fiction, arts and culture, news, business, sports, science and medicine, and technology.
Try This in Your Classroom: Have students look up the meaning of vocabulary words using the Vocabulary.com dictionary. They can use the site to record the definition, part of speech, sentence, and synonym.
Host a Vocab Jam
One of the great features of Vocabulary.com is the Vocab Jam. It’s an online-based vocabulary game that students play against each other. I use this feature regularly in my classroom, and I love how it randomly groups students into different teams. Vocab Jams are perfect for end-of-the-unit reviews and to help students prepare for tests. One of my favorite ways to use the Vocab Jam feature is to host a couple of Jams with my students and use the pre-loaded test prep vocabulary lists. It’s a fun, competitive, and engaging way to help students prepare for standardized tests without feeling like test prep!
Try This in Your Classroom: Create your own vocabulary list on your free teacher account that is filled with essential vocabulary words for an upcoming test or assessment. The day before the assessment, host a Vocab Jam to help students prepare.
Free Teacher Account Benefits
The free teacher account allows you to monitor the progress of the top three students in your classroom. If at any point you decide to upgrade your account, you’ll be able to see the data for as many students as they like, depending on the level of the plan. Furthermore, and this is one of the best features, if a teacher’s school or district subscribes to the Premium account, Vocabulary.com will issue a refund to the teacher for the individual plan! You can sign up for your free account HERE!
Try This in Your Classroom: Since the site shows you the data for your top three students, you can host a weekly Vocabulary.com challenge in your students where you reward those top three students.
