VCOP Top Tip: Wow Words need a 'used-by' date!
Meet Winston WOW, a Word Monster from the planet W.O.W – short for ‘words of wonder’.
Winston has a very big appetite and only eats old, out of date wow words. These are words that have been up on the Vocabulary board for too long. So we need to start dating our words, along with students’ names. This way, we can keep track of oral language development, as well as ensuring we are checking in more regularly on student’s language to celebrate.
Remember there should be a minimum of one wow word per child and a maximum of 3! After 3, we need to start feeding Winston old words to replace the board with new words. (After all, we don’t have an endless amount of display room either).
Of course, we don’t want to just throw the language away. It wonderful developing vocabulary that we need to revise and revisit throughout the year. By feeding Winston of wow words, we are keeping them in one place in the classroom and making a vocabulary resource that is differentiated for your class, and free!
Feed your outdated WOW words to Winston to keep your boards updated and your students’ vocabulary growing. But don’t waste the wonderful language your are taking off display, Winston is the ultimate resource.
Activity 1: Reach into Winston’s guts (careful not to get bitten) and pull out a WOW WORD to try and use in a oral sentence.
Winston WOW, isn’t feeling well today
He’s eaten too many WOW words, and he has an upset tummy.
Oh no, it sounds like he might…yes he’s going to…quick
Winston has thrown up all your WOW words from this year.
He needs rest while his tummy feels better, so let’s play an activity.
ACTIVITY 2: Winston has thrown up all the WOW words we have fed him. Let’s sort them out and reflect.
Find all your WOW words and put them in date order.
Discuss with the person next to you how much you have grown.
Compare the words on the floor to your words up on the wall.