Objectives:
Students use Flash Card activities to learn, review, and master new vocabulary words. The Flash Cards can serve different purposes depending on the learning goals. Students can use the cards to learn the following:
- The DEFINITION of a word
- The SPELLING of a word
- And EXAMPLE that demonstrates knowledge of the word
- The PART OF SPEECH of a word
- MULTIPLE MEANINGS for a word
- An ILLUSTRATION of a word
Explicit Support & Scaffolding for English Learners:
This strategy allows individual students or a pair of students to become the “expert others” about a specific set of vocabulary words. Students create the Flash Cards and use and review them consistently until they achieve mastery over a select number of words.
Materials:
- Teacher-selected vocabulary words from the Word Bank Lists of Words. See the Flash Card choices in Subjects on the right sidebar.
- Cognate chart(s) of the vocabulary words in English and the cognates listed in other dominant languages used in the classroom community.
- Download the pre-made flashcards by clicking Subjects and selecting the desired topic.
- Student-made flash cards: Construction, poster, or card stock paper (ideally the paper should be no smaller than a 3×5” card and no larger than a 4×6” card). The teacher can also print out Flash Cards with a blank second side for students to write the definitions, examples, or parts of speech.
- Markers, scissors, and glue
- Student dictionaries and other curricular resource materials that list words, their definitions, and parts of speech.
Brief Description:
Students create and utilize Flash Cards to achieve mastery over a specific set of vocabulary words.
Instructions
Flash Card Lesson
1. The teacher can either use the Flash Cards available in Subjects on the right sidebar or give students materials (such as card-stock paper) so that they can make their own flashcards.
2. If students are making their own flashcards, they write the name of their vocabulary word on one side of the flash card. On the other side of the flash card, the teacher asks students to do ONE of the following:
- Write a definition of the word
- Provide an example that demonstrates knowledge of the word – This can be in the form of a sentence.
- Provide the part of speech
- Draw an illustration of the word (if possible)
- List one way to remember the word (create a mnemonic device)
- Write the multiple meanings of the word. (Limit these to 2-3 meanings.)
Teaching Tip:
Please make sure students use the correct spelling as it provides the best modeling of the word. Incorrectly spelled words provide an incorrect model of the language.
Make sure to have student-friendly dictionaries available. Students can spend a huge amount of time looking words up in the dictionary. This often ends up being an ineffective use of their time when the goal of the lesson is to define and work with their word in different ways in order to increase their familiarity and experience with the word.
The teacher and students select ONE of the following ways to play the Flash Card Game.
Flash Card Illustration Game
If the students play the Flash Card Illustration Game, the teacher needs to select and print out the Flash Cards with words and definitions from Subjects (on the right sidebar). Then one student would show and say the name of the vocabulary word and the other student would quickly draw an illustration of the word. This works well for math concepts such as geometric shapes or angles. It also works well for science concepts such as the anatomical parts of a plant or plant cell.
Flash Card Definition Game or the Flash Card Example Game
If the students play the Flash Card Definition Game or the Flash Card Example Game, the teacher needs to select and print out the Flash Cards with words and definitions from Subjects (on the right sidebar). Then one student would say the name of the vocabulary word and the other student would have to provide a definition or an example.
Flash Card Memory Game or the Flash Card Mnemonic Device Game
If the students play the Flash Card Memory Game or the Flash Card Mnemonic Device Game, the teacher needs to select and print out the Flash Cards with words and definitions from Subjects (on the right sidebar). Then one student states the word. The other student has to list one way to remember the word. This game often leads to interesting discussions among the students about the meaning of the word as well as how to best remember it.
Flash Card Parts of Speech Game
The students can play the Flash Card Parts of Speech Game. The teacher needs to select and print out the Flash Cards with words and parts of speech from Subjects (on the right sidebar). In this game, the students have to identify what part of speech the word is. Then they have to use it correctly in a sentence.
If the word can be used as more than one part of speech, the students make flashcards for each part of speech. For example, the word “base” can be used as a noun in the sentence, “The base of the triangle can be any side, but it often is labeled the bottom of the triangle.” The word “base” can also be used as an adjective in the sentence, “His mother did not want her son hanging out with such base and naughty rascals.”
Flash Card Multiple Meaning Game
If the students play the Flash Card Multiple Meaning Game, the teacher needs to select and print out the Flash Cards with words and definitions from Subjects (on the right sidebar). Then one student would state the word and say “What is one meaning of the word?” Their partner would state one of the definitions and use the word in a sentence. They would go on to give a second (and possibly third) definition and use the word in a sentence to demonstrate that they can apply the word with its different meanings in different contexts. This game works well with homonyms (words that have the same spelling and pronunciation & different definitions such as base) and homographs (words that have the same spelling, but different pronunciations & definitions, such as bass – type of fish OR a low, deep voice).
Flash Card Spelling Game
The students can also play a Flash Card Spelling Game. The teacher needs to select and print out the Flash Cards with the word and a blank second side from Subjects (on the right sidebar). In this game, one student says the name of the word without showing the flash card. The other student has to spell the word either by saying the letters aloud or writing the word on a piece of paper. The flash card is used to check that the spelling is correct.
Subjects
Assessments: Thematic Word Flash Card
Pre-Assessment: The teacher might need to do the pre-assessment activity to determine which words are most important to highlight. The teacher can create the Word Rating Guide test
Post-assessment: The teacher has the option of giving students a traditional follow-up vocabulary quiz. The teacher can also create a performance-based assessment by doing one or more of the follow-up activities listed below.