Vocabulary Victims -- A Vocabulary Review Game

I'm excited to link up with my friend, Joanne from Head Over Heels for Teaching, for her Saturday linky party, Spark Student Motivation.

Are you looking for a fun, easy way to help your students practice their vocabulary words?  Vocabulary Victims is the answer! (I know the name 'Vocabulary Victims' sounds like a bad thing....I was going for alliteration here! :)  It is not as painful as it sounds.)

Here's how it works...

1.  Choose a student to become the 'victim.'  In my class, I draw a number stick so it is completely random.  This way, everyone has an equal chance of participating, not just the kids who raise their hands.

2.  The student comes to the front of the room and sits in a chair with their back to the board.

3.  Write a vocabulary word on the board.  

 4.  Students in the audience (the rest of the class) raise their hands to offer definitions or clues to the meaning of the word.  They cannot say the word (obviously, but they do need this reminder), but they can give a definition, an example, a synonym, an antonym, etc.

5.  The 'victim' calls on two students to offer clues. (I like for two students to offer clues, but you could do more or less depending on your students or the quality of clues being offered.)

6.  After the two clues, the 'victim' tries to guess the word that was written on the board.  A quick turn around by the 'victim' confirms their guess as right or wrong.

7.  Repeat as needed.

I use this game to review for science and social studies tests, math vocabulary, Flocabulary words. etc.  It is also a fun way to review synonyms and antonyms because you can require the students who are giving the clues to only offer these as hints.

My students LOVE this game and it is so simple to play!  No prep, no stress!

For a little teacher motivation today, I am headed to the Midwest Blogger Meet Up in Palatine, IL.  I'm looking forward to meeting many of the awesome teacher bloggers from the midwest area!

Have a great day!