Vocabulary mastery, Yay or Nay
From FreeReading
| Activity Type: Build Mastery |
| Activity Form: Game |
| Grade: K, 1, 2, 3 |
| Group Size: Small Group, Large Group, Whole Class |
| Length: 5 minutes |
| Materials: Yay and Nay cards; list of approximately 10 words that were explicitly taught |
| Goal: Given a statement containing a recently learned vocabulary word, the students will determine whether the statement is true or false |
| Items: Words you explicitly taught students and want to review |
What to do
- Take the number of students in the group and multiply by two. Take an identical number of index cards and write Yay on half of the index cards and Nay on the other half. You can also adhere the Yay and Nay cards onto popsicle sticks. Each student participating should have both a Yay and Nay card.
- Today we’re going to play the Yay or Nay game! Take a look at these cards. Each has either the word Yay or Nay written on it. Yay means that you agree. Nay means that you disagree. You will receive one of each. Pass out the Yay and Nay cards to each student who will participate in the game.
- Here's how we play. I will ask you a question about one of the words we learned this week. For example, for the word huge, I might say ‘A giraffe is huge’. You have to decide whether the thing I say is true or false. If you think it’s true raise the Yay card. If you think it’s false raise the Nay card. You will have 3 seconds to decide. When everyone has decided I will call on some of you to explain your choices. And by the way, is a giraffe huge?
- Wait for responses. Check for understanding by asking students to explain their reason for voting. Ask follow-up questions such as: What makes a giraffe huge?
- OK, my turn first. The sentence is ‘Happy people are furious’…now let me think...furious means really mad….I don’t think that happy people are really mad…so, I’m going to raise the Nay card (do this) to show that I disagree with that sentence.
- Your turn! Everybody hold onto your cards and listen to another question…
- You can develop your own questions to relate to the words that the students have learned. Through discussion, students who may have a misunderstanding of the word will be more likely to understand and recall the word in future encounters.
- This game can be used to check for understanding of all newly learned vocabulary. In other content areas, this game can be used to check for the meaning of content specific words (eg: Is a circle a polygon?)
- As students are introduced to more complex words (Tier two words) and concepts, the difficulty of the questions can be altered. For example, if you are reading a book to the students in which the main character (eg: Trisha) acts responsibly, you can ask ‘Is Trisha a responsible person?’ during the game and wait for student Yay and Nay responses. This can serve as both a vocabulary and comprehension check, especially when you ask the students to defend their Yay or Nay position.