Vocabulary Activities for Stellaluna-1993



Vocabulary Activities for Stellaluna-1993

By Janell Cannon

Day 1: Introduce the words, provide student friendly definitions, and give examples of each. Have students pronounce each word after you.

Act Out: Discuss the meanings of the words and then call on individual students or groups of students to act out each meaning.

Answer Key

1-Ask the girls to croon to each other.

2-Ask the boys to murmur to each other.

3-Ask a student to show someone being curious.

4-Ask a student to gasp.

Day 2: Say the words and have the students repeat each one after you. Review the words, asking students to explain the meaning of each. Show index cards with pictures of each word. Have students’ recall which word describes the pictures.

Matching: Give students a sheet with clipart pictures of four vocabulary words on one side and the words on the other side. Students are to match the picture with the correct word. (See attached sheet).

Answer Key

-First picture of bird with down arrow, matches up with third word down, swoop.

-Second picture of heads with question marks all around, matches up with fourth word down, curious.

-Third picture of people with music notes over their heads, matches up with first word written, croon.

-Fourth picture of man holding money, matches up with second word down, clutch.

Day 3: Say the words and have children repeat. Review meanings of each word. Have several students act out meaning for each word and have the rest of the students guess the word.

Word Association:

1-Which word goes with soft singing?

2-Which word goes with really wanting to know something?

3-Which word goes with getting around by using your hands and feet?

4-Which word goes with a child and his toy at Christmas?

Answer Key:

1-croon 3-clamber

2-curious 4-clutch

Speed Round:

The speed round should be conducted orally. The teacher calls out some true and some false statements about the vocabulary words. The students give thumbs up if the statement is true and thumbs down if it is false. Students have to immediately show what they think by using their thumbs. They have approximately 3 seconds to decide. Repeat speed round a couple of times in a row if you wish.

Statements:

-The bird swooped down to catch the fish.

-You will be curious about what is in the pretty packages under the tree.

-The football coach crooned at his players when they lost the game.

-You should clutch a snake.

-If you stumble and fall you might have to clamber to get back up.

-It would be a good idea to murmur in case of an emergency.

-The child gasped when he saw the bear.

Answer Key:

-Thumbs up.

-Thumbs up.

-Thumbs down.

-Thumbs down.

-Thumbs up.

-Thumbs down.

-Thumbs up.

Day 4: Say the words and have children repeat. Review meanings of each word.

Play “I Spy” for review. Call out clues and have students guess which word I’m looking for by referring to the list on the board.

-I spy a word that starts with a “c” and has two syllables; it means to climb. (clamber)

-I spy a word that has two syllables that repeat; it means to mumble. (murmur).

-I spy a word that has one syllable; we do this when we are surprised. (gasp).

-I spy a word that has three syllables; this is when we want to know something. (curious).

-I spy a word that has one syllable and a vowel digraph; it means to dive down fast. (swoop).

-I spy a word that has one syllable and a vowel digraph; it means to sing softly. (croon).

-I spy a word that starts with a “c”, it has one syllable; it means to hold tightly. (clutch).

Word Sort: Discuss that a verb is an action word. Read some examples of verbs out of the book To Root, to Toot, to Parachute. What is a Verb? By Brian Cleary. May also discuss adjectives out of the book from the same series if you wish. Write the following chart on the board and have students tell which vocabulary words should go under which headings. (See following chart).

|Adjectives: words that describe |Verbs: words that express actions or states of being |

|curious |swoop |

| |clamber |

| |clutch |

| |gasp |

| |croon |

| |murmur |

Day 5: Say the words and have children repeat. Review meanings of each word. Select seven students and give them each a card with a vocabulary word written on it. Each student should read their word and give an example of the word out loud.

Have You Ever?

1. Describe a time when you might use the word murmur.

2. When might you murmur?

3. When would not be a good time to murmur?

Answer Key:

1. Various answers.

2. In church, during class, on the bus.

3. During an emergency, when giving directions, when you are giving important information.

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