Middle school and high school students can also benefit from grade-appropriate word sorts and concept sorts, and these activities can be used effectively across diverse content areas.įor example, one word sort outlined in Vocabulary Their Way (pp.

In Vocabulary Their Way: Word Study with Middle and Secondary Students, veteran literacy professors Templeton, Bear, Invernizzi and Johnston suggest that manipulative engagement with vocabulary need not end with graduation from fifth grade. After all, why do so many adults have fridge doors covered in magnetic poetry?Ĭommon activities for reviewing words in the elementary school classroom are word sorts and concept sorts-where children work in small groups to literally sort a small stack of word cards into different categories according to phonemic similarities (e.g., all the 'short vowel' words in one pile, all the 'long vowel' words in another) or according to meaning (e.g., all the reptiles in one pile, all the mammals in another).

However, when it comes to vocabulary learning, it can sometimes be a more engaging way to teach words as individual manipulative units rather than lists of tiny words printed out on 8 ½ x 11 sheets of paper. They may think of word cards and word puzzles as belonging in the elementary school realm, along with crayons and counting cubes. Many secondary school teachers may be dismissive about using manipulatives in the classroom.

Vocabulary word sorts