A Quick, Easy, Low Prep Way to Review Vocabulary

I love teaching vocabulary, and utilize at least some of Marzano's 6 Steps for Vocabulary Instruction everyday.  One of my favorite games (which is Marzano's sixth step) is vocabulary bingo.  Here's how it works:

I post word wall tiles (click here to see a the ones I use for ancient Greece) on my wall throughout the school year.  The result is that by the end of the year, students constantly see and remember all of our content vocabulary for the whole year.  I also have written each of the vocabulary words on an index card.  I carry the stack of cards around with me all the time to use a filler questions while slower workers are catching up or to quiz students in the hallway.  I use both for these activity.

STEPS

1. When students enter the room, ask them to make a 5x5 grid on a piece of notebook paper (this is done with 4 vertical and 4 horizontal lines).
2. Ask them to place a vocabulary word in each square (25 terms, or 24 if you want to give a FREE SPACE).
3. Shuffle your index cards of words, and when you select a word, tell them the DEFINITION, not the word - the purpose of this game is to learn definitions, not recognize the words.
4. To extend the game, I have multiple winners - 5 in a row, 4 corners and whole card.

HINT - If you want to do this at a point in the year where you don't have 25 or more words yet, you can do it with a 3x3 grid too, it just goes faster.

If you don't have content area word wall tiles, and would like some, or would like to see what mine are like click the link below.  Or, if you're looking for other great social studies resources, be sure to visit and follow my TpT store!

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