DETECTIVES Teacher's Guide - Book - Page 10
THE DETECTIVES - TEACHER’S GUIDE
3) Have the students look at the words on the list. Say an initial letter or cluster and have the
students guess what word you are referring to. Then read it aloud and give a sentence that
explains the word.
a. For Example: If you are teaching the word ‘steal’, you can give the sentence: “It is
wrong to steal; we never take things that are not ours.”
4) Write the words on the board and ask the students to alphabetize the words. Once they’ve
done that, ask them to read the words with you. Then send them to the glossary to find the
meanings of the words. This encourages the use of the dictionary / glossary.
5) Assign a word to each pair (you will have a few pairs working on the same word). Each pair
has to find out what the word means, either from prior knowledge or using the dictionary /
glossary. They then teach the rest of the class the meaning of the word.
6) Conduct a survey of the words. The students write down the words and then have to walk
around the room to find people who know what the words mean. Once everyone has all the
‘meanings’ in their list, the students sit down, and together you check if they were correct or
not. Whatever wasn’t known is up to you to explain.
7) Play a guessing game. Give the students one minute to guess the meanings of the words.
Some of the words may be familiar and some will be new. After one minute, go over all the
words. Each word the students defined correctly gets crossed off the list. This means that
they knew the word. The words that are left are the ones they have to work on to learn for
next time. In the next lesson, call on the students to check if they recall the words you
taught in the previous lesson.
v. Let’s Practice
This section presents vocabulary practice using the new words that were presented. Each time new
words are presented to the students, there is corresponding vocabulary practice. The practice
usually comes after the reading so the students will have had a chance to see the word in context as
well.
Should you feel your class needs more practice, use the extra vocabulary activities below to help
with memory and observation, remembering new words, and remembering details:
TIC TAC TOE: Draw two 3x3 grids on the board. Number the squares, left to right, from 1-9. In one of
the grids place the vocabulary words you want to review. Some options are:
You can place the pictures and then ask the students what the word is.
You can place the words and ask for a sentence.
You can place a verb and ask for a sentence.
You can place a synonym and ask for the word learned.
You can place a definition and ask for the word learned.
You can mix and match words and pictures.
Divide the class into two groups. One group is X and the other is O. Group X begins. A single
representative each time (someone different) must choose a square and answer the question you
present to him or her based on what’s in the square. If he / she answers correctly, then the X is
placed in the corresponding square in the other grid on the board.
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