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The third week of November is Geography Awareness Week. This was a week established in 1987 by President Ronald Reagan to promote geographic education in public schools.  Geography, and particularly globalization, are important subjects of focus in an increasingly small world.

Teachers who are looking for good geography activities and games to supplement their curriculum this week need look no further than Vocabulary.co.il.  We have geography terminology galore with vocabulary categories to choose from like:

• Geography
• Countries
• Bodies of Water
• USA States
• USA State Capitals
• World Capitals

Your students will find themselves truly engaged with geography as they play games such as Word Search, Cross Words, Hang Mouse, or Quiz with their chosen geography categories. Some games are even printable so you can distribute them to your entire class!

If you are planning to integrate geography into your classroom activities this week, be sure to add in Vocabulary.co.il as one of your tools for teaching!

Last night I was listening to John Tesh’s radio show.  This isn’t a common occurrence, but I was driving, and it was on, and he began a segment I couldn’t stop listening to.

The segment was about how “little” changes in our everyday vocabulary can make a BIG difference in our influence on people.  In fact, according to Tesh, changing just one word can make the difference between whether someone agrees with you or not.

For example:

• If you want your spouse to stop smoking, instead of saying…”Would you please stop smoking for my sake?” you could change it to “Would you please stop smoking for the children’s sake?” and your spouse is more likely to consider the request because you have taken yourself out of the equation.
• When you know that you need to offer some constructive criticism, instead of saying, “You did a nice job, but the report needs editing,” you could change it to “You did a nice job and the report needs editing.”  That one simple switchout keeps the message positive and makes it more likely to be well received.
• When you want someone to see your side of things, avoid words that are judgmental, and inflammatory (like crazy, stupid, ridiculous), and instead replace them with words that are specific and can be quantified (like disruptive, thoughtless, impulsive).  By taking the most incendiary words and replacing them with more specific adjectives, you take the emotion out of the issue so that the other person can look at themselves more objectively

These are great examples of the power of the English language.  By making simple word substitutions, we can have a direct impact on the relationships in our lives.  What vocabulary do you most try to avoid in conversation? 

Weigh in within the comments!

English words relating to science and scientific concepts can be come of the most difficult words to spell and memorize definitions for.  Teachers are always in need of additional ways to help students learn and retain science vocabulary.

Of course, worksheets always provide additional practice, but what if there was something more interactive for students to depend on?  That’s where Vocabulary.co.il™ comes in. Many of the games on the site offer a choice of various science-related vocabulary words.

Some of the science-related topics you will find at Vocabulary.co.il include:

• astronomy
• flora
• energy
• human body
• chemistry
• geology
• periodic table
• animal kingdom
• …and many more!

No matter what science concept you are studying, there is probably a game category for it at Vocabulary.co.il!  These games provide a fun, challenging, and multimedia way to explore words and meanings.  This makes it much easier for students to learn and remember the terms assigned.

If you have been looking for an alternative way to help your students learn science vocabulary, then have them head to the site and start playing!

The topics used in the games at Vocabulary.co.il cover a wide variety of subjects and curriculum areas. Several of the topics offered in the games at Vocabulary.co.il are related to religion.  If you are playing either Match Game, Quiz Game, Unscramble, Word Search, Crossword Puzzle, or Hang Mouse, you can choose any of the following topics using words related to religion:

• Religion (for lower grades)
• Biblical Cities (for middle/upper grades)
• Religion and Philosophy (for upper grades)
• Hebrew Yiddish origin (for upper grades)

Any of these lists would be good for a unit study on religions of the world, a geography theme on cities of the Bible, and for more advanced vocabulary studies of religion, philosophy, or word origins.

Words that you might come across in these lists include:

• orthodox
• decalogue
• oracles
• Sedom
• Jerusalem
• Bethlehem
• jubilee
• schlock
• theology
• church
• prayer

If your students are preparing to study religion, Vocabulary.co.il offers a terrific way to supplement your curriculum with fun and educational vocabulary building games!

It is almost that time of the year…All Hallows Eve, otherwise affectionately knows as “Halloween.”  This is a boon time for teachers because it is so easy to create lessons and activities that kids can get excited about.  Who doesn’t love a little harmless “creepiness” added into the school day??

If you are looking for some fun ways to boost your students’ word power while enjoying this frightful season, you might want to have them check out Vocabulary.co.il and use the topic “Fright Night” as their game category.  This category includes some scary, but useful words to know such as:

• medium
• suspense
• disguise
• descended
• medieval

and many, many, more.

Spelling City also has plenty of Halloween fun in store for students.  Head over to the site, and plug in the word “Halloween” into the list search, and you will get no fewer than 25 different spine-chilling spelling lists for different grade levels and spelling levels. 

Lastly, if your students enjoys wizards, potions, goblins and lairs, they will probably have a ton of fun at the Wizards and Pigs game at Learning Games for Kids, turning poetry into spooky educational fun!

If you’re looking to build a structured vocabulary lesson plan, Vocabulary.co.il is the place for you!  Vocabulary is Fun has the resources you need to construct challenging and beneficial vocabulary lesson plans.  Here, you’ll find an extensive selection of vocabulary lists, games, and other learning tools.  You can teach vocabulary more effectively in the classroom, or you can even improve your own vocabulary.  Everything you need is here at vocabulary.co.il!

An extensive vocabulary is the key to academic success.  At the heart of every lesson plan is a vocabulary list.  The list unites the lesson plan with a common topic, making it fun to teach and learn about a subject.  Vocabulary is Fun provides a diversity of vocabulary lists to create the perfect lesson plan.  We supply lists for young learners, high stakes testing, and professional development.

Build Your Own Vocabulary List and Integrated Lesson Plans

Vocabulary is Fun provides vocabulary lists made specifically for the development of lesson plans, but we also offer an easy way to build your own list at SpellingCity.com.  At SpellingCity.com, you’ll be able to build a vocabulary list that fits in perfectly with your curriculum.
Vocabulary lists with integrated lesson plans can be found at Time4Learning.com.  Our integrated vocabulary lessons at Time4Learning.com provide you with a great way to teach and learn essential vocabulary.

Free Vocabulary Games and Quizzes Online

Vocabulary.co.il has a variety of vocabulary games and quizzes online for improving vocabulary while having fun.  Integrate our games into your lesson plan for a flawless way to keep students interested in vocabulary.  Elementary students can start out with the Match Game, which allows them to learn basic vocabulary while matching alike cards.  Those looking to develop vocabulary for testing can play the SAT Game, which utilizes level 1000 SAT multiple-choice words to complete sentences.  Professionals can even have fun and improve vocabulary with Cross Words, Word Search, and the Vocabulary Quiz!    

Keep Vocabulary Lessons Fresh and Fun with Vocabulary.co.il

Making lesson plans new and enjoyable is not always the easiest thing to do.  Vocabulary.co.il makes even the most daunting lesson plan a treat!  With a diverse selection of vocabulary lists and online vocabulary games, you’ll be able to keep every lesson fresh and fun.

Vocabulary lesson plans are essential for the growth of knowledge in and out of the classroom.  Use our vocabulary lists, games, and other tools to create a perfect lesson plan!

If you are a classroom teacher or homeschooler, you may be discussing the Nobel Prizes today.  They have been in the news quite a lot in recent days, and today especially due to President Obama being the latest recipient of one of the honors.

There are Nobel prizes in each of the following disciplines: physics, chemistry, physiology/medicine, literature, and peace activism, and there is a related prize in economics, as well.

Each recipient is invited to give a lecture at the Nobel awards ceremony, which is held in Stockholm, Sweden on December 10 of each year (the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death).  Students can view videos of past lectures here

There are wonderful vocabulary words that can tie-in with the different categories of the Nobel prize.  You might want to assign your students any of the following topics as their focus of vocabulary games at Vocabulary.co.il:

• Energy
• Human Body
• Chemistry
• Government and Civics
• Great Inventions
• Literary Terms
• International Relations
• Periodic Table
• Astronomy
• Business and Money

One of the most interesting phenomena of homeschooling a child with dyslexia has been watching his approach to spelling.  It is quite a myth that people with dyslexia can’t learn phonics…they can!  However, the rules of phonics can become a crutch for many who see its do’s and don’ts as unwavering guides for how to form words. This leads to phonetic spelling errors such as “a-l-l-w-a-z-e” for “always” and “e-n-u-f-f” for “enough.”

While phonics instruction is wonderful for reading, it can have incredibly detrimental effects in the teaching of spelling for students with dyslexia.  Although there are certain patterns of spelling that hold true for some English words, the language is chock full of “exceptions” to the rules, and therefore needs to be taught separately from phonics in most cases.

People with dyslexia seem to respond best either to individual word memorization techniques, visual spelling instruction, or sight word methods of learning spelling. 

• Word Memorization – this method involves creating some association between the word meaning and the sequence of letters in the word to help the speller memorize and retain the particular spelling of each word.  Games like Letter Blocks at Vocabulary.co.il, where letters are chosen sequentially to create words, are wonderful for practicing this technique.
• Visual Spelling – instructors using visual spelling techniques will use either color, pattern, or symbols to help students differentiate between letters in a word and memorize their placement. 
• Sight Word Spelling – sight word memorization involves a visual-spatial processing that has the student stare at a word for an appointed amount of time until that word is imprinted on their memory.  If true imprinting has occurred, the speller can usually spell the word backward as easily as forward because their brains have memorized the placement of the letters rather than any sequential or symbolic memory triggers.

No matter which technique is used, students with dyslexia can improve their spelling by practicing their weekly spelling words the fun way by inputting them into lists at SpellingCity.com, and playing games with the words, or printing out the handwriting worksheets for each list.  This is a sure-fire way to help any student get the review they need in a format they will enjoy!

Teachers and homeschoolers across the country are studying our national parks this week thanks to the current PBS airing of Ken Burns’ documentary series “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea.”  If you are one of these teachers, you might be interested in some great vocabulary and spelling tie-ins to this subject.

SpellingCity: National Parks Play games with spelling words related to the documentary.

Vocabulary Fun Build your national-park-related vocabulary skills using any of these topics for games:

• Flora
• Geology
• Trees
• Nature
• Animals
• Travel

If you have other favorite language arts or vocabulary tie-ins, why not list them in the comments?

Saturday, September 26, 2009 is Free Museum Day at museums and cultural venues all across the country!  If you would like to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity, head to the Smithsonian Magazine Museum Day website and view the full list of participating museums, and download your printable admission card.

And to prepare you or your students for their museum fun, why not play some of the cool games at Vocabulary.co.il , using the “Museum” category.  Students will be introduced to words like:

• collection
• gallery
• artifact
• ticket
• painting
• curator

and many, many more.  Other museum-related topics you might want to use for game play include: dinosaurs, geology, history, weather, animal kingdom, stamp collecting, collectibles, musical instruments, photography, sea creatures, and computers.

Have fun exploring your local museums this Saturday!