This week, I’m trying to liven up Speech Class with a Christmas-based activity for my students with vocabulary deficits. The focus will be on holiday-themed vocabulary. Sometimes it’s easy to assume kids are acquainted with certain words, but they may need more direct teaching.

I bought a box of tiny glass ornaments from the Christmas Tree Shop, as well as five Christmas “Take-Out” containers. (I usually have 4-5 students per group).

On each ornament, I wrote down a holiday-themed word and placed 5 per container. Words used include:

• Tradition
• Holly
• Artificial Tree
• Blessings
• Eve
• Festive
• Poinsettia
• Relatives
• Ritual
• Sacred
• Shopping
• Symbols
• Tree Trimmings
• Gratitude
• Yule Log
• Hostess
• Tinsel
• Garland
• Exchange
• Goodwill
• Aroma
• Donations
• Volunteer

With the vocabulary words, I had the kids take turns picking out an ornament and defining the word pictured on it, in their own words. If they didn’t know the meaning, they could look it up (For some, a picture was very helpful) or they could ask a friend for help.

Then I would play a game where I would ask a question about one of the words, and students would have to search through their “take out” box to see if they had the word that answered my question. Prizes are always good motivators!

 

Let me know if you give this a try for your groups!