Vocabulary Baseball Hot Seat (Page 3 of 4) in pdf

Accordion Study Technique

1. Use a piece of regular notebook paper

2. Fold it in half lengthwise (hotdog) and then fold the half into thirds also lengthwise (hotdog)

3. Open up the paper. There are now six columns. Fold the last column on the right in toward the left

and write the number one at the top of this third. Fold column 1 in towards the center and write the

number 2 at the top of the new column. Now fold column 2 over and write 3 at the top.

4. Open the paper again and this time bring the “fold line” of the last column on the right in to the

“center fold.” Write 4 at the top of the paper (note this is on the opposite side of column 1)

5. Open the paper so it is flat with the side showing the number 4 visible. Now fold column four under

and label the column at edge of the paper 5

6. Fold column 5 under and label the column at the edge 6

7. Now go back to the area of the paper that does not have number on it and write down the definitions

of the words to be studied.

8. To check knowledge fold the paper so column1 lines up with the definitions. Now write the word

down that matches the definition. (Note: students are not working from a word bank, but rather

memory here.)

9. Check for accuracy once you are done.

10. Study words that were left blank or not correctly matched to definition.

11. Now try again this time using column two and making sure to fold column 1 under so words are not

visible.

12. Again check for accuracy and study the words that you did not know.

13. Continue in this fashion until no mistakes are made, or all the columns are filled. If necessary create

more columns on another piece of paper.

Word Bags:

There are several ways to use word bags. One is for each student to keep their own bag of words that

the class needs to know weekly. The bag should contain index cards with word written on front and

definition on the back. Students can work alone to do self-checks or with a partner.

There are also several whole class activities that can be done using the teacher’s word bag.

One is called “Words on Desk” The teacher places a vocabulary word on each student’s desk prior to

students arriving. Before students can sit down they have to look at the word and give either a sentence

using the word or the definition of the word.

Vocabulary Baseball Hot Seat Page 3