8th Grade Vocabulary Words of the Week ~A Spiraling Resource Printable & Google

This 8th Grade Vocabulary Words of the Week resource is a complete vocabulary curriculum for 8th grade ELA. Perfect for both in-class and distance learning, there are 90 vocabulary words included in this resource.

Students will work with these 90 words all year so that they can walk away from your class truly “owning” these words instead of simply memorizing long lists of words each week only to forget them a short time later.

In the first 90 days, students will learn all of the words. In the last 90 days, students will review all of the words. You may choose to teach a word of the day, five words of the week, or an entire list of words at once. A complete list consists of ten new words plus five review words from previous lists. If you choose to teach 5 words a week, you will be able to use this resource for the entire year. A test (printable and Google Forms) is provided after every new ten words.

Here is what’s included:

• 90 vocabulary words – In the first 90 days, students will learn all 90 words. In the last 90 days, students will review all of these words.
• PowerPoint presentations and Google Slides presentations containing colorful slides with the words, definitions, and a mnemonic device for each unit plus picture cards with definitions and mnemonic devices for display
• Word list charts in a variety of formats – charts are included for introducing five words a week or for giving 10 words at one time.
• Sentence completion practice in printable and Google Slides formats
• Assessments – A test is provided after every new ten words. Tests also review previous words. In addition to the printable tests, links to each test in Google Forms are included!
• Word wall cards- Use these to display the words as you learn them
• Portable word wall – If you prefer for students to keep their own “word wall lists” in a folder~ a digital word wall is also included for Google Slides
• Task Cards- These can be used for review and for games. Printable and links to Google Forms versions are included.
• Game Ideas – Use these game ideas to make review fun!
• Graphic organizers – This is an added activity that students can use to work with the words. A digital version of these graphic organizers is also provided for use with Google Slides.

Memory experts tell us that mnemonics, or devices that help us to anchor concepts in our minds, are the best and easiest ways to remember things. This resource provides one word of the day for the first ninety days, the definition, and a mnemonic link to help students remember the word and its definition. Colorful PowerPoint presentations and word cards that have the word, definition, mnemonic, and a picture are included in this resource. You can use these each day as you introduce a word of the day, or you can have words of the week and introduce five of them at the same time at the beginning of each week. The cards can then be displayed in your room or distributed to students.

Also, brain research shows that in order for knowledge to be remembered in the long run, it must be constantly refreshed and repeated. That is why this is considered a spiraling vocabulary program. Vocabulary list one is the only list that has ten words. After that list, each list introduces ten and then reviews five of the previous words. Once the last set of new words is taught – list 9, list 10 will reintroduce list 1 along with five different words to review. List 11 will reintroduce list 2 along with five other words to review and so on. The words are constantly spiraling throughout the year.

There are tests provided to be used after every 10 words. If you use a word of the day or five words of the week, you will give a test once every two weeks.

What you will do each week:

• On Mondays, use the PowerPoint presentation or Google Slides to introduce the words of the week, word of the day, or words in the unit. We introduce words of the week, and introduce five on Monday. Make sure to talk about the mnemonic tricks provided in the slides presentations.

• On Mondays, Distribute the chart that you have chosen to use. Have students fill in the definitions, part of speech, and mnemonic (if you choose to use the chart with those options). If you prefer, students could use one of the printable or Google graphic organizers as the words are introduced.

• On Tuesdays, introduce the next word if you’re doing a word of the day, or review the words, if you have already introduced all five for the week, and have students fill in the synonyms and antonyms for the words.

• On Wednesday, introduce the next word or review the words, and have students do the sentence completion activity (printable and Google) or have the write a sentence using the word. One option is to have them find a sentence on the Internet. This usually exposes them to several sentences, which can increase comprehension of the word.

• On Thursdays, review the words, share sentences, and/or use Quizlet to review the words.

Once you have taught the entire list, on a Thursday before the Friday test, you can play a game to review the word list. We have included task cards and different game ideas in separate folders.

• On Fridays, you can have students make their own mnemonic cards for a chosen synonym of a word and share them with the class. Of course, every other Friday, you can give the test for the entire list.

• There are word wall cards included if you want to create a wall of words as you learn them.

• Encourage students to use the words in their writing and speech. Consider these words your “class words”. You can consider giving extra credit points if students find them in a book, have a bulletin board where you place “found” words of the day from other resources, etc. Use the words yourself too! Do whatever it takes so that students learn these 90 words before the end of the year.

Download the sample to see the printable version of Unit 1.