This site is "chock full" of goodies, perfect for any level. The games include such favorites as Word Search, Cross Word Puzzles, Hang Mouse ("Hang Man" re-named perhaps to sound less violent?), Matching Games, Unscramble Puzzles, and Quizzes. The games are created in Flash and load quickly, offering students different categories to choose from for a variety of vocabulary words to work with.

FreeRice

Created by John Breen by bringing together his passion to help end world hunger and his desire to help his son who was studying for the SATs, FreeRice engages students' minds and hearts. Presented with questions typical to an SAT test, students click on the answer and if they get it correct, 10 grains of rice are donated to the United Nations World Food Program (rice is paid for by sponsors who have their advertising shown at the bottom of the screen --- click advertising at its best). 10 grains of rice per word doesn't sound like much, but to date, the site has donated over 58 billion grains. (A great math activity would be to have students calculate how many pounds of rice this is, or how many bags of rice, or how many people can be fed with this rice). I've witnessed firsthand how motivated and engaged students are to keep at the game in order to give aid. There are other subjects recently added along with the vocabulary quizzes.

VerbaLearn

This free site is perfect for students preparing for SAT, ACT, or GRE exams. Students can sign up and add a test. A quiz immediately starts and any words that the student misses gets added to a word list. Students can decide how big this list is (10, 20, 30, 40, or 50 words), as well as the pause time between words. When students miss the word, before it's added to the list, they see the correct definition which can be clicked on to hear the word and definition. Once lists are filled (according to the number chosen), students can then review online or offline. In online mode, the student is asked to pick the correct word to complete a sentence. In offline mode, students download an .mp3 file of all their words being read aloud, defined and used in a sentence ---perfect for putting on an iPod or mp3 player to study at anytime! Word lists can be rebuilt and each test has multiple chapters so there are plenty of words to work through.

There's an optional route to go to make studying vocabulary words even more engaging for students: cash rewards. Students can get parents or teachers to "sponsor" them and add money to a "VerbaLearn2Earn" account. Sponsors can decide how much money to put into the account and as students learn words, they are rewarded with that money which is paid out in a V2E (like a debit card). There is no fee for this service. Personally, I'm a proponent of learning for learning's sake (call me "old fashioned"... or "cheap"), but I suspect that these funds are what generates income for the site to exist, so it seems necessary that some students are paid for their efforts.

Need more? Then head on over to Vocabulary.com. Along with interactive word puzzles (categorized by theme or SAT/ACT tests) and word lists, students can learn how to "unlock" the meaning of millions of words by working through the "Root-Word" lessons, made up of Latin and Greek "roots and cells."

So whether it's for upcoming student SAT preparation, better comprehension skills for younger students, vocabulary building for ESL students, or even for your own brain power, there are plenty of words here to work with in a variety of engaging ways.

Bob Sprankle has been a multi-age teacher in Wells, ME for 10 years and has served as the school's Technology Integrator for the past two years.

_{POSTED ON HOTCHALK}

Comments (3)

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Teacher
written by Gerri, January 12, 2010

What about quizlet.com it too is awesome.

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ESOL teacher
written by Nancy Larsen, February 21, 2009

I am extremely pleased with these websites because my students need to love to learn words, and I think I can help them by channeling their creative and competitive spirits.

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thank you
written by Jacki, February 18, 2009

These sites are great! I can't wait to start using them. We homeschool so we're always looking for new ways to challenge.
Thank you so much!

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