We all know how important it is to review vocabulary multiple times throughout the day if we expect our students to not only remember, but effectively use the words. This weekend at the conference in Yucaipa, we were introduced to another illustrious brain toy, vocabulary candy. Yum!

Your vocabulary word is a piece of candy. Pop one in your mouth and use the vocabulary word in your next sentence.

Brain toys are used to engage the pre-frontal, visual, motor, and auditory cortex in original thinking. This brings learning up into the higher level thinking skills. Oh yeah!

Who will try this new brain toy with their students this week?

Deb Weigel
WBT Intern, Level 1

I'm in:P

I love this idea! Doing it tomorrow.

So many awesome things to remember! I love it! Thanks for talking about vocab candy and stirring my memory from all the things learned at the seminars!

Amy

NO MORE STALE CANDY!

As we look down on the world from the heights of Mt. Yucaipa, we realize that vocabulary candy might be improved, or, sweetened. First, let's shorten the phrase to "vocab candy." At the highest level, you would call on a kid who would say "Class!" Everyone would respond "yes!" The kid would say "MIrror!" Everyone would say "Mirror!" The kid would toss an imaginary piece of candy into her mouth and say "Yum!" Everyone would toss a piece into their mouth and say "Yum!" The kid would use a vocabulary word in a sentence WITH the word "because" and use a because slapper. Then the kid would add an air punctuation mark at the end of the sentence. Then the kid would add an "adder" which would be another sentence that added information to the "vocab candy because sentence" and conclude with air punctuation. Then the energetic kid would clap twice and say "teach!" and everyone would follow suit.

Why so many steps? Because this is ULTIMATE VOCAB CANDY and you would move up to this level throughout the year, to keep adding new challenges ... and to keep the Vocab Candy fresh. Who wants stale candy?

You could even say, "Who's ready for EVEN SWEETER VOCAB CANDY?" as you moved up in levels.

Awesome! Love the Vocab Candy, and loving the Ultimate Vocab Candy even more. I'm so excited to try this out. I've been using my class leaders with my leadership buttons, and that's going great! I've introduced my "Class" leader, "Mirror" leader, "Hands and Eyes" leader, and now I can add a "Yum" leader! Can't wait!

I tried out the Vocabulary Candy today! Of course the kids ate it up - ha ha! It really made them think and the sentences they came up with were quite good! I was impressed!

I tried out the Vocab Candy today! Of course the kids ate it up - ha ha! It really made them think and the sentences they came up with were quite good! I was impressed!

OK! I am ready to move to ULTIMATE VOCAB CANDY with my first graders. We are learning about the seasons, and have been doing a lot of comparing and contrasting as we study the seasons. My students' experiences are often opposite from what we read about seasons, as we live where crops thrive in winter, and die in summer. Our winter is green and lush, and our summer is dry and dead! So, we will bump it to the next level when we pop our vocab candy in our mouth. We are going to pop in the words hibernation and migration! Woo Hoo!
I can hardly wait to hear what they come up with as we rise in levels, to the ULTIMATE VOCAB CANDY!
Deb Weigel
WBT Arizona

I'm in as well! I can't wait to give the ULTIMATE VOCAB CANDY a try with my small groups. (I have to say though, it will be hard to beat "TWO FINGER ACTION FIGURES on DESK WORLD" as the favorite of my groups. They want to do that everyday!!

Great idea, I'll give it a try.

Ultimate vocab candy is going great! Also, I introduced the air blackboard to my kiddos the other day while reviewing friendly letters and they loved it! Brain toys are so much fun for the kids and for me!

Vocabulary candy is a very exciting way for kids to practice using words in a fun and active way that helps them actually remember them. I have my students work in pairs eating their yummy candy and then using big gestures that go with the vocabulary words and the sentences. Last week, after practicing our vocabulary words and definitions many times, I put some fill in the blank sentences on the board- the students were to use context clues to figure out which vocabulary words went in the blanks. I had the sudents act out the entire sentences. They actually figured out which words were correct because only the gestures for the correct vocabulary words fit in with the gestures they were making for the entire sentence! There was extremely high energy in the air and I was floating on cloud nine because my kids were actually getting what context clues are all about! oh yeah!!: