While solo teaching in my second grade mentor classroom, I adopted management tool for transitions called “Word of the Day.” My students loved having the word of the day since they were the ones who picked it. The Word of the Day was a way to review the week’s vocabulary from multiple content areas in addition to an effective management technique which requires the students to hear all of the directions before moving.
Students were chosen by pulling Popsicle sticks with their names on them. The first person drawn from the cup of Popsicle sticks chose the content area that the vocabulary word would come from, the second person pulled chose the Word of the Day. Once the Word of the Day was chosen, the class and I would discuss what the word meant and practiced using the word in a sentence with a partner. Students were drawn to this activity because the Word of the Day was chosen by a student; they felt ownership of the word and in turn listened intently for the word to be said before they followed the teacher given directions.
This video is titled Ms. Noonan: Managing Transitions comes from Teachingchannel.com. It is a great example of how to use the Word of the Day technique in upper grades.
Lauren Nixon 