Making Words With Friends

• One sheet of paper for each student

• Markers

• Timer

1. Divide students into groups of six to eight and pass out one sheet of paper to each student.

2. Instruct each student to write one letter on each side of their paper.

3. Encourage them to use the marker, write large letters, and choose common letters and some vowels.

3. Once every student has written a letter on each side of their paper, call out a category, such as, “A color.” Students then have 30 seconds to use their group’s letters to spell out a color. When time is called, the team stands in the correct order, holding their letters to spell the word.

4. Groups can create their “team name” by initially making a random word from their letters.

5. Other categories could include: foods, cities, animals, plants, sports, teams, stores, toys, colleges, emotions, things in this room, etc.

6. If large numbers of students speak another language, consider having them spell a word in their heritage language.

7.  Close the activity with a verbal or written debrief using a few of the questions from the Stage 2 Debrief Prompts.

To increase rigor: 

• Keep score by awarding one point for each letter in the team’s word (e.g., “red” would earn three points, “green” would earn five points, etc.).

• Rather than playing the game in groups, after all of the students have written their letters down, have them stand up. Call out a phrase targeting a certain number of letters, such as, “Three-letter words.” Students then have to move around the room and find two peers with whom to create a three-letter word. Then, call out a different phrase, such as, “Five-letter words.” Consider making this a game by eliminating any students who aren’t able to make a word each round.

To increase scaffolding: 

•To increase scaffolding, allow one student in each group to write an asterisk (*) on their paper, which can be used as a wildcard for any letter.