Dead Words: A Halloween-Inspired, Vocabulary-Building Activity

I'm always looking for creative ways to help students build their vocabulary and this morning, I came across a new one that’s perfect for the Halloween season! Dead Words is a vocabulary-building activity that’s as spooky and cute as it is effective.

Here’s how it works: First, the class brainstorms words that they overuse—words that are vague, dull, and don’t help us communicate very effectively. Once you settle on your “dead” words, write them down on slips of paper and temporarily “bury” them in a container.

Every week, select one “dead” word from the container and ask students to think about how they use it: is it a verb, an adjective, or an adverb? Next, students will use the classroom thesauruses to look up the word and find 10 alternatives.

Once students have their list, they create gravestones. Now you’re ready to hold a ceremony to say goodbye to the dead words and bury them once and for all!

Happy Halloween! And happy vocabulary-building!

I'd like to thank The Inspired Classroom for this awesome vocabulary-building idea!