While first grade students need to master over 300 words by the end of the school year, second grade students will need to master over 800 new words to remain on grade level. Just follow the 8 easy steps listed at the top of each Classroom Reading Wall list. This is guaranteed to wake up your class and bring smiles from even the grumpiest students. As you can see, this is not only a fun exercise for everyone, but is extremely effective for getting important information into the student's short term memory. Another fun activity.
Students begin by putting both hands on their desk.
The teacher then says the words in order from top to bottom - however, the teacher makes an intentional mistake when saying one or two of the words. When the students hear the mistake they raise their hand immediately. Call on one of the students and they must say the correct word. To increase concentration further, I begin by pointing to the word, but wait 5-10 seconds before saying the word. This gives students time to decode and say the word in their minds.