Dead Words

Thanks to Elementary Shenanigans, I was able to spice up my "Dead Word" ideas.  We had a funeral this year!  This was split over 2 days.
On the first day, I told them we needed to have a funeral because I had killed some words.  It was unfortunate, but new words were necessary to make our writing more exciting.  I had The Undertaker's Theme Song playing.  I did manage to creep out one student.  Everyone else giggled at my dramatics.  I then divided my kids into 6 groups, and they designed headstones for our dearly departed.

The next day was our funeral.  Everyone wore black.  I was extremely dramatic with my final words.  Then they drew headstones in their writing journals.  On the headstones, we wrote our words' family members--- the ones we can use instead of our dearly departed.  They were really able to generate a fantastic list!

Finally, I plan to add those new words onto the Dead Zone sign.  This is still a work in progress...

I also brought their attention to a standard reference poster that can now be found glued to one of our walls.  I really do appreciate these word choices!!  I even got a "Ms. Collins, you look lovely today," as a friend tried out a new word. =)