Another lesson plan.

I just made it up, pretending that I played it with my students, though we did things very similar.

We set the rules together.

Look through the dictionary. Find a word that sounds interesting, uncommonly used, but might be a good addition to our vocabulary.

Write the word and its definition in your notebook and keep it handy.

Then draw a number from the bowl of numbers, placing a copy of your number in the other bowl.

When everyone has a word and a number, one student chosen at random picks a number from the bowl of duplicates.

The drawn number is read aloud.

The student with that number calls it out, verifies its legitimacy, and writes his word and number on the board.

When a minimum of ten words are on the board, students look up each word in the dictionary and read the definition silently.

Then the class votes on the words by number, choosing which one to use in a story.

The top five choices are circled, and students each write a story using those words.

Students take their turn reading their story to the class which votes on the best.

The winners win a prize selected by the teacher which may involve a healthy snack.

The winners’ names are displayed prominently in the room and on the school marquee and sent to the newspaper.

Each student’s notebook fills up with words and definitions.

The class recorder writes the winning stories in the class register.

At semester’s end the collection of winning stories is published as a book and each student receives a copy. The teacher assures that all students are included.

A copy is given to the District Superintendent and each Member of the School Board.

A copy is added to the public library’s collection and circulated to the community.

A copy is sent to the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian archives.

The Mayor, the Governor, and the President of the United States each receive a copy.

A copy is set aside for the next time capsule to be buried on the school grounds. The dig-up date is chosen to be sure the authors are still alive and able to be remembered at the ceremony which includes the media, a parade with marching bands and rolling tanks, and artillery fired into the stratosphere. A copy is sent by interstellar rocket to the outer reaches of the galaxy universe.

A school assembly is scheduled and winning students read their stories to the whole school to universal acclaim.

The Principal shakes their hands.

Community money provides college scholarships.

Students overheard using the vocabulary words in everyday speech are given extra credit.