Creating Word Clouds
There are endless ways word clouds can be used in the classroom. Some ideas are listed in the Web 2 section of this website, but many are reliant on having control over the shape of the word cloud. Tag Cloud ($1.29) and Word Clouds by ABCYa.com (Free) do not give you control over your word cloud shape. The new app WordPack ($1.29) does allow you to create word clouds in over 120 different shapes, 45 fonts and 80 colour themes.
Activity 1 - Spelling words
A simple and fun way to practise spelling words for the week. Word cloud can then be printed and pasted into spelling book for later reference. Activity 2 - Weekly reflection Students record five words that describe their week at school. All of the words from each student in the class can be collated and then published into a word cloud and shared on the class blog. Gives valuable insight into the classroom each week. Activity 3 - Language study Students can locate and sort words that match a particular topic being studied. For example, create a cloud of words that: can be used instead of said, are onomatopoeia words, are excellent adjectives. Activty 4 - Inferential comprehension Students create a word cloud by importing a website. Word clouds can be shared via Apple TV and other students then have to suggest what the website was about and explain how they came to that conclusion. Activity 5 - Predicting / Vocabulary Students viewed the front cover of their new novel and based on the title and front cover image only had to make a prediction of words they might find in the text. |
Student work samples created with Tag Cloud
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