Newspaper Hangman Game

A Vocabulary Game By Diane Goold, NIE Director St. Joseph News-Press, St. Joseph, MO. Goal: 2 - Acquire knowledge and skills to communicate effectively. Standard: CA 1 - Speaking & writing Standard English. This activity will help students build vocabulary, scan for challenging words & view the newspaper as a source for both standard and challenging words and information. 1. Divide students into two teams. Have each team look through the newspaper to find words for the other team to solve. Determine the number of words to be found & solved prior to the beginning of the game. 2. Set up the hangman game on the board, including the gallows and spaces for each letter of the word they are guessing. 3. The team that is giving the clues will give some information to help identify where in the paper the word is found and some clues to help find the word. Examples: The word can be found in the comic strips and has something to with people eating. The word can be found on the front page and has something to do with a foreign country. 4. The team giving the clues must also provide the definition of the word, if it is an unfamiliar word to most of the students. The teacher can allow for other rules and hints as needed. 5. Allow a set amount of time for solving the puzzle. Rotate words and teams for as long as the game time allows. The team with the greatest amount of solved words wins. 6. List all the vocabulary words chosen as clues and use them in a variety of ways i.e. spelling word lists, writing sentences using the words, alphabetizing, story writing, etc.