Vocabulary Words 6th grade ILA

Vocabulary & Etymology

During 6^th grade, students will engage in learning about words and developing a larger usable vocabulary in their writing and speaking.  Almost all of the vocabulary words studied this year will be student generated and posted on the classroom Word Wall as well as in the students Writer’s notebooks. 

The purpose of our vocabulary work is to expand students verbal as well as written knowledge of words in order to find more specific and descriptive words to use in their writing, speaking as well as to develop comprehension in their reading.  Students are expected to incorporate new words into their writing and reading responses.

In general, once a week students are given a target word such as talkative.  Their assignment is to use a thesaurus to locate alternate words for the target word.  In some cases, the words are synonyms in other cases the words are closely related words but vary slightly in meaning.  Working cooperatively in groups students decide on their alternate word and present to the class the words meaning and ways the word can be used.  Once a list of five words has been presented, the class uses critical thinking skills to classify the words. 

A listing of all Word Wall words Can be found under 6th grade word wall icon.

Target Words Week of January 28th

Nugatory (NOO-guh-tor-ee, or NYOO-guh-tor-ee)

Worthless, trifling, of little or no importance.  This dismissive term is a descendant of Latin nugae, which means "jokes" or "trifles." (It's no relation, by the way, to nugget, which is thought to come from nug, an English dialectal term for "lump.")

"Alas, it appears that he regards her attentions as nugatory at best."

Target Word Week of February 4th

Berserk
(burr-SURK or burr-ZURK)

Wildly or destructively violent; frenzied.
In Old Norse, the word for "wild warrior" was berserkr. This word is thought to derive from bjorn, meaning "bear" (and yes, it's the source of the name Bjorn), and serkr, meaning "shirt" or "coat."

Tradition has it that in battle, these berserkerswent, well, berserk -- roaring like animals, foaming at the mouth, and even leaving teeth marks in the rims of their iron shields. (According to one dictionary, this frenzied rage was "possibly induced by eating hallucinogenic mushrooms.")

"'I've decided that the next time somebody is yakking too loudly on a cell phone, I'm going to go right up to him, look him straight in the eye, and repeat every single word he's saying until he hangs up. Otherwise, I'm afraid I'll just go berserk,' Bjorn said."