What's the Word?

Subjects

• Arts & Humanities

Grade

• 3-5
• 6-8
• 9-12

Brief Description

In Secret Word, students work in teams and use clues to identify a word that only one team member knows.

Objectives

Students

• exercise vocabulary and thinking skills.
• work cooperatively with teammates.
• follow game instructions.

Keywords

game, vocabulary, word, secret, team

Materials Needed

• word list

Lesson Plan

In Secret Word, teams of students try to guess a word from clues given by a teammate who knows it. The activity may be adapted for any subject by selecting an appropriate list of "secret words."

To set the stage for this game, set two chairs in front of the room and divide the students into two teams. Players will take turns in the role of the child who is "in the know." Have one representative from each team take a seat in the chair and face his (or her) teammates.

Reveal the secret word to the two students in the chairs. Choose one of those students as the first to give a clue to his team. Clues must be relevant to the word and cannot include the word itself. The team confers briefly and makes a guess. If it is incorrect, the second team takes its turn with a clue and guess. Play alternates until one team guesses the secret word and wins a point. The team that does not receive the point gets to go first with the next secret word.

For example, given the secret word "apple"