Literacy on the Roll!
Wednesday July 23, 2008
When traveling in the car, turn off those mini DVDs and have some fun extending language growth. Here are some things you can do:
- Brainstorm as many words as you can that begin with____ and take turns.
- Silly sentences: make a silly sentence using as many words beginning with ___ (Tommy Tinker takes tons (tonnes) of traveling tunes to Toronto on Tuesdays.)
- Extend a sentence, here's an example: 1st person says 'I like red', next person says 'I like bright red', next person says 'I like bright red cars', next person says 'I like bright red cars that go fast'. When ideas get exhausted, start again.
- Select a color, then brainstorm all the things that come in that color.
- Pick a letter, try having a conversation without using any words containing that letter.
- Verb It: for this game, you pick a single word and the next person adds a verb. e.g., eyes - eyes blinked, arm - arm bent.
- Word Associations: Select a word and brainstorm everything associated with it. i.e., hand - wrist, fingers, ring, nails, nail polish, tapping, arm etc.

Comments
You have many outstanding ideas. However, it’s a bit disconcerting when, as an educator, you misspell “tons” and don’t know the difference between “e.g.” and “i.e”– a strangely common but careless error.
I must admit the word “tonne” has been used in the past and in some European countries, especially in reference to “metric ton”. It’s just not common usage in the U.S. So, I guess “tonnes” is not a misspelling, strictly speaking. Sorry.