When students are reading, they'll likely encounter unfamliliar words. A great way to engage students with new vocabulary is to have them create vocabulary boards. This is especially helpful when students read Elie Wiesel's Night. In the vocabulary board, students can choose between coming up with their use of the vocabulary board, finding the specific example from the text, or depicting it without words.
A minor official in the church who serves a ceremonial function
Extreme poverty
The act of forcing someone or something out
To set free or release
A religious practice which believes that through prayer and thought a person can gain spiritual truth
(These instructions are completely customizable. After clicking "Copy Activity", update the instructions on the Edit Tab of the assignment.)
Student Instructions
Demonstrate your understanding of the vocabulary words in Night by creating visualizations.
Invite students to display their vocabulary boards around the classroom. This encourages peer learning and lets students see diverse ways to visualize and understand new words.
Give each student a specific role—such as 'definition checker' or 'illustration explainer'—to review classmates’ boards. This builds accountability and helps everyone deepen their understanding.
Arrange students in a circle to share their favorite vocabulary word from the activity. This fosters oral language skills and lets students practice using academic vocabulary aloud.
Challenge students to write a short story, poem, or comic using at least two new vocabulary words. This helps reinforce word meaning through creative application.
To create a vocabulary activity for 'Night' by Elie Wiesel, ask students to select key terms from the book, define them, use them in original sentences, and illustrate their meanings through drawings or images. This helps deepen understanding and retention.
Important vocabulary words from 'Night' include Beadle, Penury, Expulsion, Liberate, and Mysticism. Teaching these terms helps students grasp the book’s key themes and historical context.
A vocabulary board is a tool where students define words, use them in sentences, and illustrate their meanings. In literature lessons, it encourages engagement with new terms and supports visual and written learning styles.
Students can visually demonstrate understanding by drawing scenes, creating character interactions, or using relevant images that depict the meaning of each word. This can be done digitally or on paper for flexible classroom use.
Using visual vocabulary boards with high school students makes abstract words more concrete, supports multiple learning styles, and boosts retention by connecting definitions to images and personal examples.