IT'S ABOUT TIME for BECAUSE OF MR. TERUPT and ONE DOLLAR WORDS

 

Have you ever shared Because of Mr. Terupt, by Rob Buyea, with your class?  If you haven't, I beg you to try it. Intermediate students will enjoy the novel because of its authentic characters and realistic action.  Year after year, my learners sprint to the library to secure the sequels; Mr. Terupt Falls Again, Saving Mr. Terupt, and Goodbye Mr. Terupt.  It warms my teacher's heart to see these tweens have such enthusiasm for reading.

(I'm not an affliate receiving compensation for Mr. Buyea's book sales.  I just love them!)

Mr. Terupt introduces his students (and mine) to ONE DOLLAR WORDS. So fascinating is this concept that I embraced the challenge to find words worth exactly $1 and promptly found more than 600! (Full disclosure: my tech mogul son wrote a program for me, but he was fast.) The challenge is to find words worth exactly $1 when the letters are added together using these values:

Lots of teachers throw this challenge out to their learners.  So, give it a try.  Can you find a ONE DOLLAR WORD?  I'll wait...

Frustrating, isn't it?  Just think up a word, calculate its value, and determine that it does NOT equal $1. After several attempts, you lose interest and turn to some other endeavor. 

BUT, I have a solution for that!  And, as a result, year after year after year, my students cannot get enough of ONE DOLLAR WORDS.

My solution was to write clues (>450) that will lead to the words.

In doing this (frantically, to stay ahead of my enrichment students), I discovered that ONE DOLLAR WORDS can incorporate myriad skills and learning in several disciplines.

MATH

Obviously addition computation is a necessary skill. But the math work does not end there.

• Allowing your charges to use calculators will hone their proficiency with those tools.
• Children will quickly determine whether their word is greater than or less than $1 in value.
• Astute learners will recognize that common prefixes and suffixes have a specific value. They can quickly compute the change in a word's value by adding or subtracting that value. Some of my students even created an anchor chart for quick reference.

• Some learners will employ multiplication when they recognize that a possible word uses a letter multiple times.

LANGUAGE ARTS

Vocabulary is clearly key in this pursuit. Your pupils will search for synonyms and may be introduced to new and novel words. There is so much more involved, however, once your scholars begin paying close attention to the clues.

• Answers should match the clues in tense, singular/plural, and parts of speech.
• Base words, prefixes, and suffixes will quickly seize the focus of the word sleuths.
• Some clues offer a hint; the answer is a compound word.

RESEARCH

A variety of research tools will help your pupils.

• dictionary
• thesaurus
• internet resources

Not only will these tools offer tremendous help in finding the target words, but they will also assist with correct spelling.

CRITICAL THINKING

The problem solving, reasoning, and strategic planning involved in decrypting the clues rank high on Bloom's Taxonomy and Webb's Depth of Knowledge.

Because I conduct a pull-out program for 3rd  - 5th grade enrichment students, I employ a friendly competition.  Pitting each grade level class against the others brings out a flurry of activity that makes the rest of the school stand back in awe. My students beg their classroom teachers to allow them to come to me for another clue as soon as they solve one. This is spurred on, of course, by my public display of each team's score on a daily basis.

You can read more about THE GREAT $1 WORD CHALLENGE in the products available in my TPT Store. TRY IT BEFORE YOU BUY IT! with the free version.

If you love ONE DOLLAR WORDS, you can find 10 products in my store.