IT'S ABOUT TIME for HINK PINKS, et al.

 

Kiddos learn best when they're having fun and few things are more fun that HINK PINKS, HINKY PINKIES, & HINKITY PINKITIES! These word riddles will exercise a multitude of vocabulary skills (definitions, synonyms, parts of speech, rimes, syllables, ...) while challenging students to problem solve. These task cards prompt your learners to interpret data, make inferences, draw conclusions, and analyze new infomation.

Here's how they work:

• HINK PINKS are riddles that call for a 2 word answer. The 2 words must each have 1 syllable and they must rhyme. In the above example, the clue, seize pinching shellfish, has the answer grab crab.
• HINKY PINKIES differ from HINK PINKS in that the answer to the riddle must be 2 words with 2 syllables each. The HINKY PINKY above offers the clue, Pacific wave actions; the answer being ocean motion.
• As you may have guessed, HINKITY PINKITIES require answer words with 3 syllables. The clue above, enormous ocean can be answered with gigantic Atlantic. 

Intriguing aren't they?

It can take students a while to catch on to this word play. Begin with HINK PINKS and solve several together. Demonstrate your thinking. Offer your learners the use of dictionaries and thesauri (print or digital). Complete as many as a group as necessary until you see the lightbulb go on. Once your pupils have a good command of HINK PINKS, move on to HINKY PINKIES. HINKITY PINKITIES are the most challenging, not only because of the vocabulary necessary for the answers, but because the language of the clues is more complex.

Intrigued?  Try this FREE unit, just in time for Groundhog Day:

I'm such a fan of HINK PINKS, et al., that my store offers more than 3 dozen products. There are holiday sets and specially themed sets, such as the OCEANIC HINK PINKS, et al. seen at the top of the page.

The above bundles each contain 4 individual products; the bundles save you 30%.

HINK PINKS, et al., are staples in gifted education, but let me assure you they are great for regular education students, as well. I have used them successfully with 1st graders! Just realize that younger students will need more support.

My HINK PINK, et al. products cover the major holidays and a plethora of special themes.

What if you teach kindergarten or ELL? Then you should try HINK PINKS and HINKY PINKIES for KINDERS. These sets provide visual clues; no reading required.  Check out the FREE set:

If you are new to HINK PINKS, et al., I hope you'll try them.  My students literally beg me to bring these task cards out.

The Great Vocabulary Divide

Educational research is replete with studies about THE GREAT VOCABULARY DIVIDE between successful and unsuccessful students; a fact every teacher knows without benefit of those studies.  

While the research shows that the gap begins in infancy (with a 30 million word difference in exposure to words by age 4 between socio economic classes), the import to education is that vocabulary development is crucial to all learning. It is no surprise that children with larger vocabularies are better equipped for learning when they enter school.  After all, by virtue of hearing more words, they are exposed to more grammar, sentence structure, cadence, expression, and countless other aspects of language that are vital to success.  By 3rd grade, when reading shifts from learning to read to reading to learn, the gap is wider; the consequences more pronounced.  Bottom line, children with larger vocabularies are stronger readers and perform significantly better on standardized tests.

What are teachers to do about this divide? Clearly they must create word-rich environments that entice their students to revel in the power of words.  Direct, daily instruction is key, yet research shows that dictionary work is the least effective method. According to Blachowicz, Beyersdorfer, & Fisher (2006), young children need 4 conditions to develop vocabulary knowledge:

1. exposure to new vocabulary
2. engagement and motivation
3. multiple experiences with new words that promote context and definition
4. independent word-learning strategies.

I will argue that children need 3 additional things:

1. teachers who model a love of words
2. interest in and curiousity about words
3. active involvement in "playing" with words.

I am a self-professed logophile.  Words have always intrigued me and word play delights me. It is only natural, then, that I consistently incorporate word play into my curricula. I call it "play" because that is what it feels like to my students.  It's learning disguised as fun and it fulfills all the conditions cited above. 

One example of word play in my class is Hinky Pinkies.

Intrigued? These vocabulary building, critical thinking exercises are so popular with students that they literally beg to do them. How often do you get enthusiasm like that? 

Hinky Pinkies are often thought to be for gifted students. Certainly G/T students love them and engage easily with them. But there is no universal law that restricts them from being used with regular ed. kiddos. I have decades of experience using Hinky Pinkies with heterogeneous groups as young as 2nd grade. In fact, special ed. teachers and speech and language therapists have left positive feedback about using them with their students.  

As a result of working with Hinky Pinkies, your students will not only increase their vocabularies, but gain facility with syllables, phonemes, synonyms, parts of speech, and verb tenses. They exercise their problem solving and critical thinking skills. My children have been known to voluntarily seek out dictionaries and thesauri!

The vocabulary benefits alone should be enough to convince any teacher to try these riddles. But my favorite outcome is the look of pleasure and satisfaction on my students' faces when they solve their first Hinky Pinky all by themselves.

You can find lots of Hink Pinks, Hinky Pinkies, and Hinkity Pinkities in my TPT store, but you can try these for FREE!  And they are just in time for St. Patrick's Day.