Vocabulary Activity - Context Clues Lesson & Fun Vocabulary Zombie Survival Game
In this zombie-themed vocabulary activity, students find themselves in the middle of a zombie outbreak where every vocabulary word they decode could earn them a potentially life-saving supply! Before the fight for survival begins, the included presentation introduces students to different types of context clues and strategies for decoding unfamiliar words, including definitions, synonyms, antonyms, examples, inference, substitution, and more. Then, it’s time to survive! Teams read a Zombie Survival Guide and use context clues to determine the meanings of 15 unfamiliar words, earning supplies such as food, water, a flashlight, a first aid kit, and transportation for correct definitions. Finally, students put the supplies they’ve collected to the test in an interactive zombie outbreak story where having the right resources determines whether their team survives.
This is included in a full-year program:
→ The ELA Games Program
Included in This Zombie Vocabulary Activity and Lesson:
➡️ Vocabulary Activity Teacher Instructions: A detailed teacher guide provides everything you need to successfully run the activity in your classroom. It includes clear step-by-step instructions, an overview of how the activity works, guidance for leading students through each stage of the challenge, and details for completing the lesson from start to finish.
➡️ Decoding Vocabulary & Context Clues Presentation Slides: Use the 47-slide PowerPoint presentation to guide your lesson on context clues and run the zombie survival vocabulary activity from start to finish. The presentation introduces students to different types of context clues, including definition, synonym, antonym, example, substitution, and inference clues, and teaches them how to use these clues to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words. Also included are challenge instructions, vocabulary activity answers, survival supply reveals, and the complete interactive zombie outbreak story.
➡️ Zombie Survival Guide & Decoding Vocabulary Activity Log: Students read a Zombie Survival Guide covering everything from identifying infected zombies to finding essential supplies. Fifteen challenging vocabulary words are worked naturally into the guide, giving students the context clues they need to infer each meaning and record their definitions in the included vocabulary log.
➡️ Vocabulary Activity Glossary: A complete teacher glossary includes definitions for all 15 vocabulary words and identifies the survival supply connected to each one, making it easy to review students' answers and award the correct supply tokens.
➡️ 15 Survival Supply Tokens: For every vocabulary word they correctly define, teams earn a corresponding survival supply, including food, water, binoculars, tools, batteries, a map, first aid, and more. Students won't know which supplies they'll need during the outbreak, so every vocabulary word they successfully decode improves their team's chances of survival.
➡️ Zombie Outbreak Survival Story: Once teams finish decoding vocabulary words and collecting supplies, they put those supplies to the test in an interactive zombie outbreak story. As the story unfolds, teams face survival scenarios that require specific supplies, from barricading cafeteria doors to escaping the school. Teams with the right supplies survive and move on, while the others are eliminated until only one team remains. The complete story is included as both a teacher printable and part of the presentation.
If you like this vocabulary activity, you’ll love this resource:
→ A Year of English Bell Ringers
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