Study Skills K.I.M

Week of:  12/9/13 – 12/13/13

Theme:  Study Skills – K.I.M.

 

     Date                Announcements            Greeting             Sharing                 Activity

Tuesday 12/10 a.m.	This week we move on from R.A.T. to Stellar Study Skill #2: K.I.M.	High Five	n/a	Intro to K.I.M.
Tuesday p.m.	K.I.M. Skill Challenge RIGHT NOW!	Greet Three	n/a	Can you K.I.M. it?
Wed 12/11	Grade-Level Meetings	n/a	n/a	n/a
Thursday 12/12	Today we continue discussions of Interims and just generally hang out	Reach Out Greeting	n/a	Interim Discussions
Friday 12/13	Funny English Words to K.I.M.	Silent Greeting	n/a	What’s My Story?

 

Tuesday  – a.m.

Greeting: High-Five Greeting

1.   A student is selected to begin.  She greets the student next to her in the circle, “Good Morning, _______________” and gives a high-five. 

2.   The greeted person returns the “Good Morning” and turns to his right and repeats the process.

3.   Repeat until the original greeter is greeted and the circle is complete.

4.   Advisor sits in the circle as one of the participants.

 

Activity:  Introduction to K.I.M.:

1.  K.I.M. is a technique for memorizing vocabulary.  Nearly EVERY class (if not every class) has vocabulary-based learning.

2.    Hand out the K.I.M. worksheets to students and go over the technique (see Lesson Plan attached).

 

Tuesday -- p.m.

Greeting:  Greet Three

1.   Students make eye contact from across the circle, move and greet each other using a greeting of their choice, and repeat this process two more times. 

2.    All students are greeting simultaneously.

3.    Model and practice how to do this gracefully among several students.

 

Share/Activity:  Can you K.I.M. it??

Supplies:  scrap paper and pencils for each advisee

1.  After Greeting game, briefly review K.I.M. skill.

2.  Advisors instruct up to 10 advisees to grab a small item from around the room and place in center of the circle. 

3.  Advisors give advisees 15-30 seconds to stare at the items and try to memorize them.

4.  Advisor takes the items away and asks each student to list as many as they can remember.  See what the top number is and what the average number of recalled items is.

5.  Next, try K.I.M.-ming it:  in the next round, advisees are instructed to grab 10 small, different items (different from first round’s items) and this time, to first try making a picture or a story that includes all ten items. 

6.  After letting this happen, take the items away and ask students to write down as many items as they can recall. 

7.  Typically, giving things a context makes memorization stronger.  If this is not the case for your group, trouble-shoot possible snags in the process.

 

Thursday

Greeting:  Reach Out Greeting

1.  Advisees “reach out” and greet someone according to a decided upon trait:  someone with whom you have the fewest classes; someone who has same eye-color; someone who plays a sport you don’t play. 

2.   Advisor can choose first category and then, if appropriate, allow others to choose categories.

 

Activity:  Unstructured, non-technological social time for advisees while advisors speak with individual advisees about Interims, academic goals and/or behavioral issues.

Friday

Greeting:  Silent Greeting

1.   Students brainstorm silent greetings.

2.   Model and practice some of them, such as nodding up, nodding down, smiling, raising eyebrows, winking, etc….

3.    One at a time around the circle, students greet each other silently using one of the modeled silent greetings, or look across the circle and connect with at least three of their classmates. 

4.   When everyone has greeted, you might discuss what it felt like to be greeted silently, and the power of non-verbal communication. 

5.   Also, you might brainstorm when it’s appropriate to use non-verbal greetings – such as when you walk in late, when it’s not appropriate to interrupt, etc….

 

Activity:  K.I.M. it For REAL:

1.  Advisors hand out K.I.M. strips.

2.  Drawing from the list of funny English words below, choose five words to K.I.M. strip and five words to recite normally.

3.   Alternating words, give the spelling (best to write word on board for visual learners) of one word and ask students to K.I.M. strip it.  Next, give another word and ask students to write the definition only.  Continue this for about 10 words or more, if you have funny-word-lovers.

4.    Next, give a pop “funny word” quiz to see which words they remember better.  Remember:  this is a tool that will be more useful to some than others.  Strong auditory learners might benefit more from just hearing the word.  But in general, “adaptive encoding” improves memorization substantially.  Plus it just makes memorizing more fun. 

K.I.M. Vocabulary Technique

Lesson Plan

[Excerpted from “Middle School High Five” Program….]

 

Background:

·   This vocabulary activity does not rely on the use of a dictionary right away.  We know that when students are sent to a dictionary to look up an unknown word, they often choose the shortest definition to read, which is not necessarily the correct one.

·   Also, dictionary “language” is not always student-friendly and some students have difficulty comprehending the formal definition.

·   Instead, rely on a group discussion of new words eliciting prior knowledge of that students might already have.

·   Refer to the context in which the word is found.

·   Use prefixes, roots and suffixes to help predict the word’s meaning.

·   Lastly, consult the dictionary to validate student predictions and to clarify meaning.

 

Using the K.I.M. Strips:

·   The K.I.M. Strip is easy for students to navigate. 

·   “K” stands for the key word and students simply record the vocab word to be learned. 

·   “I” stands for important information.  Encourage students to record what they have learned about the key word in “their own words.”

·   “M” stands for memory clue or mnemonic.  Ask students to draw something to help them remember the meaning of the word.   Sometimes drawing weird connections helps the brain to remember new information longer. 

·   An example is with the word defeat.  A student might actually draw a foot stomping out something to show it winning.  The silly connection with an oversized foot can be a useful memory aid. 

·   Another idea is to add color cues since they can serve as a strong memory link.

 

K (K=Key Word)	I (I=Information/Definition)	M (M=MemoryClue/Picture)
Your Sentence:

     Funny English Words

      

                         absquatulate — leave abruptly                            

                         anomalous — deviating from normal

                         argle-bargle — extensive meaningless writing or talk

                         argy-bargy — noisy arguing                               

                         bauble — small trinket or decoration                   

                         bodacious — excellent, attractive             

 

                       bouffant — hairstyle with a rounded puffed up shape

                         brouhaha — loud, overexcited display

                         bumf — useless and dull documents                  

                         bungalow — low house

                         burgoo — stew or thick soup                              

                         cahoots — conspiring (in cahoots)

                         canoodle — kiss and cuddle                                                                           

 

                       cantankerous — grumpy and argumentative

                         chocks — wedges to stop a wheel from moving               

                         codswallop — nonsense

                         collywobbles — stomach pain, queasiness from anxiety

                         conniption — fit of rage or hysterics

                         cummerbund — a wide sash

                         defenestrate — throw out of a window

                         discombobulate — confuse someone

                         dollop — blob of soft food

                         doozy — outstanding or unique thing

                         drizzle — light rain, or to trickle a thin stream of something over food

                         effluvium — unpleasant smell or secretion

                         ensorcell — enchant, captivate

                         fartlek — distance runners' training system

                         feeble — lacking physical strength

                         finagle — get by dishonest means

                         flabbergasted — greatly astonished

                         flibbertigibbet — frivolous, chatty person

                         flume — narrow water channel

                         flummox — greatly perplex

                         foibles — minor failing or eccentricity

                         folderol — trivial fuss

                         furbelows — gathered strip or pleated border of a skirt

                         furtive — secretive

                         gallivant — gad about in pursuit of pleasure

                         gazebo — roofed garden structure

                         gazump — cheat a buyer in a house sale

                         gewgaw — useless or worthless things

                         glabella — area between eyebrows

                         glom — steal

                         gobbledygook — nonsensical language

                         gobsmacked — utterly astonished

                         gubbins — small useless bits and pieces

                         hogwash — ridiculous

                         hoi polloi — the common people

                         hoity-toity — snobby, haughty

                         hootenany — informal party with folk music

                         hornswoggle — cheat or deceive someone

                         indubitably — without a doubt

                         jalopy — old broken–down car

                         jerboa — desert rodent

                         jiggle — shake, wriggle

                         kazoo — small wind instrument

                         kerfuffle — commotion or fuss

                         knickerbockers — pants gathered at the knee

                         kumquat — small citrus fruit

                         liripoop — string on graduate's hat, or a smart trick, acuteness

                         logorrhea — tendency to talking to much

                         lugubrious — looking mournful and gloomy

                         masticate — chew food

                         mollycoddle — overindulge or overprotect someone

                         morass — boggy ground

                         namby-pamby — weak, feeble

                         niggle — cause slight but constant annoyance

                         nincompoop — stupid or silly person

                         oblong — having an elongated shape

                         occiput — back of the head

                         peeve — irritate

                         periwinkle — flower

                         petcock — small valve in steam engine or boiler

                         phalange — finger bone

                         philtrum — groove above top lip

                         pilcrow — paragraph mark

                         pinking shears — scissors that cut a zigzag edge

                         pluck — pull out quickly, or courage

                         poppysmic — the sound of smacking lips

                         quaff — drink quickly

                         quibble — slight objection

                         rapscallion — mischievous person, rascal

                         razzamatazz — showy, exciting, loud spectacle

                         rickshaw — two—wheeled vehicle pulled by a person

                         samovar — Russian tea urn

                         sassafras — North American tree, flavouring

                         schnitzel — thin fried crumbed meat

                         shenanigans — secret activity, mischief

                         shrubbery — a bunch of small bushy plants

                         skedaddle — run away

                         snarky — cutting, critical

                         snickersnee — long knife

                         spew — expel rapidly in great quantities

                         spry — lively

                         squabble — noisy quarrel over something trivial

                         squeegee — window cleaning tool

                         tittle-tattle — gossip

                         toupee — small wig

                         wharf — pier where a ship can be moored

                         widdershins — counterclockwise direction

                         winkle-pickers — shoes with long pointed toes

                       zaftig — having a pleasingly curvaceous figure