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Use communication skills to talk with their peers and try to get others to say their secret word.
Take notes on conversations.
Use context clues to help determine who had each secret word.

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For the whole group:

List of secret words, cut into individual words

For each student:

1 secret word
Pencil
Notebook or sheet of paper with something to write on, such as a clipboard or book
Secret Word Worksheet

List of Secret Words and Secret Word Worksheet

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Read through and familiarize yourself with the entire activity.

Gather materials.

Print out and cut apart the secret words.

Print out a copy of the Secret Word Worksheet for each student.

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Tell students that today they are going to be word detectives. Explain that each of them will be assigned a secret word. They will have conversations in small groups, and it will be their job to lead the conversation in a way that will get others to say their secret word. For instance, if their secret word was monkey, they might want to lead the conversation in the direction of zoos or bananas. During the conversation they will have to be careful not to say their own word.
Explain that while they are talking with other students, they can carry paper or a notebook with them to take notes on the conversation. Tell them they will have to listen carefully because at the end of the conversations, they will be given a list of all the secret words. It will be their job to write down the name of the person they think had each word.
Remind students that there should be no guessing of secret words during the conversations, because they don’t want to give away anyone else’s secret word.
Pass out the secret words, a pencil, and a notebook or paper to each student. Make sure that everyone understands what their secret word is and what they need to do.
Divide students into small groups, and have them begin their conversations. After a few minutes, end the conversations and give the students a little time to write down any additional notes about their conversation they think they might need. While the students are talking, circulate around the room in case any questions come up and to make sure that students are on task.
Have the students find a new small group they have not worked with and repeat the same process. Continue until all the students have talked with each other. As you near the end of the activity, the groups may include someone they have already spoken to.
After the students have finished their conversations, hand out the Secret Word Worksheet. Tell the students they will now put their detective skills to the test.
Ask students to work individually to write the name of the person that they think had that secret word in the box next to that word. They can use any notes they took to help them.
When all of the students have made their guesses, it is time to reveal who had each word. Tell the students that you are going to go down the list and when you get to their word, they should announce that it was theirs.
Ask them to keep track of the ones they had correct and incorrect while you are going through the list. If their guess was correct, they should leave it alone. If their guess was incorrect, they should cross it out and write the correct name.
After you identify all the words, have students count up how many they had correct. See who had the most correct in the group.
To wrap the activity, lead a discussion using the following questions:a. Were there any strategies you used to get your peers to say your word? What were they?b. Good communication skills are important to do this activity well. What were some examples of good communication skills you saw today?c. Looking at the list of words, what word do you think would be most difficult to work into a conversation? Why?

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Have the conversations without having the students take notes.

Have the students work in pairs to make their guesses.

Have students come up with their own mystery words. Instead of handing out a list of words at the end, hand out a list of names, and ask the students to fill in the mystery words.

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Students participate in a variety of speaking and writing activities, helping them practice many essential language arts skills.

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Word Detectives

Word Detectives

Word Detectives

Overview