Teacher Guide for List-Group-Label Strategy
Purpose:
The List-Group-Label Strategy is a brainstorming activity designed to help
students make connections between words, building and activating schema. It helps
students see connections between known and unknown words.
Directions:
The teacher provides a topic and asks students to brainstorm (as a class or in small
groups) as many words as they can that are related to that topic. Once the students have
generated lists of words, they are now asked to group them into categories and then label
those categories.
Variations on this activity include: the teacher provides the list of words, or the
teacher provides categories for the words, or the teacher provides groupings and asks the
students to label.
Teachers should be prepared with several words if students need help generating
lists. They should also be ready to model and guide students to think of vocabulary
words on their grade level.
List-Group-Label for Walk Two Moons
Students will be given a list of words that describe character attributes. They then
must group and label them according to particular characters. (Sal, her grandmother,
Phoebe, etc.) While some words describe certain characters better than others, students
can have the flexibility to use words several times or to say, “Sal is ornery when her
grandparents take too much time on the road trip, but usually Phoebe is more ornery.”
After the grouping and labeling is complete, students will choose their two favorite
words. They will write a few sentences for each word explaining why that word
describes a particular character by giving an example from the book.
Erin Barker 2006
List-Group-Label Activity
Walk Two Moons Character Analysis Vocabulary
Directions: Read through all of the vocabulary words from Walk Two Moons listed below. With a
partner decide whether each word best describes Sal, Phoebe, or another character in the book. Write
each word under one of the three columns SAL, PHOEBE, or OTHER (pick a character that you think
these words fit and write it on the line next to OTHER). After you have made your groups, choose your
two favorite words. In a few sentences explain why each word describes the character you decided it
described. Try to give an example from the book.
Example: Raspy describes Mrs. Cadaver because Phoebe said Mrs. Cadaver had a raspy voice.
Cantankerous
Chickabiddy
Dignified
Gullible
Lunatic
Optimistic
Ornery
Peculiar
Poised
Prissy
Prim
Sarcastic
Skeptical
Stern
Sympathetic
* words from http://www.edhelper.com/books/Walk_Two_MoonsWordWall.htm
SAL
PHOEBE
OTHER:________
Favorite Word 1: _____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
Favorite Word 2:
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
Erin Barker 2006