1. Send your students on a Dictionary Scavenger Hunt. You can make one up yourself, orget this one for free.

2. Play Speed Word Search. Give each student or pair of students a dictionary. When you call out a word, student must find the word as quickly as possible. The first person to call out the correct page number wins the round. This would be a good one to do in teams -everyone has his or her own dictionary, but the winner wins a point for the whole team rather than individually.

3. Play Mystery WordTo play this game, give a series of clues. As students hear the clues, they look for the word in the dictionary until they have narrowed it down to just one. For Example: I begin with the fourth letter of the alphabet. My second letter is an "o." I am 3 syllables long. I come before "dog" in the dictionary. My last letter is "t."

4. Play Dictionary DigThis game is similar to Mystery Word in that you give clues and the students look for a word. The difference is that the clues are broader and many words could be a correct answer. This one is fun because students enjoy finding more than one word to fit the clues and sharing their words with each other. Example: Find a word that begins with "s," is two syllables long, has double letters, and is an adjective. You can get a set of30 Dictionary Dig Task Cardshere.

5. Collect New WordsHave each student keep a notebook of new words. This is a nice activity to do daily or a few times a week. It is also good for handwriting practice. Each day, each student finds a word in the dictionary that he does not know. She then writes the word, definition, and an original sentence using the word in her notebook. An illustration would also make a nice addition. Have students share their words with at least one other person.

6. Make up New WordsAsk each student make up a new word and definition. Have each student write his or her word and definition on a post it and put the post it in the appropriate place in the dictionary. Make a class list of the new words and their definitions. Challenge the class to use the words in everyday conversation. This of course, would go beautifully with the bookFrindleby AndrewClements.

7. Estimate and MeasureHave the students stack all of the dictionaries intoone tall tower. Invite each student to estimate how tall the tower is. Record guesses on the board. Measure the tower and see whose answer was the closest. You could also do a similar activity by lining them up end to end across the classroom.

8. Line Them Up Like DominoesProbably not the best use for your classroom dictionaries...but it would be fun! There is probably some clever way to make it into a physics lesson.