Summary
The Electric Company enters an Olympics-style Wordball tournament where each event tests a different vocabulary skill: rapid synonyms, antonym relay, compound-word hurdles, and a final context-clue challenge. Vocabulary spotlight: add, penalty, score, compete, equal. Organized around friendly competition, the episode gives students repeated practice with multiple word-knowledge strategies in a single sitting.
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Teaching resources
Discussion questions
Discussion
Vocabulary knowledge is like a sport — the more you practise, the faster and more accurate you get.
- Which Wordball event was hardest for the team: synonyms, antonyms, compound words, or context clues? Why do you think that event is trickiest?
- Pick one vocabulary strategy from the episode. Show how you'd use it on a word you saw in a book this week.
- How is knowing lots of words like having a bigger toolbox for reading and writing?
Quick work-a-long
Vocabulary: synonym, antonym, compound word, context clue, compete.
Try it: Run your own mini Wordball Games — give each player 60 seconds to name as many synonyms for 'big' as possible, then antonyms for 'happy,' then compound words that start with 'sun.' Tally the scores.