Vocabulary Puzzles for Latin for the New Millennium I Chapters 1-12

The Vocabulary Puzzle is intended to be students' first encounter with the Vocabulary to Learn in a given chapter of Latin for the New Millennium, Level I. I give them the puzzle before they've looked at the reading passage or the vocabulary list.  They are supposed to try to use their prior knowledge to match up Latin words with their English meanings. They will write each Latin word into the box containing the correct English equivalent. I do not allow them to look in their books or at any other resources at this stage of the process.  

After they seem to reached the limit of what they can do on their own (which is more than most of them think - don't quit too early!) we go over the results together.  I ask the students to share their answers and to explain their reasoning for each answer. This last step is very important both for helping them understand the words more deeply (as opposed to simply remembering a definition) and for developing higher thinking skills.

The Vocabulary Puzzle is a very simple tool, but I've found it to be quite effective. It helps students to learn and not just to remember but to understand the vocabulary better. Not only that, it helps them build up their analytical skills at the same time.  It works, and the students actually look forward to doing the puzzle at the beginning of each chapter

Included: puzzle pages & keys for chapters 1-12 of Latin for the New Millennium, Level I.