The Great Gatsby Vocabulary Development Games for High School

Frontload assigned readings with these vocabulary games and activities to facilitate comprehension of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby. Alternatively, stash these materials in an emergency sub folder to keep students meaningfully engaged in the book during unexpected teacher absences. Included are nine vocabulary application activities, nine crossword puzzles, nine word search games, and answer keys. Materials are delivered in Word Document and PDF formats. (Alternatively, a Google Drive bundle option is available.) By engaging with these activities, students will:

• Determine the meaning of unfamiliar and complex words

• Consult reference materials in order to learn and verify word meanings

• Discern the most proper application of words as they are used in sentences

A total of 162 challenging words are addressed: abortive, abounding, abyss, adventitious, aesthetic, affront, ajar, ambiguously, apathetically, ashen, banter, bewildered, boast, brooding, coarse, complacency, confounding, contempt, continually, continuously, cordial, corroborate, corrugated, countenance, credulity, dart, deft, defunct, dejection, desolate, dilatory, disheveled, dismayed, earnestly, effectually, elicit, elude, engrossed, epigram, euphemism, evoke, exasperated, exultant, feign, fervent, flounce, fluctuate, fumble, gaudily, genially, ghastly, gibberish, haste, haughty, hospitality, humidor, implore, imply, incessant, incoherent, incorruptible, incredulous, indifferent, indignantly, indiscernible, ingratiate, innumerable, inquire, insidious, interminable, inviolate, jauntily, jovially, keenly, languid, laudable, lethargic, lingeringly, melancholy, melodious, meretricious, modish, monopolize, murmur, muslin, nebulous, notoriety, notorious, obliged, obscure, obstinate, obtrusive, peasantry, penitentiary, permeate, poignant, portentous, presumptuous, protégé, punctilious, ragged, raspingly, ravenously, recede, redolent, relinquish, reluctance, reproach, retribution, reverent, reveries, riotous, sagely, saunter, scamper, scarcely, scornful, scrawny, scrutinize, scurry, sentimental, shiftless, shrill, skeptically, sneer, solemn, solidarity, squeamishness, strident, subdued, subtle, sumptuous, supercilious, superfluous, suppressed, swank, swoon, tactlessly, tangible, tinny, totter, tranquil, transitory, truculent, turgid, unintelligible, unpunctual, unscrupulously, unwavering, urbane, vacuous, vague, vehemently, veranda, vestibule, vigorously, vitality, wan, weary, whimper, wistfully, and withered.

Resources are available for a variety of engaging novels:

• 1984 by George Orwell - Google and printable

• Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card - Google and printable

• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley - Google and printable

• Feed by M.T. Anderson - Google and printable

• Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer - Google and printable

• The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells - Google and printable