I teach weekly vocab words. We play review games a few days a week, plus I do a picture review. This is how my week looks:
Monday: introduce words. All my words are based on greek/latin prefixes or roots, so I put the prefix/root on the board and have kids brainstorm with their groups for 1 minute to come up with words they know that contain that word part. Then I have one group member go to the board and write up a word. We discuss the words and see if they have anything in common, then I had out their list and explain what the root means and we go through all the words and definitions (bonus points by having the students read the definitions to the class and having all the students say the words out loud with me)
Tuesday: We play a matching game. I cut up slips for groups with definitions on one set and the words on the others. The groups race to put them together. No real awards, just pride. Takes about five minutes.
Wednesday: We play "I have, who has". Because I also use the root, I have 12 cards for the groups, so I break my classes into three big teams (sometimes I number them, sometimes I pick captains). They race to figure out who they are and put them in order. Again, no real prize, just pride, and again takes about five minutes.
Thursday: I put together a power point presentation of pictures to represent the word. Sometimes they're very literal, on some abstract words there are sometimes quotes to discuss. They have to guess the word. I also include a few short videos (I won't go over three minutes unless it's amazing). This takes a little longer. I'd love to have the kids do this themselves, or maybe have groups make slides for different words and then show everyone. However, 1--not enough technology and 2--google image anything and you're going to find naked bodies. Even bicycle had a naked woman riding a bike, full blue body paint, too. My administrator once knocked me on this. I had her google search the words. She's never said anything about it since.
I create a free crossword for them to take home on some Thursdays as extra credit. If they finish it, they receive one bonus point on the quiz.
Also I use quizlet and create a set for each week. If you look at the site, it's a little hard for them to find you so I always email out a link to parents each week and have it linked to my classes from my website. It's basically a nice way to study. They have quizzes and games and flash cards on there. Lots of the kids have created profiles and they can compete with eachother for scores. I'm tempted to give the highest score in each class extra credit, but I haven't gotten there yet. Friday is obviously the quiz.
So that's how my vocab looks each week. I've been observed 6 times this year, all of the activities are cooperative learning or incorporate visual learning, so I've always scored huge with these. Honestly, my scores are insane. I know not all the kids study all the time, but the continued reinforcement in class, plus the idea that they're competing makes most of them study starting Monday night. It's really not too much prep, either.
I know right now my district is HUGE into cooperative learning. Having those two students working together on something would have been a great way to have them enjoy and get enrichment, since it probably wasn't new content on a day when so many students were absent.
Just my two cents and some advice. Hope something here will work for you.