Curated OER
Word Association Poetry with Visual Thesaurus (or Not)
Young poets get inspiration and guidance for making word association poems with the Visual Thesaurus. Your class could complete this project with nothing more than a pencil and paper as well. A nice one-off for a substitute during your...
Curated OER
Using a Thesaurus--Antonyms
In this antonyms instructional activity, students utilize a dictionary or thesaurus to find the most appropriate antonym for the following four words: exceptional, passive, prepared and fast.
Curated OER
A Victorian Vocabulary Challenge
Introduce your high schoolers to some tough vocabulary. No, I'm not talking about the SAT list! Revisit Victorian literature to find tricky words we still use today. Using the Visual Thesaurus, learners will preview vocabulary in a quote...
Curated OER
Degrees Of Meaning
Introduce the idea of a word and its synonyms having different degrees of meaning. Each individual chooses a word that he or she wants to work with and fills out the included worksheet using a thesaurus. Consider having a word bank of...
Curated OER
Young Ones
This is the cutest reference materials activity ever! Researchers complete six sentences on baby animal names, continuing the pattern by writing five more sentences about other animals from their research. They use a thesaurus to look up...
Curated OER
Template #1 A Lesson Before Dying Journal Reflections/Personal Statements
If you're working through A Lesson Before Dying, by Ernest J. Gaines, you might be interested in this resource. Pupils fill this page out after reading each chapter in order to create a short summary and clarify plot points and...
Curated OER
The Mighty Elements: Using the Visual Thesaurus to Investigate Chemical Elements
Pupils create trading cards for elements in the Periodic Table. Initially, they are introduced to the Periodic Table of Elements and the concept of elements in the world around us. After dividing into groups, learners use the Visual...
Curated OER
It's Opposite Day
Celebrate Opposite Day by using a Visual Thesaurus to match words to their antonyms. They match a list of vocabulary words to their antonym counterparts using the Visual Thesaurus, and then they play Antonym Bingo with the words from...
Curated OER
Understanding King's Use of Metaphors in the
One of the most famous and well-crafted speeches of all time, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, consists of rich metaphors and rhetorical language. Using a provided graphic organizer, students analyze five quotes...
Curated OER
Using a Thesaurus
Students become familiar with the Thesaurus as a resource. In this Thesaurus lesson, students complete a worksheet by finding other words to replace the given word and use the word in a sentence.
Curated OER
Day 1 - Synonyms
Looking for a good presentation on synonyms? This presentation could be for you! After basic instruction on synonyms, pupils are given many opportunities to practice using them in a variety of ways. Additionally, they learn how to use a...
K12 Reader
Christmas Tree Add an Adjective
The star on the top of a Christmas tree can be beautiful, or it can be gold, or it can be shiny—or, in fact, it can be all three! A picture of a decorated Christmas tree encourages pupils to choose from a list of 18 adjectives to...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Vocabulary: Word Meaning, Dictionary Cube
Scholars work together to define words and answer questions using a dictionary cube.
Curated OER
Creative Writing Using the Senses
Fifth graders, utilizing a thesaurus to identify alternative word choices and meanings, eat a sweet treat and then list eight different adjectives for each of the five senses. They then describe a sweet with at least then adjectives...
Curated OER
Using Words as a Way into Rick Riordan's The Lightning Thief
Use the Visual Thesaurus to predict the subject matter of Rick Riordan's book The Lightning Thief. A pre-reading activity encourages middle schoolers to use context clues and word meaning to discover what the book is about. After...
Curated OER
Thesaurus
In this Language Arts instructional activity, students analyze a thesaurus entry and answer 5 questions about it. Students also use a thesaurus to answer 10 questions.
Curated OER
Shades of Meaning
Learners use words with similar meanings to analyze implied meanings. In this word connotation activity, the teacher introduces the activity by asking students whether a new product should be advertised as "newfangled" or...
Curated OER
Using the Thesaurus: Synonyms
In this recognizing synonyms and antonyms worksheet, 6th graders read a list of keywords and a group of four words to identify the word that is an antonym for the keyword. Students circle 12 answers.
Curated OER
Understanding Science Vocabulary and Categorization
Students analyze scientific vocabulary words. In this life science vocabulary activity, students complete a worksheet using VisualThesaurus as they evaluate words related to plants and animals and how the words are used.
Curated OER
Introducing Synonyms to Early Writers
Upper elementary schoolers examine the concept of synonyms and how using a variety of vocabulary through synonyms can expand their writing skills. They revise a paragraph using synonyms located on the Visual Thesaurus and participate in...
Cleveland Metro School District
Novel Lesson for The Giver
Lois Lowry's The Giver is one of the most engaging and thought-provoking works of literature in the middle school curriculum. Round out your novel unit with a collection of reading activities, comprehension questions, memoir and...
Library Sparks
Reference Tools Vocabulary Challenge
Young scholars love the opportunity of going to the library to jump into that one comfy chair in the whole room with a book, or be a lucky one to get to the computers before anyone else. But knowing how to locate books and other...
Curated OER
Synonyms
Help keep your writers from using the same words in their writing: introduce them to synonym. Learners read a brief explanation of synonyms with examples. Then, they fill in a chart by writing synonyms for six adjectives. Consider having...
Curated OER
Heroic Vocabulary: Using Decoding Strategies and Thesaurus
Develop the decoding skills of your middle and high schoolers. Scholars participate in a classroom activity that requires them to decode a word with a prefix and suffix. They apply the skill of breaking the word into parts of meaning as...