Curated OER
Exploring the Power of Puns
Read and analyze a variety of Shakespearean and contemporary puns using Visual Thesaurus computer software. Middle and high schoolers analyze a pun as a class; in small groups they analyze a Shakespearean pun using contextual clues and...
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
Dead Word Wall Lesson
Help your writers eliminate "dead words" (words that are overused) from their writing. This instructional activity includes a SMART board presentation that will guide them through identifying, eliminating, and substituting "dead words"...
Think Map
Know Your Polygons!
Shape shifters recognize characteristics of polygons. Embracing language arts skills in addition to math, they use a thesaurus to pinpoint specific attributes of a set of polygons. They also participate in a 21-question guessing game...
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...
Curated OER
Technopoet - Poetry Lesson Plans
Practice word processing while writing different types of poems. First, elementary and middle schoolers use Word templates to write poetry. They use rhyming and descriptive words as they work with clipart, text wrapping, and picture...
Curated OER
Making a Family Newsletter: Using a Word Template
Students create a one-page family newsletter about a selected person in their family. They bring in a photo or use a digital camera to take a picture of their selected family member, and use a newsletter template to write and publish...
BBC
Starship English and Math - Online Lesson Plans
Two online lessons, one in math and one in language arts, are here for you. In them, learners play online games which reinforce important skills in literacy and numeracy. The thing I like about both of these lessons is that they get the...
EngageNY
End of Unit Assessment: Revising and Publishing
Dictionaries, thesauruses, word walls, oh my! Pupils use several resources to revise their position papers to include appropriate vocabulary. Then, after peer editing, scholars write the final drafts of their essays and self-assess using...
EngageNY
Resource Materials and Gathering Information: Reading Another “Choice” Text from the Research Folder
Look it up. Scholars use a dictionary and thesaurus to verify the meaning of the research vocabulary words they defined in the previous activity. They then use sticky notes to write a synonym for each word. Finally, individuals choose a...
Utah Education Network (UEN)
7th Grade Poetry: I Am Poem
A study of Alfred Noyes's poem "The Highwayman" opens a lesson about narrative poetry. Scholars read the poem and compare it to the animated video version using a worksheet. Learners look at models and use a template to craft an "I Am"...
Curated OER
Nouns in a Story
Students, assessing a variety of formatting tools with Microsoft Word, utilize a bank of vocabulary words to make a personal dictionary of nouns. They classify nouns for people, places, things and ideas and separate them into common and...
Curated OER
Thesaurus: Don't Be Repetitive
Students use a thesaurus to expand their usage of language in their written work. In this thesaurus lesson, students work with the reference book to add variety to their word choices. Students then adjust their spoken ,...
Curated OER
The Power of Words in Charlotte's Web
"How can a few good words save a pig's life?" Posed with this question, your ELD students explore E.B. White's Charlotte's Web in a meaningful, valuable way. By analyzing specific word choice from the book, especially the excerpts...
Curated OER
Down the Knoll Without the Water
Young scholars use a thesaurus to find synonyms for selected words in fairy tales.
Florida Center for Reading Research
Vocabulary: Word Meaning, All For One
Given a deck of cards with different words printed, pairs draw cards and work together to locate definitions for each multiple-meaning word. Learners complete a worksheet that challenges them to write the word, two of its definitions,...
Curated OER
Locating Information Quickly in a Variety of Resources
Here is a lesson which may be best suited for a library science teacher, or one that can be done by a regular teacher when in the library. In it, learners explore the best ways to use print and electronic resources to find information...
EngageNY
Mid-Unit Assessment: Text-Dependent and Short Answer Questions: Excerpts from “A Limited Supply”
There's no such thing as an unlimited resource. Scholars complete a mid-unit assessment by reading A Limited
Supply. They answer text-dependent questions and complete a graphic organizer about key terms in the text.
Curated OER
Become an Expert
Young scholars are assigned a separate species of plant or bird to research. Using a worksheet, they are responsible for finding a variety of information on their assigned plant or bird. They also complete a mini-poster and give an oral...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Vengeful Verbs in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”
It's time for pupils to read, examine, and contemplate literature to explore the difference between vivid and generic verbs. Pupils distinguish between the two types of verbs as they read the ghost scene from Shakespeare's Hamlet. They...
Roald Dahl
Matilda - The Weekly Test
Readers take the main characters in Matilda and individually describe them through a mnemonic. To get there, group members create an acrostic poem describing the character they were given, and choose one of the words from the...
Curated OER
Homophone Cartoons
A terrific activity on homophones awaits your youngsters. First, pupils access a website that contains lists of homophones. Then, it's time to get creative! Everyone gets a piece of poster board and they create a homophone cartoon -...
Curated OER
Communicating about Our World through Informal Writing
Fifth graders review their writing for repetition of words at the beginning of the sentence. In this informal writing lesson plan, 5th graders share examples of sentence beginnings. Students use a thesaurus to find antonyms...