Curated OER
Seeing Words in a New Way
What's the best resource to use when looking up words? Use Visual Thesaurus to see a word's meaning. The class accesses the interactive website and then compares and contrasts the difference between using a traditional dictionary and the...
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
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
Rooting One's Way to Meaning
Discover the Virtual Thesaurus with your class. They use the Virtual Thesaurus to assist them in an inquiry-based approach to discovering the meanings of some common Latin and Greek roots. Each child then teaches a particular root and...
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...
Curated OER
Practice Book O
Whether you need resources for reading comprehension, literary analysis, phonics, vocabulary, or text features, an extensive packet of worksheets is sure to fit your needs. Based on a fifth-grade curriculum but applicable to any level of...
Curated OER
Descriptive Writing and Review
This is my type of lesson! Learners read the poem, "The Deserted House" by Mary Coleridge, then complete a series of activities which encourage strong descriptive writing and sensory detail. They'll practice outlining, sentence writing,...
Curated OER
Walk Two Moons: Word Frame
Middle schooler practice their dictionary and thesaurus skills with this vocabulary assignment. Using the provided graphic organizer and the word list from Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech, readers define each word, and find a synonym...
Curated OER
Using a Thesaurus--Antonyms
In this antonyms worksheet, students utilize a dictionary or thesaurus to find the most appropriate antonym for the following four words: exceptional, passive, prepared and fast.
Curated OER
Decoding Strategies
Students practice using context clues to decode the meanings of unfamiliar words. In this vocabulary skills lesson, students follow the provided instructions to complete graphic organizers that enable them to decode words in "The...
Curated OER
Vivid Words
In this vocabulary and word study worksheet, students explore the use of vivid words as they complete 8 fill in the blank questions. Students may also complete the challenge question at the bottom of the sheet.
Curated OER
A Heritage Study: Using Information Resources to Research Family History and Traditions
Students research their family history through ethnographical study. They locate information through a variety of sources, interview people, write a report and present an oral presentation to the class.
Curated OER
Understanding Science Vocabulary and Categorization
Students analyze scientific vocabulary words. In this life science vocabulary lesson, students complete a worksheet using VisualThesaurus as they evaluate words related to plants and animals and how the words are used.
Curated OER
Using Descriptive Language
Students examine the use of adjectives in a product review, then write their own descriptive review. In this writing and word usage lesson plan, students first analyze the choice of adjectives in a New York Times article about the...
Curated OER
Strengthening Your Vocabulary
A challenging worksheet is here for your learners of language arts. In it, they must find words that convey a more powerful, or more descriptive meaning than the guide word at the top of the list. There are 12 guide words, and nine more...
Curated OER
When You Reeeaaallly Want to Say Something
Kids paraphrase an entry from The Elements of Style, and then revise a sentence. They use the Visual Thesaurus and find synonyms for the phrase very pretty, brainstorm a list of intensifiers (as alternatives to really and very), then...
Curated OER
Mind Your Pints and Quarts: Making Sense of Liquid Measurement
Elementary and middle schoolers identify different units of liquid measurement. They use the online Visual Thesaurus to learn about the relationships between units of liquid measurement.
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...
Shmoop
ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.11-12.5
"Timid, scared, terrified." High school scholars examine words, their denotations and connotations, in a series of exercises that use lines from Shakespeare to explore figurative language and word relationships. Participants then...
Curated OER
Vocabulary Development
What is a root word? What is a prefix? Suffix? Use these questions to spark a discussion amongst your language art learners. Then, start by writing the word irresistible on the board and have teams of learners attempt to create new words...
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
Context Skills
Here is a fine lesson on teaching ways to use context clues. Upper graders split up into groups and use sticky notes to cover up five words in a passage of text. The passages are rotated to the other groups, and learners must use their...
Harper Collins
The Giving Tree Anniversary Teaching Guide
Celebrate poetry month all of April with a guide that uses six of Shel Silverstein's most famous books as a basis for the lessons. Discussion questions and writing activities are provided for each of Silverstein's books.
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 acrostic...