TLS Books
Dictionary Skills Review
Why do we use a dictionary? Your scholars will tell you why while demonstrating their dictionary skills. In addition to stating the purpose of using dictionaries, they will also show what they know about guide words, alphabetizing, and...
All About Reading
Pirate Dictionary
Shiver me timbers, this here resource is a great way to teach young landlubbers to speak the language of the briny deep. Including over 30 different words and phrases, complete with definitions and guide words, this dictionary will have...
Curated OER
Understanding and Using Root Words to Expand Vocabulary
Middle schoolers engage in a lesson which reminds them that root words indicate the base meaning of a word, and that those roots are found in many different words that have similar meanings. Pairs of pupils use construction paper and...
Education Center
Word Wise
Warm up your class at the start of the year by checking their ability to read and unpack dictionary entries. This instructional activity asks pupils to pick apart a sentence that uses some pretty advanced vocabulary by using three...
Curated OER
Revising Writing: Plain English
Eschew obfuscation! Using dictionaries, writers revise a complicated text so that it reads more simply and improves the clarity of the passage. Focusing on word meanings, they revise the sample worksheets and then present their...
Amazon Web Services
Idiom Dictionary
Examining idioms is a peace of cake when using this graphic organizer! Here, grammarians identify an idiom and use it in a sentence. Then they investigate its literal meaning versus its figurative meaning, and accompany each one with a...
Curated OER
Dictionary Practice 4
Verify that your pupils can use the dictionary to determine the meaning of words. Class members locate nine words, record the dictionary definition, and note the page number on which they found the information. This plan is originally...
Curated OER
Beyond the Dictionary: Meaningful Word Study
Engaging lesson and activity ideas that grow pupils' word knowledge in all content areas.
Curated OER
Learning Vocabulary by Using Reference Materials
Finding engaging ways to help your middle schoolers build their vocabulary is not easy to do. The instructional activity presented here offers a great way to motivate them to build vocabulary by making it into a game. Teams of pupils use...
Curated OER
Using Context
Teams practice decoding and using context strategies to determine the meanings of unfamiliar words. After verifying the meanings of words through the use of dictionaries, the Internet, thesauruses, and other sources, learners write the...
Curated OER
Using "Kindness"
Students discover the benefits of kind acts by dissecting the word itself. In this vocabulary lesson, students utilize the letters in the word "kindness" to create other words which they record. Students figure out what "kindness"...
Curated OER
Dictionary Word Sort
In this dictionary word sort learning exercise, students play a game identifying where words in the dictionary would be. Students use different cards and identify where a certain word would be on the page.
EngageNY
Citing Evidence and Building Vocabulary: “The Exterminator”
It is an out-of-body experience. Scholars take a look at the sidebars outside the body of the text in The Exterminator. They discuss the purpose of this type of text feature and work to determine the gist. Learners write unfamiliar...
Curated OER
Dictionary Practice 2- Test Your Vocabulary Skills
In this dictionary vocabulary worksheet, students locate the 9 listed words in the dictionary. They write a definition for the word, and write a notation of the page number where the word was found. Words include help, honesty,...
Scholastic
Frindle Lesson Plan
"Who says a pen has to be called a pen? Why not call it a frindle?" Inspired by this quote from the award-winning novel written by Andrew Celements, this lesson allows children to invent their own terms for common classroom objects,...
Scholastic
What’s the Good Word? Etymology Project Guidelines
Who named the shapes, or the days of the week? Should words be removed from the dictionary if they're no longer commonly used? Are there too many words in the English language? Language arts students explore these and additional...
Curated OER
Using a Dictionary - Prefixes
Help your students add variety to their vocabulary with this dictionary activity, which includes five questions about prefixes (ir, pre, re, sub, post). Students will not only work with their dictionary reference skills, but learn the...
Curated OER
Using a Dictionary - Prefixes
In this research skills worksheet, students use a dictionary to find the answers to the 5 questions on the page. Each question pertains to prefixes.
Curated OER
Using a Dictionary - Comparing Words
Equipped with a dictionary and a purpose, students test the meanings of four word pairs, determining if they are synonyms, antonyms, rhymes, or several other word relationships. Students can practice their dictionary skills and their...
Curated OER
Using a Dictionary - Sounds
In this research skills worksheet, students use a dictionary to answer the 4 questions on the worksheet. All of the questions have to do with word sounds.
Curated OER
"Me" Resource
Learners elucidate themselves by writing up to six entries in different formats. Some formatting choices include a dictionary, encyclopedia, or atlas entry, a magazine article, a newspaper article, and a table of contents. Some...
Night of Mystery
Pirate Words and Phrases
Avast, ye mateys! A full dictionary of pirate phrases and words is sure to get your little pirates in a mood for sailing, reading, or writing. It features a basic list of terms as well as a more extensive dictionary for your class to be...
Curated OER
Breaking News: OMG, LOL, FYI Now in Oxford English Dictionary (26th March, 2011)
Students explore vocabulary by analyzing the current events. In this dictionary addition lesson plan, students discuss a news topic about word additions into the Oxford Dictionary. Students complete a list of activities about the story...
Curated OER
Using a Dictionary--Definitions
For this dictionary worksheet, students look up the following five words to find the definitions of each word in order to choose the correct multiple choice answer that correctly completes each statement: esteem, chalcedony, serene,...