Kids are asked to choose the one option that is not a synonym for the provided keyword on a synonym worksheet.

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...

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...

Give your class the advantage of Thesaurus Power! They will use a thesaurus to understand word meanings and relationships. They focus on how a thesaurus functions and how it gives the entry word, definition, synonyms, antonyms, and part...

Using Visual Thesaurus software, class members participate in a computer-based spelling bee. Then they work in groups to analyze the words and use deductive reasoning to infer spelling patterns. They then present one of their "rules" to...

Thirty-six pages familiarize scholars with the story and vocabulary of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. After reading and listening to an abbreviated version of the holiday tale learners show what they know about the sequence...

Define the meaning of a cognate and use the concept to help Spanish-speaking ELLs connect their first language to English. Middle schoolers explore Latin roots to find cognates in both languages. They relate the Spanish and English word...

Students discover how to use a thesaurus. In this language arts lesson plan, students explore thesauruses as they look up words and write sentences for the new words they encounter.

Students 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 reference...

Writers use varied sentence patterns. They listen to the story of Cinderella rewritten so that each sentence starts with the next letter of the alphabet. They create their own version of The Three Little Pigs using the same concept.

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...

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...

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.

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...

Finding engaging ways to help your middle schoolers build their vocabulary is not easy to do. The lesson presented here offers a great way to motivate them to build vocabulary by making it into a game. Teams of pupils use a dictionary...

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,...

Learners explore the food pyramid. In this nutrition lesson, students identify the 5 food groups and sort foods according to the group in which they belong. Learners use the Visual Thesaurus to complete a food groups worksheet and...

Young learners develop a deeper understanding of target vocabulary. In pairs, pupils independently complete a series of word clue cards, asking them to find information about key terms, including their definitions, synonyms, antonyms,...

Students explore world mapping skills. For this world geography lesson, students identify and label the continents and oceans on a world map using the Visual Thesaurus. Students generate mnemonic devices to help memorize these terms.

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),...

Third graders study the human body. In this health lesson, 3rd graders discuss that everyone's body is growing, measure body parts using a tape measure, and color the body worksheet.

Young scholars investigate new vocabulary words with a fun, collaborative activity. Given a deck of word cards, pairs of students flip over one at a time and independently look up the term in a dictionary. They then take turns rolling a...

Students form words using prefixes.  In this prefix lesson, students compete in a "prefix challenge" to see which team can combine a set of twelve prefixes with a set of twelve words fastest.  Students enter their words in...

Fourth graders read The Secret School and define vocabulary in the text.  In this Secret School lesson, 4th graders recognize difficult text and are able to comprehend its meaning and answer questions.