Curated OER
Introduction to the Visual Thesaurus
Students examine the basic functions of the online Visual Thesaurus, exploring how simple words may sometimes have multiple meanings. In small groups they select words and explore the Visual Thesaurus, and write a short play using the...
Curated OER
Jump-Starting Research with Visual Thesaurus
Students navigate the Visual Thesaurus to find keywords for research. In this keywords lesson, students use synonyms, hypernyms and hyponyms to find keywords. Students understand why some searches are effective and some are ineffective.
Curated OER
Shades of Meaning
Students use words with similar meanings to analyze implied meanings. In this word connotation lesson, the teacher introduces the activity by asking students whether a new product should be advertised as "newfangled" or "cutting-edge." ...
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
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...
Haut Gap Middle School
Root Words
Scholars demonstrate their knowledge of root words aqua and aud, and develop vocabulary skills by completing of a chart, handout, and worksheet using creative thinking skills, a dictionary, and a thesaurus.
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 , written, and...
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
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
Using a Thesaurus
In this writing worksheet, learners read the definition of a thesaurus. They use a thesaurus to replace an underlined word with a synonym in each of 15 sentences.
Curated OER
Thesaurus
In this Language Arts worksheet, students analyze a thesaurus entry and answer 5 questions about it. Students also use a thesaurus to answer 10 questions.
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
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 they...
Curated OER
Ornithology and Real World Science
Double click that mouse because you just found an amazing lesson! This cross-curricular Ornithology lesson incorporates literature, writing, reading informational text, data collection, scientific inquiry, Internet research, art, and...
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
Vocabulary Bursting with Energy
Students review key physics terms using a Visual Thesaurus. For this science lesson, student groups compete against each other to correctly identify "imposter" words from a list of related physics vocabulary terms.
Curated OER
What's Your Genus? Scientific Classification and the VT
Students learn about binomial nomenclature, the scientific system of classification. In this scientific classification lesson, students work cooperatively to complete a binomial scavenger hunt using the internet and a Visual Thesaurus....
Curated OER
The Power of Words in "Charlotte's Web"
Students analyze the text in Charlotte's Web. In this language arts lesson, students dissect the passages from Charlotte's Web, specifically the adjectives Charlotte used to describe Wilbur. Finally, students play a game using "word...
Curated OER
Number Types: Where Vocabulary Meets Numbers
Rational, irrational, real, natural. All these words can refer to numbers. Who knew? Learners use the Visual Thesaurus and a semantic feature analysis grid to examine the different attributes of numbers. Step-by-step instructions for...
Curated OER
Synonym Trees
Fifth graders create synonym trees by writing their main word on the tree trunk and gluing synonym words to represent the leaves. In this synonyms lesson plan, 5th graders play a class game where they must find a partner who has a...
Bright Hub Education
Jabberwocky - A Creative Writing Lesson Plan
Make some sense out of Lewis Carroll's famous nonsense poem "Jabberwocky." After reading through the poem, introduce the word portmanteau and send small groups off to alter the original poem.
Curated OER
Improving Your Spelling with the Virtual Thesaurus
Students study spelling words. In this word study lesson, students use the Visual Thesaurus and play the Visual Thesaurus Spelling Bee.
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...