Hey Everyone!
Here's the Hit for the thesaurus lessons.
Now I just have to decide which lesson to use!
Thanks for all the AMAZING ideas!!
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I use Madlibs for a Thesaurus lesson. If you google madlibs there are a
couple of sites that have them available. Then I go through and pick
"boring" words to fill in the spaces. The students then have to search in
the Thesaurus for words that are more exciting or different. After we read
both versions of the Madlibs. The kids think it is a lot of fun- there are
always laughs.
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Could you do sort of a variation on mad libs? Each student create a
sentence or phrase with a couple of adjectives or nouns. Then switch
and have another student use the thesaurus to substitute some of the words.
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I used "tangram" shapes. On each shape I have an ambiguous word written
on it - such as BIG, NICE, GOOD, BAD, etc... (overused words). Then I
had them use the thesaurus to write synonyms on each EDGE. Then they
used the shapes to MAKE something new and then write about their new
shape using their new words. (Next year, I plan on having them add
ANTONYMS to the back side of the shapes.) They liked it so much that at
Christmas time, we made Christmas Trees (green triangles) and stars to
decorate the tree. They came up with their own "boring" words to look
up in the thesaurus.
This is not an original idea - I shamelessly stole it from someone at my
state meeting - if I could remember who I'd gladly give them credit! :)
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I have done a bio poem and a cross word puzzle in the past....the bio poem
really worked better for my older students, but you might try
variation.....
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Hi there,
You might try a little one day activity we are doing. You take old
nursery rhymes or popular songs (twinkle, twinkle little star or She's
comin' round the mountain, etc.) and you have the students REWRITE them
using synonyms and then opposite words from the thesaurus. You can then
have a recitation of these new rhymes and songs to their classmates
where the audience has to guess the title of the original. You could
even be in teams with points, etc.
Not as easy as it sounds because some of the old words don't easily
translate to modern definitions, but fun to work those thesaurus brains!
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I did thesauruses with my third graders recently and they really enjoyed
just re-writing sentences using a thesaurus. I would come up with a
sentence and underline words I'd like to replace. As simple as that. I
think the kids liked it because it was similar to madlibs or something. We
did it as a whole-class, but that could easily be made into a worksheet.
I hope that helps a bit!
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Do you have any art prints? I had the students work in groups to
describe an art print and then they looked up those words in the
thesaurus to find better words. Finally they wrote silly stories about
their art prints using the words they had found.
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How about taking the lyrics to a song- or poem- or fairy tale and use the
thesaurus to replace some of the descriptive words. Could be lots of fun
and even your slower students or those who don't think of themselves as
creative may surprise themselves.
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I am a junior high librarian and have taught lessons on using the thesaurus
and here is idea you might use and adapt to your age. I have the students
copy or write from memory their favorite nursery rhyme. Then have them use
the thesaurus to replace certain words in the rhyme with new words. Have
them read their new version to the class. The students have fun and learn
at the same time. Hope this idea helps(I have used this in typing class as
well, with the word processor it has a thesaurus already available)
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This may be a little juvenile for 5th grade, but you could probably adapt
it. I did this with my third grade. They worked in pairs, and each pair
got an envelope with a picture in it (I used different animals). Then
each pair had to come up with 5 adjectives to describe their animal. Then
they used a thesaurus to look up a synonym for each adjective (you could
probably also do an antonym). After they had all their words, they said
them to the class (after everyone was done), and the class had to guess
which animal they had, based on their adjectives. It was really fun - the
kids enjoyed it.
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I think it is fun to take a simple paragraph or two from a children's book
and have the students use the thesaurus to find more descriptive, juicier
words. Picture books are usually descriptive already, so I suggest a
beginning reader where they use the basic "run boy run."
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I am going to do mad libs that I will write or good ones I can find.
Use bland words and have them replace using words from a thesaurus.
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Perhaps you could adapt the lesson I did with third grade. I wrote a very
short version of Little Red Riding Hood. At various places I put a blank
with my word under the blank. Students worked in teams to use the
thesaurus to look up words under the line and fill in the blank with a
synonym, keeping the meaning. At the end, students read their versions
aloud.
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I just did a poetry lesson about word choice with my 5th graders. We
replaced the words in "Twinkle, twinkle, little star" with synonyms and
talked about how that changed the feeling, rhythm, and rhyme in the poem. I
would imagine you could do something similar for a thesaurus lesson. Maybe
you could have a worksheet with various familiar rhymes and have them
choose new words from the thesaurus? I've also seen it done with texts such
as the Presidential Oath of Office-- to help kids understand a difficult
text, you can pull out words they might not know and have them use a
thesaurus to come up with a new, more understandable version.
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You can teach a thesaurus class by using /creating a fractured fairy tale.
Leave blank spaces for descriptive words
within the tale and have the students provide the answers to create their
own fairy tales.
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Hi! I always do a big reference materials study and the week that we do
thesaurus we rewrite nursery rhymes or proverbs. We are a Great
Expectations School and we do a lot of wisdom literature with myths and
fables and quotes and proverbs so we rewrite them but nursery rhymes are
fun also. I always do 'One rotten apple spoils the whole bunch' and we
talk about what that means regarding apples but also regarding classrooms
or schools...then we rewrite it and it comes out something like 'A single
putrid Red Macintosh blemishes the entire cask'. They always think it is
great fun and the new proverbs usually sound great!
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I have a couple of activities that I have used in the past. I teach
thesaurus in 3rd grade, but I think either of these would still work in
5th.
I use wordle.net with the students this year. We passed around a sheet a
paper for each student in the class with their name at the top. Each
student had to write one kind, descriptive word about the child. Of course,
you get lots of “nice” and “kind” comments. I had them look up synonyms for
any repetitions. We then typed the compliments into wordle, along with
their name (make it larger by typing the word multiple times) and choose
the word cloud they like the best. They were allowed to print one cloud. My
nephew is in one of my classes and he still has his posted at home. They
really liked hearing nice things about themselves. I had them type in
wordle.net/create to avoid the gallery page, which can have some
questionable words on it.
I have also found some short versions of classic fairy tales and underlined
common words in them. The students are placed in small groups and must use
the thesaurus to find replacement words for the underlined ones. They then
read aloud their new and “improved” versions to the other groups. I am
attaching Goldilocks and the Three Bears as an example. You can either show
them the story first or have them do it “Mad Lib” style and find the word
without know it’s context.
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I just finished a Thesaurus Lesson with my 5th grade. I write "Sparkle,
Sparkle, Super Nova" on the board and ask them if they know another way to
say it. So far someone has come up with "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star."
Then I ask how I might have made this change, and how they knew what the
words on the board meant. I explain that I used a thesaurus to come up
with different words. I talk about Thesaurus and show them a Thesaurus
(talking about how it is a book of synonyms), but, instead of using a book,
I show them how to use the thesaurus in Microsoft Word. I use a nursery
rhyme as an example, showing them how to change a word using the thesaurus
in Word. I explain that you have to find the correct meaning of the word
you are replacing, and then that the word you use must make sense in the
sentence. I also tell them the word must be in the right tense. If a word
in the sentence is past tense you must change the word you're adding to
past tense. Then I put them in pairs or threes and send them to the
computers (I have 9). I have put several nursery rhymes in our student
5th grade common folder on our server and they copy those into their own
folders. I have underlined the words that I want them to change. After
they have finished they read their new nursery rhyme to the class. I done
this for several years and my students have a lot of fun while they are
learning how to use a thesaurus.
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Do you have to teach computers too? I teach the thesearus on the computer.
I have 5 or 6 pre-made documents with nursery rhymes on them like Twinkle
Twinkle or Row Row Row your boat. The students pick a document and pull it
up. There are several underlined words on the doc. They have to use the
thesarus to change the underlined words thus creating a new song/rhyme. Its
cute they end up being more like. Paddle Paddle Paddle the barge gently
down the river...... etc. Then they have to use their other computer skills
to un underline the words and change the font and color etc. I do it with
second grade but it could be adapted.
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I divided the kids into groups and gave each group a well-known nursery
rhyme--like Three Blind Mice--and had them rewrite it using a thesaurus.
They read their rewritten rhymes to the class to see if the class could
figure out the original. "A trio of visually impaired rodents..." They had
fun and it really didn't seem like a lesson.
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I have used the story activity found on the second page of this
attachment with 5th graders and they really have a good time. I have
them work in pairs. There are a few things that will trip them up if
they aren't paying attention like a different form of a verb (ran, run)
but for the most part this is a very engaging activity that they really
like.
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I taught 4th and 5th grade thesaurus skills this year using nursery rhymes.
First I talked about how to use a thesaurus and what it's for, then I
passed out sheets of paper that had common nursery rhymes with some words
missing. They had to replace the word that should be in the nursery rhyme
with a synonym, using the thesaurus. The results can be pretty funny! I'm
attaching my lesson plan and the nursery rhyme sheets in case you want to
use them. Just make sure the thesaurus you're using will have synonyms for
the words that are missing.
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Find an interesting and/or fun poem. Underline words that you have
checked are in the Thesaurus you are planning to use. Have them replace
the words using the Thesaurus and then read their new creation. I did
this a Christmas with Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and the kids loved
it. I have done it with Casey At The Bat too. If you don't have enough
time for students to do the whole poem divide them and have different
kids do different stanzas, then put their creations together and read
the new creation.
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This might be too "primary" but the kids seem to like it at my school: Go
to the paint store and get a load of color chip cards (the kind that vary
in intensity from paler to darker, with about 6 variations). Make a
bulletin board saying "Toward more colorful language: Exploring shades of
meaning" and have the kids use the thesaurus to write a word on each shade
on the card. The palest color would be the blandest, most common word, the
darkest hue represents the most interesting synonym, you get the idea.
This is, of course, open to personal interpretation. I usually let the
kids create one to use as a bookmark, one to put on the board. The kids
really enjoy this... for some reason, color chips are a lot of fun!
Another thing that can be fun is having the kids "ruin rhymes". Get out
your Mother Goose books, have each group or pair choose a familiar rhyme to
rewrite with the help of the thesaurus. The results can be quite
entertaining. Offer prizes to the funniest, most surprising, most
scholarly-sounding, etc.
Also, be SURE to teach them to use the "SHIFT + F7" keystroke combination
in Word to easily access the built-in Thesaurus. They will thank you a
million times over when they have to do writing for english assignments.
Good luck!
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Thanks again for all the AWESOME ideas!!!
Victoria Savo
Librarian
Pocono Mountain School District
Pocono Elementary Center
Swiftwater Elementary Center
Clear Run Elementary Center
Swiftwater, PA
vsavo@pmsd.org
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