Jeremy Cohen

Student Teaching
Synonyms
4/11/14
Situation the Lesson
This Language Arts lesson will occur in a third-grade classroom. It will be the continuation o a unit on
using word reerence resources and will ocus on the use o a thesaurus. Today!s lesson will "lace
em"hasis on why we use a thesaurus and how we use a thesaurus. The ne#t lesson will ha$e
students loo% at their own writing and inding the words they could use a thesaurus or.
Methods of Inquiry
&ideo' lecture' class discussion' grou" wor%' inde"endent wor%' (uestioning.
Instructional Goals
)ollowing this lesson' students will be able to ta%e a gi$en word in a sentence and use a thesaurus to
re"lace that word with a synonym o similar meaning.
Essential Questions
*hy do we use a thesaurus+ *hen do we use a thesaurus+
State and/or Content standards (FCPS 3
rd
Grade Language rts Standards!
L"G#"g"$ ,se glossaries' dictionaries' and thesauruses to learn word meanings
Instructional Materials
Smart-oard' .4 thesauruses' notecards' "encils' whiteboard' i$e stued animals.
Set Induction
I!ll o"en the lesson by as%ing students what we use a thesaurus or. Ater ta%ing some answers' I will
show them a short $ideo/song that goes o$er why we use a thesaurus. )ollowing two-minute $ideo
we will ha$e a brie wra" u" discussion on why we use a thesaurus.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0HsX-M-zWQ
-asic answers I will be loo%ing or in discussion are that when we write' we sometimes use the same
words re"eatedly. At other times' we use boring words when more e#citing words would ma%e the
writing more interesting. At times li%e these' using a thesaurus can hel" us ma%e our writing more
e#citing. A thesaurus is a boo% o synonyms. A synonym is a word that has the same' or nearly the
same' meaning as another word.
Procedures
I will then model how to use a thesaurus. I will write a sentence on the board/ 0y room is dirty. I will
then (uic%ly model how we use a thesaurus 1similar to a dictionary which they ha$e learned so it will
more o a (uic% re$iew2. I will em"hasi3e that when they get to the entry they must be careul to "ic% a
word that its the meaning o the sentence. )or e#am"le' or this sentence' they would be "ic% a word
li%e filthy to re"lace dirty and not angry.
*e will then do a short acti$ity to "ractice.
1. Students will be "ut in small grou"s
.. I will ha$e i$e stued animals. 4ach grou" will be gi$en a stued animal.
5. 4ach student will be gi$en a notecard. They will write one word to describe their animal.
4. Students will then use a thesaurus to loo% u" synonym or their word. They will write synonym
on other side o their notecard.
6. At the end o the lesson' each grou" read their synonyms aloud and their classmates tried to
guess the animal the grou" was describing.
I will collect notecards ater acti$ity.
ssess%ent/Closure
)ollowing the acti$ity I will do a (uic% e#it tic%et beore they go to lunch. I will write two sentences on
the board/
1. 0r. Cohen o"ened his door to let some fresh air into the house.
.. I only had a little time to inish my wor% beore recess.
7al o the class will do sentence 1 and hal the class will do sentence . 8ust so students will not get
the answer rom another student at their table. I will ha$e students write the "age number they ound
the word on and a synonym o the word. I will underline the word they need to ind. In the ne#t lesson
I will ocus on the students being able to ind words in a sentence that they need to use a thesaurus
or.
)or my lower le$el students' I will gi$e them the sentence/ The pretty girl went to school.
I' or teaching assistant' will then "ull students to bac% table to aid them using thesaurus. I will
underline word they are su""osed to ind synonym or. Students will then write synonym or word
"retty on notecard. They do not ha$e write "age number.
I will also be able to get an inormal assessment rom the cards I collected ater the acti$ity.