Subject: Reading/Writing
Grade Level: 1st Grade
Standards:
Language Arts:
W.1.8.- With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.
SL.1.1.- Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 1 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups. Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., listening to others with care, speaking one at a time about the topics and texts under discussion). Build on others’ talk in conversations by responding to the comments of others through multiple exchanges.
Ask questions to clear up any confusion about the topics and texts under discussion.
SL.1.6- Produce complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation.
Objective: Given a word a student will be able to use a description wording by demonstrating an understanding of synonyms with 100% accuracy.
Purpose: This lesson is to teach students that when telling stories, they cannot use the same word over and over again. When telling a story they can use more descriptive synonyms and many words that we commonly use everyday have synonyms that they can use to replace these overused words.
Materials:
-White board
-“Boring” word magnets
-synonym magnets
-Word strips
-Pencils
-Expo Markers
Anticipatory Set:

Have the entire class come to the floor and sit in front of the teacher. To introduce this lesson I will introduce a scenario where a family goes on a trip and they come back to tell the class about the trip. Each person in the family says, “The trip was so much fun. We had so much fun on our trip. We had fun the whole time.” I will ask the students about how hearing the family say fun over and over make their trip seem uninteresting and make you wish they told you a little bit more? I will then introduce the concept of synonyms and to make stories more interesting there are words we can replace with overused words to bring detail and change to the story, but still mean the same thing. I will say, “If we use the word fun over and over again the story starts to get boring and the listener or the reader wants to hear something else. With synonyms you can give more detail to a story, but still mean the same thing. The word synonym means another word that means the same as or almost the same as another word.” I will then ask the students if they can think any words that mean the same as fun that we could replace in the families story (Students answers: exciting, thrilling, enjoyment). Remind the students that they have to think about the details and descriptions when they write and tell stories. They also have to think about who they are telling the story too because you want to draw them in and want to listen or read your story, and one thing that helps is to use the descriptive synonyms, not repeating the same words over again.
Procedures:
1. Have the students sit in their seats at their table groups. 2. Watch the “Sesame Street” synonym video so students can auditory and visually grasp the concept. 3. Talk about the video and some of the words the characters used and some of their synonyms. 4. Explain and show to the students that there are words on the board and we have to find their synonyms. 5. Call students to the board to match the descriptive synonyms with the words on the board (ie. Big- humungous, little-itsy bitsy, etc.). 6. Once all of the words have been correctly matched with their synonyms, explain that these are some words you can use a synonyms so they aren’t always repeating the same words but still mean the same thing. 7. Give each group of students a strip of paper with a word on it and tell them to work together to think of a synonym for that word and to write that synonym on their white boards. 8. Once the students think of a synonym have the students share with the class what the word they were given was, and what the synonym they thought of was.
Modeling:
Throughout the lesson the teacher will be modeling the use of descriptive words by using synonyms for repeated words. By allowing the students to watch a small movie clip, come to the board to sort the synonyms, and think of their own synonyms. It will model to the students that when you are telling a story, it makes the story more interesting if you vary the words you are using and use these more descriptive and interesting synonyms. They will be allowed to work in groups, which reinforces that they are being taught and will also help those who many not be grasping the concept completely. They will also have the chance to watch a short movie clip on synonyms that will attract different types of learners, such as visual and auditory learners, to help them understand the concept than just hearing the teacher talk. When giving directions to the students about what to do with the transition sentences I will have my own life cycle plate. I will show them if they think, “First it started out as an egg.” belongs in the first box then they will write that in the first box. I will then model for them on my example where to write the sentence and how it should look so there is less confusion and problems about what they should be doing.
Guided Practice: Students will be working together in groups to think of their own synonyms based on the word strips they are given. Once the students have worked together to think of a synonym of the word given to them, they will write on a whiteboard what the word is and then share the new word with the class. The students must make sure that their word is a synonym of the word that is given to them and has the same, or close to the same meaning as the word on their word strip.
Closure:
At the end of the lesson to summarize the concept that was taught I will tell the class the sentence sentence, “I saw a rock, it was really big.” and tell them to think of a synonym for the word “big” in that sentence. I will call on three to four students to the front of the class to tell that sentence with their synonym replacing the word big (Students response: I saw a rock, it was huge.). Make sure to tell the students to think of descriptive and interesting synonyms, which are words that mean the same as the word given to them.
Independent Practice: To reinforce the concept of synonyms have the students complete a worksheet in their reading workbook where they have to pick the correct synonym. The worksheet has five words and they have to choose between five synonyms and choose which one means the same as the word given to them.