Curated OER
Ethos, Logos, and Pathos in Civil Rights Movement Speeches
Examine three speeches while teaching Aristotle's appeals. Over the course of three days, class members fill out a graphic organizer about ethos, pathos, and logos, complete an anticipatory guide, read speeches by Martin Luther King Jr.,...
Curated OER
Antonyms 4
Practice antonyms with your young readers! Ten questions provide one word, as well as five words underneath it. Learners choose the word from the list whose meaning is the most unlike the top word's meaning. You could use this resource...
Curated OER
In Other Words: Using a Thesaurus
Help your young writers stay engaged with their writing through the practical use of a thesaurus. They work to reinforce the use of synonyms as a way of making writing more interesting and to determine word meaning by finding synonyms....
Curated OER
Using Synonyms and Explanations as Context Clues
How can context clues help your young readers understand material better? Focusing on synonyms and explanations as ways to determine word meaning, this activity encourages your class to find context clues within a sentence. An attached...
Grammar Check
Grammar Check: 33 Commonly Misunderstood Words & Phrases (Infographic)
This infographic provides a list of words and phrases that are commonly misused in formal writing. Students will see different homonyms that are misused and find ways to discover them.
Sophia Learning
Sophia: Common Words With Multiple Meanings
This lesson explains common words with multiple meanings: some similar and some very different meanings and the impact of parts of speech on meaning. It discusses six common words with their multiple meanings and different parts of...
Sophia Learning
Sophia: Homonyms
This homonym tutorial begins with the poem "My Spell Checker" to show the importance of learning the difference between words. This is followed by a slide show of commonly misused homonyms, including definitions and examples. It offers...
ABCya
Ab Cya: Synonyms and Antonyms Word Toss
Check your skills at identifying synonyms and antonyms with an alluring interactive game of word toss.
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Understanding New Vocabulary Within Context
Learn how to find the meanings of words through analogy and other word relationships.
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Understand New Vocabulary Within Context (English 6 Reading)
You will learn how to use context (e.g., cause and effect or compare and contrast organizational text structures) to determine or clarify the meaning of unfamiliar or multiple-meaning words.
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Understand New Vocabulary Within Context (English 7 Reading)
You will learn how to determine or clarify the meaning of words using context within a sentence and in larger sections of text.
PBS
Pbs: Academic Vocabulary in the Common Core: Middle School English Language Arts
This video [14:33] shows a demonstration of academic vocabulary instruction through the context of a complex work, a poem. The teacher demonstrates how to access the literal meaning of new vocabulary and then infer the deeper meaning....
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Vocabulary: Understand New Vocabulary Within Context
A learning module that teaches students how to use context clues to understand new vocabulary words with six mini-lessons: Introduction, The Clues in Context, General/Inferential Context Clues, Definitions/Example Context Clues, Synonym...
AdLit
Ad lit.org: The Clarifying Routine: Elaborating Vocabulary Instruction
The more a new vocabulary word is associated with ideas from students' own experience, the more likely the word will become well 'networked' and a permanent part of memory. Making these links involves elaborating definitions of new...
University of California
Can the English Language Survive?
Due to the "reliance on electronic media, rampant proliferation of homophonous misuses of the English language" has taken place. Test your knowledge on this quiz of homophones.
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago: Roget's Thesaurus Search Form
Enter any word and get tons of words that mean the same thing (or close to it)
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Responding to Comparison/contrast: Word Splash Sentences [Pdf]
In this PDF comparison/contrast lesson plan, students learn a word splash writing activity which asks students to craft meaningful sentences that utilize content vocabulary words. Students-alone or in groups-examine a collection of...
The Write Place
Literacy Education Online: How to Use a Thesaurus
A good overview of what a thesaurus is and how best to use one. Also includes the difference between the two forms of thesauri and explains how to choose the correct synonym to use. L.9-10.4c References
Vocabulary.com
Vocabulary.com: 100 Sat Words Beginning With "A"
This site contains a list of 100 words from the SAT that begin with the letter "A". Teachers can digitally assign this list to their students to reinforce the spellings, pronunciations, and meanings of these words.
Other
Wordsmyth: The Educational Dictionary Thesaurus
This site not only is a dictionary and a thesaurus, but it also has brain teasers and games.
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Using a Word Journal to Create a Dictionary
This lesson enables students to track unfamiliar words as they read, link these words to their background knowledge, create new sentences for their words, and develop a final project that displays their new vocabulary. Great resource for...
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Using Word Webs to Teach Synonyms for Commonly Used Words
Contains plans for seven lessons that teach students to use more expressive synonyms in their written and oral language. In addition to objectives and standards, this instructional plan contains printable resources for the lessons as...
Quia
Quia: What's My Meaning
This Concentration-style game asks students to match root words with their meanings while remembering the location of the covered pairs of words. Java is required.
Quia
Quia: Analogy Battleship
This game will increase the player's understanding of different types of analogies. It has three difficulty levels.