Curated OER
Mapping Your Identity: A Back-To-School Ice Breaker
Identify the unique personal attributes of your class members. Begin by viewing the Visual Thesaurus and discussing displayed attributes associated with famous American leaders. Using these identity maps as models, pupils generate nouns...
Curated OER
The Power of Words in Charlotte's Web
"How can a few good words save a pig's life?" Posed with this question, your ELD students explore E.B. White's Charlotte's Web in a meaningful, valuable way. By analyzing specific word choice from the book, especially the excerpts...
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Introducing Synonyms to Early Writers
Upper elementary schoolers examine the concept of synonyms and how using a variety of vocabulary through synonyms can expand their writing skills. They revise a paragraph using synonyms located on the Visual Thesaurus and participate in...
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It's Opposite Day
Celebrate Opposite Day by using a Visual Thesaurus to match words to their antonyms. They match a list of vocabulary words to their antonym counterparts using the Visual Thesaurus, and then they play Antonym Bingo with the words from...
Curated OER
A Victorian Vocabulary Challenge
Introduce your high schoolers to some tough vocabulary. No, I'm not talking about the SAT list! Revisit Victorian literature to find tricky words we still use today. Using the Visual Thesaurus, learners will preview vocabulary in a quote...
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Exploring the Power of Puns
Read and analyze a variety of Shakespearean and contemporary puns using Visual Thesaurus computer software. Middle and high schoolers analyze a pun as a class; in small groups they analyze a Shakespearean pun using contextual clues and...
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The Visual Thesaurus and the SAT
Demonstrate strategies for tackling unfamiliar vocabulary words in preparation for the SAT. Using Visual Thesaurus computer software, middle and high schoolers interpret contextual clues, solve sample sentence completion questions, and...
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Seeing Words in a New Way
What's the best resource to use when looking up words? Use Visual Thesaurus to see a word's meaning. The class accesses the interactive website and then compares and contrasts the difference between using a traditional dictionary and the...
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The Three M's of Statistics: Mode, Median, Mean
Young mathematicians use the Visual Thesaurus to define mean, median, and mode. In this mean, median and mode activity, learners use online sources to find the definitions of mean, median, and mode before applying the concepts to a class...
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Word Association Poetry with Visual Thesaurus (or Not)
Young poets get inspiration and guidance for making word association poems with the Visual Thesaurus. Your class could complete this project with nothing more than a pencil and paper as well. A nice one-off for a substitute during your...
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The Mighty Elements: Using the Visual Thesaurus to Investigate Chemical Elements
Pupils create trading cards for elements in the Periodic Table. Initially, they are introduced to the Periodic Table of Elements and the concept of elements in the world around us. After dividing into groups, learners use the Visual...
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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
Clicking Your Way to Poetry: Composing Word Association Poems with the Visual Thesaurus
Use a Visual Thesaurus to compose word association poems. Discuss poetry and word association, create word maps, then practice creating poems based on playful word associations. A perfect way to celebrate "Poem in Your Pocket Day" (April...
Curated OER
Vocabulary Bursting with Energy
Students review key physics terms using a Visual Thesaurus. In this science lesson, student groups compete against each other to correctly identify "imposter" words from a list of related physics vocabulary terms.
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
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....
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Understanding Veterans Day
In this Veterans Day worksheet, students identify words and write a description about what they learned about Veterans Day using the Visual Thesaurus. Students complete 4 problems.
Curated OER
On-Line Homework Help: An Ethical Dilemma
Students use a visual thesaurus and Vocabgrabber to interpret a news article. In this vocabulary building and comprehension lesson, students analyze quotes from the article. Students use the visual thesaurus and Vocabgrabber to interpret...
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Using Key Words to Unlock Math Word Problems
Students act as math coaches to solve word problems. In this math word problems lesson, students brainstorm key words in math operations, create flash cards to review relationships between words and operations, coach each other in the...
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The Continents and Oceans of the World
Students explore world mapping skills. In this world geography lesson, students identify and label the continents and oceans on a world map using the Visual Thesaurus. Students generate mnemonic devices to help memorize these terms.
Curated OER
"To Be Or Not To Be" And the VT
Using the online Visual Thesaurus, nascent actors work in groups to analyze and interpret Hamlet's "To Be Or Not To Be" monologue. Individuals then craft a contemporary version of this famous speech and present their adaptation to the...
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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...
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Improving Your Spelling with the Virtual Thesaurus
Students study spelling words. In this word study lesson plan, students use the Visual Thesaurus and play the Visual Thesaurus Spelling Bee.
Other
Visual Thesaurus: Shades of Meaning
In this lesson, small groups of students will compete in a "shades of meaning" contest to see which group can use the Visual Thesaurus to help them match words with similar definitions but different connotations in the shortest amount of...