Project #9- A Lesson Plan to Teach a Vocabulary Skill to 4th, 5th Graders

I.

II.

III.

Objective
At the end of the lesson, the students will be able to choose a synonym
from among three choices.
Materials
Worksheet for step #4
Worksheet for step #5
Procedure
1. The teacher will say, Good morning, boys and girls. Today you
will learn a new trick, remember I told you all to improve your
writing? Well, this trick is a way to improve your writing. Would
you like to know what that trick is? The trick is used to write a
different word in a sentence but the meaning of the sentence will
remain the same. The teacher will write a sentence on the
blackboard. The teacher will continue, For example, look at the
sentence (I was happy to see the smiles on your faces this
morning.) I can replace happy with several other words and it
will still mean happy, words such as cheerful, joyful, and merry
are words the mean the same as happy. The teacher will ask
the students if they can think of any other words that mean
happy then the teacher will ask students if they can think of
any other words that mean sad.
2. The teacher will say, Words like that are called synonyms. A
synonym is a word or phrase that means exactly or nearly the
same as another word or phrase in the same language. What are
some common words you use every day? The teacher will write
the students suggestions for common words on the board. The
teacher will continue, Those are all great common words but at
the moment we will use the common words good, bad, big and
small. The teacher will write a sentence for each word on the
board with (2) synonyms on the bottom of the underlined word in
the sentence. For example, for the word good, the teacher will
write (I have always been a good student.) The word good will
be underlined with (2) synonyms under it that will replace the
previous word, those two synonyms would be respectful and
polite. I will repeat the process for the words bad, big and small.
(Four sentences)
I have always been a good student.
Respectful
Polite

My dog was being bad when he chewed my shoes.

Naughty
Evil

The sandwich I had for lunch was big.

Large
Huge
When we were babies we were small.
Miniature
Tiny
The teacher will say, You see that the meaning of the sentence did not
change because the word that replaced the previous word means the same
thing.
3. The teacher will say, Now, that you understand that synonyms
mean that the words are the same. I have a job for you all, I have
ten words and your job is to choose the correct synonym out of
three choices for the words. The teacher will write each word on
the board with the three choices, each word will be written one
at time.
(Ten words and three choices) *Make sure to mix up the words so students do
not start guessing.
1. Protect (Defend, Attack, Hurt)
2. Heavy (Massive, Light, Little)
3. Pretty (Gorgeous, Hideous, Plain)
4. Slow (Sluggish, Fast, Quick)
5. Sprint (Run, Walk, Stroll)
6. Favorite (Cherished, Disliked, Hated)
7. Plenty (Masses, Few, Less)
8. Dark ( Black, Luminous, Bright)
9. Against (Oppose, Support, For)
10.
Recognize (Identify, Misunderstand,
Reject)
4. After finishing the choose the correct synonym activity on the
blackboard, the teacher will hand out a worksheet that has ten
questions on it. The teacher will do two of the sentences as
guided practice and the students will do the remaining (8) as
independent practice. The teacher will say, The same way you
picked the correct synonym out of three choices with only the
word as a type of assistance, now you have a whole sentence, so
remember to use the context of the sentence as a guide to help

you. After saying that, the teacher will do the first two
sentences as guided practice.
5. After students complete the assigned worksheet for step #4, the
teacher will go over and correct the worksheet. Then the teacher
will hand out another worksheet that has (15) words and the
students are going to have to choose the synonym for that word
out of three choices. The teacher will do the first (3) as guided
practice and the remaining (12) as independent practice.
IV.

Evaluation
Objective #1 was evaluated in steps # 3, 4, and 5.