My students enjoyed having a funeral during class today- only
because we were able to say, "Goodbye!" to words we continue to
repeat in our writing! In exchange, we explored a new way to find better words
that will enhance the voice in our writing!
We learned how to use a thesaurus… searching for words by using
the guide words at the top of the book can be tricky but once you get the hang
of it, it’s a great resource to find synonymous words! The Dollar Tree sells
useful thesauruses for only $1.00! THEN… we explored using the thesaurus on the
computer! This sparked a huge interest in my kiddos as they love using technology!
Once I taught a couple of students how to use the online thesaurus at www.thesaurus.com, I then had a student ask me if she could teach the class! YES!!! This is, of course, any moment that a teacher hopes for!
She taught the class how to pull up the thesaurus through Google
and then taught them step by step directions to searching for a word and
writing down all of the new words that could be used on the R.I.P. paper
template!
Upon her finishing, I had seven students run to me asking to use
the thesaurus! Oh! One quick requirement- you must show me the word you use
over and over that we want to say, “Goodbye!” to! :)
~Megan
