Synonyms and Antonyms in 1st Grade

As a teacher, wacky holidays are something I want to include my classroom. Not only do these holidays engage students but they provide a fun way to connect the ‘real-world’ with learning…read: ALWAYS connected with the CCSS. While some of the holidays I celebrate are more obscure (i.e. If Pets Had Thumbs Day or Lock Sock Memorial) many provide important life lessons in appreciate and thankfulness (i.e. Thank a Mailman Day or National High Five Day).

This Friday (January 18th) is Thesaurus Day! That’s right, get your party hats on J While I will not be in the classroom full-time, yet, I will at some point celebrate this holiday with students. Additionally, holiday or not, antonyms and synonyms can be hard for students…especially struggling readers. There are SO many words in 1st grade, and it can be so difficult for students to determine if words are synonyms/antonyms if they cannot read the first word! Therefore, I wanted to create a way to teach synonyms/antonyms catering to struggling readers and visual learners – I came up with Weighing Words.

Mini-lesson: I introduce the activity with a scale explaining that words have weight. A word’s ‘weight’ is its meaning. I would make the connection that an even/equal scale means two words ‘weigh’ the same or have the same meaning (ex. kind and nice). They can replace one another on the scale or in a sentence. Then, introduce the word ‘synonym’ – a term that means words have the same weight or meaning – and display the anchor chart. As a class, we create a list of same-weight words placing them on the scales. I would then go through the same process with antonyms.

Center: (We do the Daily 5, so I would include this activity in Word Work) To gauge student understanding (i.e. formative assessment), students would complete the weighing words activity in a group. Given 10 sets of words, students weigh the words (using laminated cardstock scales) to decide if they are synonyms or antonyms. Although I colored coded my cards (so students are focusing on deciding if the sets are synonyms or antonyms , they could easily be printed in black/white allowing students to decide which cards ‘match’.

Click here or the above picture to grab the anchor charts and center for free. I hope it helps synonyms and antonyms ‘click’ with your friends J Wishing you and yours a wonderful Thesaurus Day!