Shades of Meaning - Introducing Synonyms

After the introduction of the verb, the child can be introduced to synonyms. This is a more exact form of the 'command' games the children are familiar with.

A box labelled 'Synonyms' or 'Shades of Meaning' is introduced. Inside the box are several bundles of verbs, each bundle contains a series of verbs similar in nature, hence "shades of meaning" as the child develops a sense of awareness in differentiating subtle differences in similar words.

This can be presented as an individual or group lesson in similar fashion to the introduction to the verb. The teacher chooses a bundle and the child acts out each of the synonyms:

It could also be a good exercise to follow up another time with the child by coming up with some synonyms together. This type of work really helps build their vocabulary and comprehension.

This is also a good time to introduce the dictionary and/or thesaurus if you haven't already.

I have five files of shades of meaning (synonyms) to share with you:

to walk

to look

to say

to break

to throw