Synonyms, antonyms, shades of meaning and register
Use synonyms and antonyms precisely, judging strength, connotation and formality, and treat a thesaurus entry as a list of candidates to be tested rather than a list of equivalents.
Board title: Synonyms and antonyms · Say it: “Today we're putting a thesaurus on trial: we'll test whether warm, hot and scalding really mean the same, and hunt for opposites that truly answer the word.”
synonym · antonym · shade of meaning · strength · connotation · register · formal
A thesaurus entry read as a list of equals. The soup was scalding as a compliment, Nonna was irate about a spilt drop. They substitute without testing. Insist on the substitution being read back inside the whole sentence before it is kept, that single habit fixes most of it.
An antonym as merely less. Cool offered as the opposite of hot, expand as the opposite of increase. Cool is a point on the same scale, not the reverse of it. Ask which direction the word travels before they choose a candidate.
Bigger word, better word. Benevolent and arduous arrive in a piece of dialogue between two children. Strength and formality are separate choices from meaning, and the plain word is often the accurate one. Praise precision out loud, or they will keep reaching.
One word, one opposite. Light is the opposite of dark and also of heavy; hard of soft and also of easy. They take the first opposite that comes and ignore the sense in play. Make them state the sense first, then the opposite that answers it.
Same four tasks on every sheet, in the same order, with the same look. Only the demand changes. Print the one each child needs; nobody does two.
Same four tasks as every other sheet, same order, same look, the demand is lower, not the dignity. Shorter passage in Task 2, and in Task 3 a word bank or words to tick, with printed sentence starters. Give it to anyone who needs a way in, and expect them to move up.
The core sheet. Give this to most of the class. No word bank; in Task 3 pupils choose from a few close options, then use one in a sentence of their own.
Same four tasks, more demand, a longer passage with a subtler error, and Task 3 asks for two things at once. Not extra work; harder work. Nobody should be doing Spicy and the Medium sheet.
Lesson code OPPSF at playspaghetti.com. The code is printed on the bottom of every pupil sheet with a QR, and Class Quiz in your dashboard opens the plenary quiz for this lesson pre-picked.