I.

Title: Synonyms and Antonyms, Grade 1

II.

Objectives
a. The learner will define the terms synonym and antonym.
b. The learner will identify synonyms and antonyms for a given
word.
c. The learner will produce a list of synonyms and antonyms for
four given words.

III.

TEKS
a. 1.6 (D) English Language Arts, Reading/Vocabulary
Development

IV.

Anticipatory Set
a. The teacher will engage the students by showing the class a
large stuffed animal and a small stuffed animal with the whole
class sitting on the carpet. The teacher will ask the class to
share words that describe the size of the large stuffed animal.
The students responses will be written on the white board. The
teacher will follow the same procedure with the small stuffed
animal. The teacher will transition by saying, some of us used
different words to tell about the size of the animals. Some of
the words mean the same thing- words you shared like large
and big and small and tiny hold the same meaning. They
both tell about the size of the animals. The pair of words is
different ways to describe the same thing. Lets look at large
and big (circle these words on the white board. These are
synonyms because they have the same meaning. The teacher
will instruct the students to say the word synonym aloud. The
teacher will say, Today we are going to explore synonyms and
their partner, antonyms!

V.

Resources
a. Texas Treasures Teachers Guide: consulted this resource for a
list of appropriate vocabulary words for the students to use to
develop synonyms and antonyms.
b. BrainPopJr.com: consulted the sites video and lesson ideas to
engage students
c. Synonym and Antonym word
cards:https://www.teachervision.com/tv/printables/TCR/074393
1734_91-97.pdf
d. Synonym and Antonym Handout, teacher-generated (see
Appendix)
e. Google clipart for vocabulary cards
f. Junior Thesaurus, borrowed from school library

VI.

Input/Modeling
1. Following the anticipatory set, the teacher will write the
definition of synonym on chart paper: a word that has the same
or almost the same meaning as another word. (Objective 1)
2. The teacher will write the example discussed with the stuffed
animal: biglarge. The teacher will write the word small on
the chart paper since it was used to describe the smaller
stuffed animal. The students will share synonyms for the word,
small (Objective 2). (Examples include tiny.)
3. The teacher will say, As we have just learned, synonyms talk
about words that have the same meaning. I am going to say a
word and I want you to tell me a synonym. The teacher will
use the words: loud, angry, and talk.
4. Lets look back at the words we used to talk about our two
stuffed animals. The teacher will point to big and small.
What can someone tell me about the meanings of these two
words? The students will respond accordingly, with some
variation of :they mean two different things, they are
opposites. If the student does not use the word opposite to
describe big and small, the teacher will use the word as a
transition to antonyms. The teacher will affirm that big and
small are opposites, like hot and cold and tall and short. If
you know what opposites are, then you know what antonyms
are! When you tell me that hot is the opposite of cold, you are
also telling me a pair of antonyms!
5. The teacher will describe antonyms as a word to talk about
words that have opposite meanings. The students will say the
word antonym aloud as a class. (Objective 2)
6. The students will view a thesaurus as a tool for finding
synonyms and antonyms. The teacher will explain that a
thesaurus is a tool, like a dictionary, to help with writing. It is
organized alphabetically like a dictionary.
7. The students will return to their desks to categorize a pair of
words as either being synonyms or antonyms as the teacher
post word cards on the white board (see Resources). The
teacher will instruct the students to use thumbs up for
synonyms and thumbs down for antonyms. The teacher will
say: As I put a pair of words on the document camera, you will
decide if the words are synonyms, so they have the same
meaning, or if the words are antonyms, meaning they are
opposites.
8. The teacher will post the following words:
a. Quiet and silent (S)
b. Fast and quick (S)
c. Open and close (A)
d. Nice and Kind (S)

e. Wet and Dry (A)

f. Young and Old (A)
g. Early and Late (A)
h. Jump and Leap (S)
9. The students will respond to each pair of words with either
thumbs up or thumbs down. The teacher will address any
misconceptions. (Objective 2)
10.
The teacher will instruct the students to make a foldable
to describe synonyms and antonyms. (Objective 3)
11.
The students will make a foldable using Manila paper by:
a. Folding the paper in half hot dog style
b. Folding the paper in half again, short side to short side
c. Folding the paper one last time, short side to short side
12.
Each student will use the teacher-generated handout (see
Resources) to get his or her list of words. The students will hold
their paper so that it looks like the first fold (hot dog style, one
fold with paper looking like a book). The students will cut four
squares so that the foldable opens with four flaps the cut
should not go through both parts of the book.
13.
The students will write the bold words on the handout on
each of the four flaps. The teacher will demonstrate this to the
students as the directions are read aloud.
14.
The students will use the handout to find one synonym
and one antonym for each of the four-bolded words. (Objective
3)
15.
Inside the foldable, the students will write the synonym
on the left side and the antonym on the right side. The students
can consult their tablemates if needed.
16.
The teacher will facilitate the activity and can help oneon-one when needed.
VII. Accommodations
a. Higher-level: the students will write an additional synonym for
the words in the foldable in addition to the one provided on the
handout. If these students finish early, they will write sentences
using the vocabulary words from their foldable.
b. Lower-level: If needed, the teacher will sort the synonyms and
antonyms on the handouts so that are categorized. If students
are struggling with the meaning of the vocabulary words, the
teacher will provide a picture card illustrating the meaning of
the word.
VIII. Closure
a. To conclude the lesson the teacher will ask two students to
define synonyms and antonyms. The teacher will ask ways in
which they think they can be used to improve writing as a
transition for a future lesson. The students will likely move on

IX.

to workstations as they complete their foldable as this is part of

their daily routine.
Evaluation
a. The teacher will use the students foldable to assess their
understanding of synonyms and antonyms.
i. Did they have all four words written on the outer flap?
ii. Did the student choose the correct synonym for each of
the four words?
iii. Did the student choose the correct antonym for each of
the four words?
iv. Higher-Level: Were the additional synonyms written have
the same or similar meaning to the bolded word?

Appendix
Name ___________________________________

1. Write each of the bolded words on your foldable.

start
pretty
happy

Hot

2. Choose 1 synonym and 1 antonym for each of the words

using this word box:
beautiful

glad

end

ugly

sad

warm

cold
begin

Picture Cards for Struggling Students

Start:
Hot:

Pretty:

Happy: