I hope everyone is enjoying this pre-Thanksgiving week! I, for one, will be enjoying two birds this
week. One that my husband smoked for our
camping trip and one that my niece will be cooking for the first time ever on
the big day! So it is very fitting that
last week I thought of this title, and then never got to write it! It’s about shades of meaning and how to
attack this skill in two subjects, instead of just in one!
Let’s start
with a question. Have you ever taught
something with “cute” words? I mean,
really “cute”, so “cute” that, after awhile, they start making you a little
sick! I believe this is because these
“cute” words aren’t true to what kids need to know. The word I am currently “sick” of is “Sparkle
Words”. Let’s face it, what does this
really mean. Oh, I know what it
means. It means to go in and find weak
words and replace them with stronger words, making your writing “sparkle”. But do kids deserve more than a word that
doesn’t really match something in reading!
There is, after all, an exact reading term for this very concept. It is a term they are now (or should be)
learning in lower grades with the influx of Common Core. Let’s, then, make it really count and call it
what it is in writing also-Shades of Meaning!
And, so I did!
I started
out with redirecting them through a Power Point to our slide show on Roald Dahl
and author’s purpose. We specifically
talked about his ability to write exactly opposite
of what he wanted to say to his teachers!
Imagine that, an author who was clever enough to trick his teachers into
thinking he couldn't write! We also
looked specifically at some of his word choices and talked about what thesaurus
are.
I explained that the shade of
meaning, or intensity of the word, helped to strengthen his writing. To show them what I meant by intensity, I
showed them a large paint chip from Wal-Mart’s paint section that has all of
the intensities of blue on the chip in circle form. (These are from Better
Homes and Gardens Paint) We focused next
on one particular sentence:
And she was mad!
( Page 37)
Using the thesaurus, we first picked out the definition that
matched the sentence on page 37-Wait, can it be true-THIS IS READING!-and then
tried out a few. I showed them how we
would build an intensity continuum and we charted out mad. And, low and behold, we found “seeing red” as
one of the most intense word choices! A
great example of how idioms are an intense shade of meaning! Isn’t figurative language a standard in
READING vocabulary in Common Core (and, not to mention, NGSSS)? Are you starting to see what I mean? Why keep calling them words like “sparkle
words” when you can get more bang for your buck! Shall we move on?
I then
turned it over to the kids. I gave each
group a sentence from Charlie and the Chocolate factory with a word underlined
on the page. They needed to find 4 more
words in that shade of meaning that grew in intensity. It was amazing. They went at it and really
enjoyed talking about how the words grew stronger but didn’t change the
meaning. One group lost their way in the fact that they picked the first four
words they came across. I worked with
them to “shop around” a little and soon, they had gathered some pretty intense
words. Continuums were created, and we
were on our way!
Next, I
gave them a word with multi meanings-wait, isn’t that READING!- and had them 1. Find their meaning and 2. Organize them by intensity. This was from my Shades of Meaning 8 Pack. Once they created their intensity
continuum by simply ordering them on their desktops, they shared out with the
class. After that, they completed the
form provided in the pack for the word “good” that their group had. And just like that, we were on our way to
creating stronger sentences in our writing from something that matches a
reading skill!
But we
weren’t finished! Next, I gave them a
weak word from a website I found. Can I
find it now, of course not! There are
tons of them out there to use though, so find what works for you! As partners, the students worked on two
words. They were given the directions to find 5 “weak” words, because the one I
gave them was the WEAKEST, 5 strong words, 5 stronger words, and 5 intense
words.
This was the only way I could
think it through that made sense to them.
I do need to work on this particular thought. Anyways, they went to town and created word
lists to match their weakest word! I
reminded them that they would be sharing these with the class, and to be
prepared, but they weren’t prepared for what came next.
A gravestone,
some tears and a whole lot of saying goodbye!
Many of you have probably heard about burying words, putting them away
from use, but have you ever had an actual funeral. We did.
I “cried” and everything. Once
the kids got into it, it was pretty humorous.
They cried loudly over each word as I announced its death and put it on
the gravestone. They then “eulogized”
their word by sharing their stronger choices.
I wrote them on the paint chip circles that are now hung our Shades of
Meaning bulletin board.
As we go further
along, I will be creating lists of ways to make their writing come “alive” next
to our tombstone and shades of meaning continuums. This will include similes, metaphors,
alliterations, etc. that I post on
flowers. I thought that would be a nice
way to show how their writing will grow by using intense word choice.
So, here’s
the bigger picture and how I am killing two birds with one stone. Next we will go over the question stems for
shades of meaning for reading tests. That means I can now
write test questions based on shades of meaning and they will get it. I can now go through the figurative language pieces
for their writing. I can tie it to how
writers use figurative language to strengthen their work and how they should too. I can show them how those question stems work! It’s all connected; it’s all one strand! It is now open season for this word work! Take a shot at it; I think you will like it!
