Synonyms, Homonyms, and Antonyms Introduced

Introducing Synonyms, Homonyms, and Antonyms

       Synonyms, homonyms, and antonyms are word forms that are taught early on in elementary school, roughly around grade two. By definition, a synonym is a word or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word or phrase in the same language. For example, shut represents the same action as close, and therefore is a synonym. A homonym is a word that is pronounced the same, but has one or more different ways of being written. For instance a group of homonyms are to, too, and two; they sound the same when pronounced, but are spelled differently because they have different meanings. An antonym is a word opposite in meaning to another. Examples of antonyms would be hot and cold, big and tall, and so forth.

  Synonyms. (2015). Retrieved from

           http://amzn.to/1MjFCyy

Video Resource

      A fantastic resource to use as an introduction to synonym, homonyms, and antonyms is a video called “Digital Story” and can be found on the “Watch Know Learn” website. Firstly, this resource is in video format, which as we are seeing is increasingly valuable not only to visual learners buy to all learners. Visual tools keep student more focused and engaged, which is imperative for learning! The resource itself uses bright, captivating colours, and is well organized. There is no music in the background which is good so it does not distract students from the content. This video is especially useful not only because it is visually stimulating, but also because it incorporates words and pictures to better convey meaning through examples. I feel that this video would be of great use as an introduction to the synonyms, homonyms, and antonyms as it provides some of the basics and ones that are the most commonly used. I would suggest presenting sections at a time so that the educator is able to pause it and further clarify or add more examples. This also provides students with the chance to participate by thinking of other possibilities. This video is geared towards students who are eight to twelve years of age, as these word forms are built upon across several grades.

   Antonyms. (2015). Retrieved from

 http://amzn.to/1RCkAzf

Worksheet and Game Resource 

      I also believe that it would be beneficial to construct a list or anchor chart as a class to practice concepts being learned. This activity allows for general assessment, whereby the educator can get a sense of who is understanding the concept and who requires more instruction. I would also use posters with the concept rule and hang them up in the classroom as a reminder for students. Having artifacts in the classroom where students can consult them at any time is important and promotes independent learning. Once students have grasped the concepts, a fun and interactive resource that I would explore as a class is a game called "Word Frog". I would start by modelling how to play the game and after a few examples, if time permits and it is suitable for the class, I would allow pairs or small groups to work together on a device such as an IPad (if available).If using technology in the classroom is not a suitable choice, I would move onto worksheets which can be found at “K12 Reader”. 

Homophones. (2015). Google Image.

Why Synonyms, Homonyms, and Antonyms?

        Synonyms, homonyms, and antonyms are a necessary part of language and literacy as they play a key part in reading as well as writing in later grades. Learning different synonyms is especially important for reading as students can use this knowledge to figure out unknown words. For instance if a sentence read, “The boy rapidly ran past me to greet his friends knocking me over, how rude”. At the grade two level students may not recognize the word “rapidly”, but may realize that the root word is “rapid” and know that it means fast. Once a connection is made, they are able to make more sense of what is happening in the sentence, increasing their comprehension. 

Worksheet. (2015). Google Image. 

Curriculum Connection 

       Synonyms, homonyms and antonyms can be connected to the Ontario Language and Literacy Curriculum, through a specific expectation for grade two; reading unfamiliar words "predict the meaning of and quickly solve unfamiliar words using different types of cues, including: semantic (meaning) cues (e.g., familiar words, phrases, sentences, and visuals that activate existing knowledge of oral and written language". This expectation is seen to be addressed by synonyms, homonyms, and antonyms in the video, worksheets, game resources and so forth as it teaches students words with similar meaning as well as opposites allowing them to make sense of a sentence even if they do not know or understand a specific word. Antonyms can also help when reading because if you know one do not know a word, but you do know it’s opposite, you have a good chance of figuring out the meaning of the unknown word. For instance if the sentence read, “This puzzle is challenging”, the student may not know the meaning of “challenging”, but remembers that simple the homonym (opposite) of challenging and can infer that challenging means difficult.