ILDRENS UNDRESTANDING OF E MEANINGS. The following activity develops the children s understanding of the meanings of the above two terms, while increasing their range of vocabulary. 1 Begin by explaining the two terms, giving examples to illustrate the point.2 Have a list of words which have lots of synonyms antonyms. Some are listed here strongbighappyshortsoftfasteasyfatnice newgoodquietbrightwarm3 Split the class into an even number of groups.
Label half of the groups Synonym and half of the groups Antonym. 4 Say one of the words on your word list. Each group then has to think of as many synonyms and antonyms for that word as possible depending on the group s label given earlier.
The children can have a fixed time limit to do this, or can continue until they run out of words. 5 Now count up the number of words each group has produced and award points to the group with the longest list. 6 Repeat using different words.
You could also swap the groups, so the Synonyms groups now find antonyms and vice versa. 7 This would also be a useful exercise in using a thesaurus, so if there were enough for one per group, the children could use these to add to their own lists. Antonyms Students fold a piece of construction paper in half. They look through the newspaper to find and cut out words or pictures that are antonyms. They write or paste the antonym words or pictures on opposite sides of the construction paper This idea contributed by Mrs. Amada Pérez.