LESSON PLAN-Synonyms and Antonyms

JMU Elementary Education Program

Emma Wesley
Ms. Sutton
10:30am-11:30am
Ms. Sutton viewed on September

A. Language Arts

B. CONTEXT OF LESSON

Students enjoy interactive learning tools such Jamboard where they get to answer questions in real
time during the live zoom. I wanted to use a Jamboard and a Nearpod so that students could listen to
my lesson while, also getting the opportunity to interact at the same time. Students have been learning
about comparing and contrasting, and elements of a story. This lesson takes a break from our story
focus and looks to enhance writing skills with synonyms and antonyms. This lesson involves
participation as students will be able to solve problems.

C. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Understand – what are the broad Know – what are the facts, rules, Do – what are the specific thinking
generalizations the students should specific data the students will gain behaviors students will be able to do
begin to develop? (These are through this lesson? (These “knows” through this lesson? (These will also
typically difficult to assess in one must be assessed in your lesson.) be assessed in your lesson.)
lesson.)
Students will understand that Students will know what Students will be able to identity
synonyms and antonyms are used synonyms and antonyms are and synonyms and antonyms.
to enhance their writing. how they are used in writing.
Students will be able to write their
own synonyms and antonyms.

D. ASSESSING LEARNING
I will be using a check list to determine which students could successful identity synonyms
and antonyms from the nearpod activity
I will be using a checklist to see if students were able to create their own synonyms and
antonyms of words through a Seesaw activity for homework.

E. RELATED VIRGINIA STANDARDS OF LEARNING (and NATIONAL STANDARDS if required)

4.3 The student will read fiction and nonfiction with fluency and accuracy. c) Use knowledge of word
origins; synonyms, antonyms, and homonyms; and multiple meanings of words

F. MATERIALS NEEDED
Computer
Chrome Book
Nearpod
Video
Jamboard
Seesaw

G. PROCEDURE

To engage students, I will tell them that we are learning about synonyms and antonyms and I will have
them watch my introduction song.
I will explain to students that we use synonyms and antonyms to make our writing stronger.

I will have students go to the Jamboard. On the Jamboard, I will instruct students to use the “sticky
note” feature to write two words or a pair of words that have the same meaning for the first slide
which is about synonyms. I will then tell students to “write a pair of words that have opposite
meanings on a sticky note for the slide about antonyms. Students will work on this for about five
minutes.

I will then read a few examples aloud.

I will then tell students to close out of the Jambord and go onto the language art section in their
agenda.

I will tell students “to click on the synonym and antonyms Nearpod.”

I will walk through the Nearpod with students which has many interactive parts to it. This will take
about 20 minutes.

I will introduce the first set of examples on the first slide that focuses on synonyms. I will call on a
few students to share the examples.

I will then introduce the next set of examples for antonyms. I will ask for a few students to share and
read aloud some examples.

I will change slides and say “now we are going to try to identify some synonyms and antonyms”. First
on this slide I would like for you to circle the synonyms for beautiful. I will say find the words that
have the same meaning as the word “beautiful”. After students have the opportunity to circle some
words. I will call on a few students to share what they found. I will reveal the answers to the class on
the nearpod.

On the next slide, I will explain that we will now be looking for “antonyms for the word dangerous”. I
will tell students to circle the antonyms that mean the opposite of dangerous.

After they are finished circling, I will have some students share which words they thought were
antonyms.

I will then switch to the next slide and tell students, circle the synonyms in red and the antonyms in
blue for the word “Smart.”

I will then share some student’s answers to see what they came up with on the Nearpod.

I will switch to the next slide and tell students, circle the synonyms in blue and the antonyms in red for
the word “Friendly.”

I will switch to the next slide and tell students, circle the synonyms in blue and the antonyms in red for
the word “I will switch to the next slide and tell students, circle the synonyms in red and the antonyms
in blue for the word “Strong.”

I will explain that next we will be reading a sentence and finding an antonym of the underline word
that best matches the sentence. After students have completed this task the teacher will share her the
correct answer.

I will instruct the students to try the next two questions on their own independently. I will regroup the
class after I have given the students about five minutes to answer the questions. I will call on a few
 students to answer the questions for the class. I will share my screen with the class to show the correct
answers.

I will have students exit out of Nearpod and I will share my screen to show their homework. I will tell
the students that their homework will be on SeeSaw
I will explain to students that for homework “you are going to be making synonyms and antonyms for
four words and drawing pictures to represent your words that you write.”

I will tell students to begin their independent work.

H. DIFFERENTIATION
For students that are struggling to grasp these concepts, I will have them review certain simple words
where they can come up with the meaning and then try to find words that have the same or different
meaning.

I. WHAT COULD GO WRONG WITH THIS LESSON AND WHAT WILL YOU DO ABOUT IT?
Students that have trouble with the internet may have an issue accessing Nearpod, these students can
look at my screen that I will be sharing and write down their answers on a piece of paper
The Youtube video might not work, I will sing the song without the Youtube video.
Lesson Implementation Reflection
As soon as possible after teaching your lesson, think about the experience. Use the questions/prompts below to
guide your thinking. Be thorough in your reflection and use specific examples to support your insights.

I. How did your actual teaching of the lesson differ from your plans? Describe the changes and explain why
you made them.

My actual teaching was different because I spend more time on the nearpod then I thought I would. I had sort of
guided the students through the nearpod rather than having them work independently on it. I realized I could have
spend less time on this and more time for the students to do independent work at the end of class. I also spend less time
on the Jamboard then I thought I would and this was because the students can easily be distracted with the Jamboards
and draw on them without doing their work.

II. Based on the assessment you created, what can you conclude about your impact on student learning? Did
they learn? Who learned? What did they learn? What evidence can you offer that your conclusions are
valid?
After looking at the Jamboard, looking at their homework and observing what took place in the nearpod. I believe that
the students did learn. I was able to see from the Jamboard that all but two students wrote down a set of synonyms. I
also noted that the same students did not come up with antonyms. After looking over the nearpod data, I found that six
students struggled with identifying examples of antonyms in the word sort. However, during the nearpod I was able to
check off that fourteen of the students identified synonyms correctly in a word sort.

III. Describe at least one way you could incorporate developmentally appropriate practice in a better or more
thorough way if you were to teach this lesson again.

If I were to teach this lesson again, I would give the students guided notes, that they could fill out besides doing the
examples over and over again in the nearpod. I felt that my lesson was a little bit repetitive as it was doing the same
sort of thing multiple times. I would also add in more visual for them to work with. I think pictures of antonyms and
synonyms would of be helpful for them to truly grasp these word definitions.

IV. Based on the assessment data you collected, what would you do/teach next if you were the classroom
teacher?

If I were to teach this again, I would give another lesson on antonyms. After looking at their homework and doing an
informal checklist for the nearpod, six students had trouble finding examples of words that are antonyms.

V. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about young
children as learners?
I have learned that students need whole brain activity and motions to help them remember and to help them retain new
things. Students also need clear instructions and often things repeated many times to help them retain information.

VI. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about teaching?

I learned that having lessons with children interaction such as the nearpods and jamboard helps teach because it
helps me see what the children understand and what they don’t understand while class is going on. I learned that
planning activities that students enjoy helps them to be engaged as they are more excited about what they are going
to be doing during the lesson.

VII. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about yourself?

I was reinforced with the idea that students enjoy participating rather than just listening to the teacher talk.
They seemed to have liked completing the work on their own! I was reinforced with the idea that I need to
change my tone of voice sometimes to help the students stay focused.