Synonyms and Antonyms

It's time for good old synonyms and antonyms! I started out with antonyms since kids seem to be more familiar with opposites, which is just what antonyms are! I showed a bunch of words on the board and told my kiddies to read the words. I took an index card, read the word, then found the word on the board that was it's antonym (opposite). Then I gave each student an index card and told them to find the word on the board that was the antonym. We read the list of words one at a time and when we read the word that was the antonym of the word on their index card, they came up and taped it on the board. After we got through the whole list, we played a game where they had to identify antonyms. Then they went to their seat to match more antonyms. The next day, I told students they were going to write antonym pairs. We created a list of antonyms on the board and then I gave each student a cut out of an ant. They had to write 3 pairs of antonyms on the legs of the ant. They had so much fun!

For synonyms, we started a little differently. I told the kiddies what synonyms were (words that mean the same thing) and then gave them each an index card with a word. I told them their job was to find another person who had a word that meant the same thing. Once all students found their partner, we shared all of the synonym pairs as we sat in a circle on the carpet. Then we played a game to match synonyms. Finally, the students went to their seat to complete a worksheet matching synonyms. The next day, we created a list of synonyms on the board. I told my class they were going to write synonyms on a synonym bun (kinda like a cinnamon bun... ha!). They loved the play on words!

Snowmen at Night

As a winter writing project, I read Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner with my first graders. We talked about things we do when it snows including have a snowball fight, build a snowman, drink hot chocolate, and build a snow fort. Before I read the book, I told my students to think about what their snowmen do once they go inside and go to sleep. We had a discussion and then I read the story. I also showed the YouTube version (Snowmen at Night) since they love hearing someone read besides me! They loved seeing the crazy things the snowmen did in the story. They especially loved how it said the snowmen drink cold cocoa, since most of them drink hot cocoa after playing in the snow. After reading, I told my kiddies to imagine they were a snowman and to think of things they would do at night. They wrote about what they would do and then created a snowman by ripping up pieces of construction paper.

Here is what they came up with!