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Arizona ELA Standard: 2.L.5.b

Identify synonyms and antonyms to distinguish shades of meaning among closely related verbs (e.g., toss, throw, hurl) and closely related adjectives (e.g., thin, slender, skinny, scrawny).

Super Specific Similes – Strong Uncle
Super Specific Similes – Strong Uncle
Let’s make this simile about a strong uncle even more specific.
Super Specific Similes – Slimy Broccoli
Super Specific Similes – Slimy Broccoli
Start with a basic simile. Now make it more specific. Now even more. Watch how much better writing gets with each round.
Super Specific Similes: Quick Baby
Super Specific Similes: Quick Baby
Let’s make this simile about a quick baby even more specific.
Five Sets of Bird and Bug Idioms
Five Sets of Bird and Bug Idioms
Five sets of idioms related to birds (and bugs).
Antonym Paths
Antonym Paths
Does the antonym of an antonym bring us back to the same meaning?
Fancier Figurative Language: Use the Opposite
Fancier Figurative Language: Use the Opposite
Let’s start with “As cold as fire.”
Word Ladder: Arm to Leg (6-steps)
Word Ladder: Arm to Leg (6-steps)
COLD to COOL. BAND to SING. Change one letter at a time — can you find the path?
Writing Technique: Contrast With Synonyms
Writing Technique: Contrast With Synonyms
A specific technique to help students add some spice to their writing. We’ll be contrasting two ideas using synonyms.
Writing Technique: Opposite Adjectives
Writing Technique: Opposite Adjectives
A specific technique to help students add some spice to their writing. We’ll be using antonyms to describe the same topic!
Ambiguous Sentences
Ambiguous Sentences
Rather than just demand that students “write clearly,” we’ll explore the hazards of poorly written sentences… and maybe create one of our own!
Virtue or Vice?
Virtue or Vice?
Aristotle noted that positive traits and negative traits are often the same thing, but just in different amounts. The right amount is a virtue, but too much or too little and it’s a vice.
What’s In My Brain: Painting vs Painting
What’s In My Brain: Painting vs Painting
Two columns of sentences. Something is different about them. Can you figure out the rule?
Synonym Graphs
Synonym Graphs
So, which is happiest: happy, joyful, or ecstatic? Which is most temporary?
Multiple Meaning Matcher – Introduction
Multiple Meaning Matcher – Introduction
Your students will try to match up definitions that belong to the same homophone in this brain-boggling vocab puzzle.
Content Imperatives: Paradox
Content Imperatives: Paradox
How can one idea pull in opposite directions, being both true and false or right and wrong at the same time? It’s time to explore Paradoxes!