One vocabulary area that seems to challenge many is: providing two or more different definitions for multiple meaning words. Targeting multiple meaning words over a few weeks isn’t enough; I’ll focus on them throughout the school year for measurable gains. So, I developed word banks for monthly calendars based on a seasonal activity, event, or category. I found that asking students to provide a definition relative to the theme was very helpful.
Lesson Plan
At the beginning of every session, each student would provide one definition for the day’s target word. Every Friday, I wrote “Review Day” on the calendar so students could pick whatever word they wanted from the past week. Sometimes, there were small candy incentives for accurately providing at least two, different definitions. Below are word banks you can use to make your own calendars.
Word Lists
- January (Hockey words): slip, icing, sticks, fans, ice, mask, uniform, slash, goal, net, line, slide, glass, coach, pass, shoot
- February (Body Parts): head, ear, limb, hand, feet, nail, face, arms, foot, lash, gum, calf, back, arm
- March (Baseball Words): bat, batter, pitcher, run, home, strike, ball, coach, hit, fan, plate, fly, diamond
- April (Animal words): bark, duck, hog, bear, clam, fly, bug, fish, bat, snake, crane, chicken, monkey, pig, rat, badger
- May (Action words): join, drive, straighten, play, grill, settle, observe, grasp, spare, take, spin, stand, fire, fix, beat, lose, shake, sign, miss
- September (Things You May Find in Your Home): iron, key, light, bed, screen, shed, sink, yard, fan, entrance, deck, plant, table, pool, steps
- October (Basketball): ball, hoop, court, coach, dribble, pass, shoot, basket, net, quarter, foul, travel, trip, charge, block, run, steal, fan, tie
- November (Football): ball, tackle, coach, quarter, half, run, pass, field, guard, fan, wave, catch, practice, cover, down, flag, cheer
- December (Holiday/ Seasonal words): cold, present, ice, star, shop, stockings, bow, trip, open, light, wrap, tag
Nanette Cote
Nanette Cote is an ASHA certified speech pathologist, published author, and private practice business owner with 30 years experience.
love the idea! I work with high schoolers and I feel the same way – I'm going to alter this for them. awesome!
Thanks!! Glad you can use it;)
Love it, love it! I will be using this with my older kids when I go back next week. I work on multiple meanings often. I did a guest post on multiple meaning baseball words over at Playing With Words 365 if you want to check it out. http://www.playingwithwords365.com/2012/10/targeting-ultiple-meanings-with-baseball-cooking/ thanks for the great post! Rose 🙂
I like this idea of grouping words based on theme by month! Nice idea. Also like the review day! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the link, Rose! I just might have to use that in the Spring! I appreciate all the feedback, thanks ladies!