1. W HAT IS A T HESAURUS ? and Why would we use one?

2. W HAT WILL WE LEARN TODAY ? What a Thesaurus is How a Thesaurus is arranged Why we use a Thesaurus How we use a Thesaurus

3. I CAN … Tell what a Thesaurus is and how it is arranged Tell what a synonym is Find synonyms in a Thesaurus Make my writing more interesting by using synonyms

4. W HAT IS A T HESAURUS ? A Thesaurus is a book of synonyms arranged in alphabetical order. Synonyms are words that share the same or nearly the same meaning. A Thesaurus is a tool to help you make your writing interesting. For example, these words are synonyms for funny and crazy: funny crazy amusing dumb comical foolish hilarious silly humorous absurd

5. W HY USE A T HESAURUS ? T O MAKE YOUR WRITING MORE INTERESTING Another way to think of a Thesaurus is as a book of word choices. Understanding how to use word choices, or synonyms, is one of the secrets of good writing. Maybe your teacher has told you that you use the word weird too often in your writing. Instead, you could use bizarre, eerie, odd, peculiar, strange, or unnatural to make your writing more interesting and entertaining.

6. C UDDLES THE C AT Cuddles ate her cat food. Then she ate the goldfish. Next, she ate a few bugs. For dessert, she ate some flowers. Make these sentences more interesting by using synonyms. Cuddles gobbled her cat food. Then she devoured the goldfish. Next she munched a few bugs. For dessert, she nibbled some flowers.

7. P ARAGRAPH DESCRIBING WHAT SNOW IS LIKE TO SOMEONE WHO HAS NEVER SEEN SNOW Winter is normally a cold time of year, but last January was unbelievably cold. I would go outside wearing my boots and two pairs of socks, and my feet would still feel cold! I couldn’t wait for spring to arrive so the cold weather would end. Winter is normally a cold time of year, but last January was unbelievably frigid. I would go outside wearing my boots and two pairs of socks, and my feet would still feel frozen! I couldn’t wait for spring to arrive so the icy weather would end.

8. C HOOSING AN A PPROPRIATE S YNONYM Match the part of speech – noun, verb, adjective, adverb Fat noun grease, oil lard, tallow French fries contain a lot of (fat) grease. adjective heavy, obese, overweight, plump The fish they caught was extremely (fat) plump. Sometimes we need to add or change a preposition.

9. C HOOSING THE B EST S YNONYM Think about what you are writing and the context for the word you are using. Choose the best synonym for the sentence or the context of the story.

10. R EMEMBER : A Thesaurus is a book of synonyms. These synonyms are arranged in alphabetical order. We use a Thesaurus to find synonyms to make our writing and speaking more interesting and entertaining. In choosing a synonym we have to match the part of speech to the word we are replacing. We also have to find a synonym that doesn’t change the meaning or intent of the sentence. Don’t just choose any synonym… Choose the best synonym for your sentence

11. A Thesaurus is a tool that will help you find the right words to express your thoughts and keep your writing lively and interesting. Use it!