Synonyms and antonyms in context: twenty days of nonfiction passages

A synonym from a list is easy. Knowing which synonym fits the sentence in front of you is the harder job, and it is the one these packets practice. Every question is about a word as its passage uses it, so the proof is always on the page, and a student can point to the words that prove it.

Four weeks, one step each

• Week 1, Synonyms: find a word that means almost the same in this sentence.
• Week 2, Antonyms: find the opposite of the word as the text uses it.
• Week 3, Shades of Meaning: pick the word closest in strength, or put close words in order from weaker to stronger. In 3rd grade these are words for feelings and how sure someone is.
• Week 4, Context Clues: find the clue nearby, often a synonym or an antonym, that tells what the bold word means.

One day, two pages

• A Learn It page opens each week. You read it together: the week's goal, a three-step strategy, three Words to Know, a short model text and a think-aloud that answers one question and points to its proof.
• The Read page holds the passage and one While I Read task, such as writing a word above each bold word that means almost the same.
• The Respond page has 5 multiple-choice questions, one for each bold word. On Days 1 to 4 it also has a word chart for two of the bold words: the word, what it means in this text, a synonym, an antonym and a sentence of the student's own.
• Day 5 of every week is a Check Day: 5 questions and a short written response in place of the word chart, done without help.
• For you: teacher pages with the skill progression and the standards, and a class record for daily scores and writing scores.
• For students: an anchor page that sets synonyms, antonyms, shades of meaning and context clues side by side, and a progress tracker for each daily score and each week's goal.
• Answer keys with the letter, the answer, the paragraph and the exact words that prove it, plus sample answers for the charts and the writing and a 0 to 2 guide for the writing.

Less help as the week goes on

Day 1 of each week prints one word chart row filled in as a model, with a word from the Learn It page. On Days 2 to 4 the chart rows give only the bold words, and the Check Day has no chart at all. The passages get longer as the weeks go on:

• 3rd grade: about 125 to 149 words in Week 1, 157 to 173 words in Week 4.
• 4th grade: about 170 to 194 words in Week 1, 238 to 242 words in Week 4.
• 5th grade: about 205 to 222 words in Week 1, 248 to 275 words in Week 4.

What each grade covers

• 3rd grade (56 pages, $7.95): Synonyms, antonyms, shades of meaning and context clues, one a week. Week 3 uses words for feelings and how sure someone is, as L.3.5c asks.
• 4th grade (56 pages, $7.95): Synonyms, antonyms, shades of meaning and context clues, one a week, on passages that grow from about 170 to about 240 words.
• 5th grade (56 pages, $7.95): The same four weeks, plus 10 homograph questions from Week 2 on (bark, loom, hide, mine, school, pupil, current, story, bank, seal), as L.5.5c asks.

Each packet holds 20 nonfiction passages with 100 bold words, 4 Learn It lessons with model texts, 100 multiple-choice questions, 16 word charts and 4 written responses. Every text was written for its packet.

The 3rd through 5th grade bundle carries all three grades, 168 pages, for $16.95, against $23.85 bought separately: 60 nonfiction passages, 300 bold words, 300 multiple-choice questions, 48 word charts, 12 written responses and 12 Learn It lessons. It suits a teacher who loops with a class, or a team that wants one routine for word study across 3rd to 5th.

Where it fits

Whole-class practice, small groups, centers, homework or morning work: the day is short and the same every time, so it runs anywhere you have ten to fifteen minutes.

The main idea passages run on the same two-page day for twenty days, if your class is ready for a second skill. In 4th and 5th grade, so do the character traits passages, the compare and contrast paired passages, the idioms passages and the cause and effect passages. For a small group that needs six weeks across several comprehension skills, the Tier 2 reading intervention packets are the longer option.