Retired Words Anchor Chart
Making better word choices in writing makes for better writing. It's really easy to get in the habit of using the same words over and over again, even as adults!
Create a list of old words with new choices and put those boring words into retirement!
Materials:
Personal Reading Book
Paper & Pencil
Thesaurus/Dictionary
Total Time: 25-40 minutes
Directions:
1. Have students scan a few pages of their personal reading book and have them pick out descriptive words. After 5 minutes, several students should share their findings with the class. Pretty quickly, you will find that the students have words that repeat such as happy, good, tired, cold, angry, pretty, small, ect.... These become the tired, old, boring, and overused words that we will replace with a better choice.
2. If words have appeared multiple times, put them on the "retired word" list. (Keep going if you have no repeat offenders!)
3. Next, have the students brainstorm alternate ways to write the retired word in new exciting way.
4. Then, have the students look up the retired words in the thesaurus or dictionary to come up with even more new choices!
5. Create an anchor chart as you go!
CLICK HERE for a complete lesson on revising and editing for word choice.
