Help me give my students these wonderful resources (thesauruses and reference books) to independently increase their vocabularies and writing skills! Thank you!
My students are a combination of many backgrounds, races, and personalities. They make me laugh every day. In our 4th grade writing/grammar classroom, we produce many essays and this requires us to utilize a more in depth vocabulary. One of the challenges we face in an inner city school district is that we do not have enough materials to accommodate these higher expectations for writing. I would love to be able to provide them with access to a thesaurus as we are striving to use more difficult words in our essays. I only have 3 of these resources in my room right now and they are quite outdated. We change classes throughout our day and one set of books would more than cover our needs. I truly believe that if a child investigates something on his/her own, the new information will be retained much better. This will greatly aid in improving their vocabularies. To expose them to a print resource in this technological world would also be a positive advantage.
Fourth grade is an integral turning point in their elementary years and my students deserve the best possible tools to increase their vocabulary and encourage their investigatory skills.
My Project
Choosing from these different types of thesauruses will enable my students to look up their own words independently. Currently, they have to come to me individually and we look up words together on the thesaurus app on my phone. Teaching five 45-minute periods of writing everyday inhibits me from assisting everyone who needs me.
"Independently doing creates permanent learning." If they are researching these words on their own, then they will be more apt to remember them and use them in the future.
They can also add the new words to their own personal word walls stored in their writing folders, further reinforcing new vocabulary. These books would certainly encourage them to do their own research and give them the ability to use an actual book as a means to create detailed essays rather then rely on an app on a phone or tablet.
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