- dip
- dive
- zip
- zoom
MA Standards:
Language/L.PK.MA.4.a: With guidance and support, generate words that are similar in meaning (e.g., happy/glad, angry/mad).
Head Start Outcomes:
Language Development/Receptive Language: Comprehends increasingly complex and varied vocabulary.
PreK Learning Guidelines:
English Language Arts/Language 5: Listen to and use formal and informal language.
Word Play: Similar Word Meanings
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ELA Focus Skills: Speaking and Listening, Vocabulary, Word Recognition
Help children grasp the meanings of the words zoom and zip. Explain that zoom and zip are two words that mean “to go very fast”. Give examples of how the word might be used. For example, Airplanes can zoom in the sky. A racecar zips down a track. Ask, Can you think of something that zooms or zips?
- Have children act out the words zip and zoom. Elicit that their actions are similar for each word.
- Say, Some words are different but they can mean the same thing, like zip and zoom. These words both mean to “go very fast.”
- Ask, Do you know any other words that mean “go very fast?”
- Help children generate words that have a similar meaning (e.g., whiz, whip).
Repeat the activity with dips and dives (e.g., drop, fall).
Educator Tip: Guided and independent letter, sound, and word practice continues to take place in center activities. It is helpful to set up the literacy center immediately after the direct instruction and repeat instruction before children work in the literacy center identifying letters.