Shades of Meaning
LANGUAGEDistinguish shades of meaning among verbs describing similar actions and among adjectives differing in intensity; make real-life connections between words and their use
Mastery Evidence
- Compare similar verbs by acting them out (e.g. 'walk', 'march', 'strut', 'prance')
- Order adjectives by intensity (e.g. big, huge, gigantic)
- Connect vocabulary to personal experiences (e.g. note things at school that are 'colourful')
Assessment Prompt
“Does [child] notice the difference between similar words — for example, knowing that "scorching" is stronger than "warm," or that "trotted" is different from "sprinted"?”
Curriculum Standards8 alignments
L.1.5cCommon Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical SubjectsIdentify real-life connections between words and their use (e.g., note places at home that are cozy).
L.1.5dCommon Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical SubjectsDistinguish shades of meaning among verbs differing in manner (e.g., look, peek, glance, stare, glare, scowl) and adjectives differing in intensity (e.g., large, gigantic) by defining or choosing them or by acting out the meanings.
L.2.5Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical SubjectsDemonstrate understanding of word relationships and nuances in word meanings.
L.2.5bCommon Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical SubjectsDistinguish shades of meaning among closely related verbs (e.g., toss, throw, hurl) and closely related adjectives (e.g., thin, slender, skinny, scrawny).
L.3.5bCommon Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical SubjectsIdentify real-life connections between words and their use (e.g., describe people who are friendly or helpful).
L.3.5cCommon Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical SubjectsDistinguish shades of meaning among related words that describe states of mind or degrees of certainty (e.g., knew, believed, suspected, heard, wondered).
L.K.5cCommon Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical SubjectsIdentify real-life connections between words and their use (e.g., note places at school that are colorful).
L.K.5dCommon Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical SubjectsDistinguish shades of meaning among verbs describing the same general action (e.g., walk, march, strut, prance) by acting out the meanings.
Prerequisites1
- Sorting & Categorising WordssoftAges 5—8
Show full prerequisite tree
- How Many in Total? soft
Sorting and categorising objects uses the same counting/cardinality skills from maths
- One-to-one counting hard
Cardinality principle builds on one-to-one correspondence — you must count correctly to know the last number tells 'how many'
Unlocks3
- Antonyms & SynonymshardAges 9—11
- Expressive and Sensory LanguagesoftAges 6—9
- Literal vs Figurative LanguagesoftAges 8—9