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Shades of Meaning

LANGUAGE
EnglishVocabulary|Ages 5—9|ID: mt_VLu59hpQ4T

Distinguish 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 Subjects
L.1.5c

Identify real-life connections between words and their use (e.g., note places at home that are cozy).

English Language Arts
L.1.5dCommon Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects
L.1.5d

Distinguish 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.

English Language Arts
L.2.5Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects
L.2.5

Demonstrate understanding of word relationships and nuances in word meanings.

English Language Arts
L.2.5bCommon Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects
L.2.5b

Distinguish shades of meaning among closely related verbs (e.g., toss, throw, hurl) and closely related adjectives (e.g., thin, slender, skinny, scrawny).

English Language Arts
L.3.5bCommon Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects
L.3.5b

Identify real-life connections between words and their use (e.g., describe people who are friendly or helpful).

English Language Arts
L.3.5cCommon Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects
L.3.5c

Distinguish shades of meaning among related words that describe states of mind or degrees of certainty (e.g., knew, believed, suspected, heard, wondered).

English Language Arts
L.K.5cCommon Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects
L.K.5c

Identify real-life connections between words and their use (e.g., note places at school that are colorful).

English Language Arts
L.K.5dCommon Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects
L.K.5d

Distinguish shades of meaning among verbs describing the same general action (e.g., walk, march, strut, prance) by acting out the meanings.

English Language Arts

Prerequisites1

Show full prerequisite tree
  • Sorting & Categorising Words soft

    Categorisation supports understanding shades of meaning

    • 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'