KS2: Dictionary and Thesaurus Detectives (5 lesson Unit of Work)

This is a five lesson unit of work for teaching all dictionary and thesaurus objectives in KS2. In this resource pack you will find: Lesson plans (including for your TA), differentiated worksheets/activities (LA, MA and HA plus a challenge activity for deeper understanding/mastery), answer sheets for all activities (where possible) and flipcharts for whole class teaching (in ActivInspire, PowerPoint and PDF format). This pack will save you hours and hours of planning, resourcing, differentiating, finding challenging activities and generating flipcharts all for an amazing price. In addition, resources are uploaded in both PDF and Word format so that they can be edited to suit your needs. The children will love the fun activities and it turns what can be a rather sterile activity into something vibrant and worthwhile.

Lesson 1 begins with an introduction to the dictionary. It then involves the children organising words into alphabetical order. By doing this they can reveal the hidden word. A great introduction to how dictionaries are organised. The challenge activity requires children to organise a set of funny books into alphabetical order!

Lesson 2 involves the children learning to find words in a dictionary. They then must help Detective Howlmes repair his dictionary by finding definitions etc. The challenge activity: Deeper understanding of finding words in a dictionary given very little information.

Lesson 3 takes the children on a treasure hunt. Identify the misspelt words using a dictionary, generate coordinates, follow the coordinates using online map, find where the missing diamond is hidden. Great fun! The challenge: Complete the words with every other letter missing.

Lesson 4 involves the children learning to use a thesaurus. Roget’s thesaurus has been stolen. Detective Howlmes has written a crime report, can you improve it? The challenge: Can you correct the misuse of the thesaurus?

Lesson 5 involves the children using all their dictionary and thesaurus skills. Correct or change 20 words to open the secret door and find the stolen thesaurus.

BONUS: Also included is a 16 page PowerPoint of 5 minute challenges to complete using a dictionary or thesaurus + an editable version of this.

Objectives Covered:

To use dictionaries to check the meaning of words that they have read
To use dictionaries to check the spelling and meaning of words
To use the first 2 or 3 letters of a word to check its spelling in a dictionary
To use the first 3 or 4 letters of a word to check spelling, meaning or both of these in a dictionary
To use a thesaurus

Each lesson is also available as an individual lesson (£2 each). Check out my shop (by clicking on my username) to find these great resources + lots more!