Memorizing a vocabulary list works for basic recall skills, but it doesn’t truly help students effectively communicate.Īs parents and teachers, we are continuously trying to decode what our children and students need based on what they reveal to us, both verbally and nonverbally. In order for children to be able use words appropriately, they must learn them in context. Learning to “use your words”-as I often say to my children-requires more than saying the phrase and expecting a result. Using thesauruses regularly in the classroom helps children to read advanced texts and express themselves when emotions run high.

Roget’s Thesaurus is still printed by multiple publishers today and many alternative versions can be found online or in print. Roget published the first version in 1852, titled Roget’s Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases.Įven though Roget led a career in medicine, he spent the latter half of his life compiling a dictionary of synonyms. This holiday pays tribute to his “discovery” of the thesaurus. It just so happens that today is National Thesaurus Day.īritish publisher Peter Mark Roget was born this day in 1779. As a curriculum lead, I’m always looking for the best ways to phrase our English Language Arts lessons so that students are exposed to a variety of words, particularly ones with nuisances. I use one at least five days a week, multiple times a day while I work. This isn’t a well-known fact, but I love thesauruses.

Trove synonym