Date: May 1994

Grade Level(s): 6, 7, 8

Subject(s):

• Language Arts/Writing (composition)

OVERVIEW:

When writing, students at the junior high level often confuse and misuse words that sound alike but have different meanings. Words pairs such as your-you're, whose- who's, there-their, and past-passed are examples of these "horrid homophones" where mistakes are not evident in speech but are only too evident in writing! This activity is designed to remind students of the specific meanings and correct usage of some of these often confused words.

PURPOSE:

This activity forces students to think about the specific definitions of commonly misused words and to use them correctly in sentences.

OBJECTIVE(s):

Students will do the following:

1. Learn the correct definitions for a predetermined list of commonly misused homonyms.
2. Use each of the words on the list correctly in a sentence.
3. Recognize that writing words that sound alike requires the writer to be careful and more specific than when speaking.

RESOURCES:

The teacher will need a list of words that have homophones and are often misused by students in their writing. The following is a list of homophones that might be used.

1. to, too, two
2. who's, whose
3. your, you're
4. there, their, they're
5. past, passed
6. close, clothes
7. blue, blew
8. aloud, allowed
9. acts, ax
10. guessed, guest
11. so, sew, sow
12. sight, cite, site
13. stationary, stationery
14. principal, principle
15. capital, capitol
16. its, it's
17. patience, patients
18. pair, pear, pare
19. sail, sale
20. sent, scent, cent

Dictionaries should also be available to the students for the culminating activity. Plenty of chalk and erasers will be needed. Students will need paper and pencils.

ACTIVITIES:

The teacher will divide the class into groups of about ten students per group. One student from each group will go to the chalkboard and the teacher will pronounce one word that has a homophone. Each student at the board will then write a sentence that contains both forms of the word used correctly in the same sentence. For example, if the teacher pronounced the word "threw" or "through," the student might write a sentence such as the following: "I threw the rock through the window." The teacher should act as scorekeeper and give points to each team for each correct sentence as the activity proceeds. The students at the chalkboard should be replaced by new students after each homonym pair is used until every student has had a chance to write a sentence at the chalkboard. The team with the most points is declared the winner.

CULMINATING ACTIVITIES:

The teacher should end the game by discussing with the students the ways that the writer has to be more specific than the speaker. This discussion can include the reasons for good spelling, punctuation, grammar, etc.! The teacher might ask the students if they have recently seen any examples of homophones used incorrectly. There are several things that the teacher can use as a concluding assignment. The teacher might ask each group to list as many homonyms as they can in a short period of time. Also, each group might be given a list of words that have homophones and be asked to find the homophone for each.

May 1994

These lesson plans are the result of the work of the teachers who have attended the Columbia Education Center's Summer Workshop. CEC is a consortium of teacher from 14 western states dedicated to improving the quality of education in the rural, western, United States, and particularly the quality of math and science Education. CEC uses Big Sky Telegraph as the hub of their telecommunications network that allows the participating teachers to stay in contact with their trainers and peers that they have met at the Workshops.