Give students a list of simple words. Words may include "walk," "said," "talk," "angry" and "soft." Ensure that you include nouns, adjectives and verbs. Use 10 to 20 words.
Divide students into groups of three or four, depending on the size of the class. Give each group a thesaurus. Ask each student in the group to look up one of the words on the list, one at a time. If the first word is "walk," for example, students may list their favorite words to replace the plain-sounding word, such "amble," "lumber," "stroll," "waltz" and "lope."
Pass out another worksheet with challenging words. Ask students, still in their groups, to look up the challenging words in a dictionary. If a student already knows the word, check her answer in the dictionary. Write brief definitions beside each word. Each student should write the definition on her individual paper so she has the definition on-hand.
Ask students to find replacement words for the challenging words, using the thesaurus. Each student should again take a turn to look up the word. If the word itself is not listed in the thesaurus, such as a word like "loquacious," students can find another term for excessively talkative, such as "chatterbox," "motormouth," "gabby" and "prosy." Walk around to each group of students to praise the words they chose or to help them pick better matching terms.
Divide students from their groups into individual desks. Ask each student to take out a sheet of blank, lined paper. Using the words they have just learned from the dictionary and the thesaurus, ask students to compose a short story or essay using each of the words.
Give a theme to help guide the assignment, or let them freely choose their topic and style of writing. Students may volunteer to read their essays or stories--or excepts--to the class. Hang up well-written and creative papers on the bulletin board or wall.