An Elementary School Lesson Plan on Homonyms.

Can you SEE the beautiful SEA from the shoreline? Did you know you could BUY seashells BY the stand over there? I myself had TWO large stuffed shells, but I was TOO stuffed to eat any more. As you can see, homonyms lend themselves to a lot of fun, creative play. Take advantage of this in your classroom with this lesson plan that uses games, worksheets, and creative writing as means for your students to learn.

INTRODUCTION: Engage the students by telling them that you are going to ask them that you are going to ask them to write them in their notebook the two words EIGHT and ATE. Don't tell them how the two different words are spelled. Wait a few minutes and then have two student volunteers come up to the blackboard to write down these two words as they believe them to be. Then, after the students write these words on the board, ask these two volunteers what they believe these two words mean. After these volunteers have done the task asked of them, ask the other students whether they agree with the volunteers' findings. If the two volunteers have done their work correctly, then write the word HOMONYMS on the board with its meaning-words that sound the same but are spelled differently and have different meanings from one another. If the two volunteers have done their work incorrectly, simply correct their work and go over it with the class. Then, you write down the word Homonyms along with your meaning.

PROCEDURE: Pass out assignment sheets with two lists of homonyms that are mixed up so that the proper homonyms are not next to each other. The sheet will be used as a guide.

On the blackboard, draw a target (from the activity "Hit the Target" from the book 100 BLACKBOARD GAMES REVISED by Leslie Landin). In this target, write a word in each separate space.

Have a student stand 10 to 20 feet from the target. Give the student a beanbag or eraser to throw at the target.

The student must throw the beanbag or eraser at one of the words written in the target. Afterwards, the student must approach the blackboard and write the proper homonym under the word that they had hit.

The student who doesn't get the target that they aimed for must try to solve the toughest problem on the board, which would be at the outermost corner at the target.

Each student gets one turn. With the duration of the game and the amount of students, different words will be written in the target.

SUMMARY: Have the students take the assignment handed to them earlier, and have them draw lines connecting the proper homonyms with each other.

FOLLOW UP: Have the students write at least six sentences, each containing two words of homonyms in each sentence. This should be done for homework.