Looking for a “Wheely” Good Synonyms Activity?

You’ve found one! Use this resource when students are going through the editing process after writing a piece of text. Students can refer to this wheel, helping them choose a better, less overused word and making their writing much more descriptive.

How this resource works:

• The words in the center should not be used very often. They are a guide for finding better words to use instead.
• The words in the second ring are synonyms for the middle words. They can be used more often.
• The words in the outer ring are especially descriptive and can be used in very specific circumstances when you want to be more precise with your descriptions.

Print a Wheely Wonderful Wheel for each student and have the students glue it into their writing journal for future reference.

Encourage Your Writers to Use Strong Verbs and Their Synonyms

Cut out the wonderful word wedge, carefully leaving the paper center circle as a pivot point. Place the word wedge over the Wheely Wonderful Words wheel and insert a brass brad through the center circle on the ‘x’. To choose specific words, turn the wheel until the base word is completely inside the wedge. The synonyms and descriptive words are now isolated, making them much easier to find.

Verbs included on the wheel are:

• walked
• got
• said
• saw
• put
• laughed
• ran
• gave
• ate
• liked.