First, my students had to follow multi-step directives and create their own snowman using just construction paper, pencils, crayons, and markers. I used concepts top, bottom, on, over, under, right, left, and more to provide them instructions on how to create their snowman.
Once that was done, we discussed what words we can think of that means the same thing or similar to "cold." We wrote down the words they came up with on the dry erase board. When my students could not think of any more, I showed them how to use http://thesaurus.com/ to come up with more words. We read the choices we found and added to the list on the board. My students had fun coming up with their own associations with the new words they learned ("polar" reminded them of "The Polar Express"). Then the students had the opportunity to write their words next to their snowman. We practiced expressing each of the words in sentences to describe the weather and the snowmen they drew. It was so much fun, easy, and not much preparation time involved!
Can you use this idea in your therapy rooms?!
I like this idea and hadn't thought about introducing my kids to thesaurus.com. My older elementary kids have netbooks and teaching them to use them to their fullest is going to be their best bet for their academic life as well as adulthood.
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