Microsoft Word - Thesaurus

When it turned out that our print thesaurus didn't include some of the words for which the third graders wanted synonyms, I decided to eschew it in favor of an online resource: Microsoft Word. Did you know that it can help you find better, more interesting words when you are writing a report or a story?

Depending on the version on your computer, the way to access the thesaurus varies slightly. But it's generally under "Tools" on the standard toolbar.

Students practiced opening Word on the laptops, then typed a word and chose a new one from the thesaurus. Here are some of their synonym pairs:

awesome	amazing outrageous breathtaking
annoying	irritating
pleased	satisfied
stupendous	stunning
beautiful	gorgeous wonderful
fabulous	magnificent
hungry	famished