Happy National Thesaurus Day! Today, we celebrate the birthday of Peter Roget, author of Roget’s Thesaurus, who was born on this day back in 1779.
The Thesaurus has proven to be a valuable resource for students, writers and anyone else who wants to improve their communication skills. If it’s been awhile since you cracked open a Thesaurus, today would be the day to re-familiarize yourself! The Thesaurus lists synonyms (words with the same or similar meaning) for words to help you avoid repetition in writing and speeches. It also lists antonyms (words with opposite meaning), to help you make sure you are using the right word with the right meaning.
So next time you are working on a paper or speech, whether it is for school, work or just for fun, be sure to utilize the power of the Thesaurus! If you don’t have a hard copy of the book in your house, you can always visit Thesaurus.com.
You can also help your child further develop their reading and writing skills with other educational games. Some of MindWare’s favorite educational games for reading and writing include:
Word Winks: Everyone loves these visual wordplay puzzles, where a common phrase or expression is represented by illustrated words. Each book contains 300 brain-twisters. (Ages 10 and up)- Word Roots: Word Roots teaches the meanings of Latin prefixes, roots and suffixes commonly used in English. Learning word elements dramatically improves spelling and the ability to decode unfamiliar words. (Ages 9 and up)
- Choose Your Own Adventure Books: Choose Your Own Adventure books allow readers to decide on a course of action at critical junctures, determining how the story unfolds. Multiple scenarios encourage repeat reads to experience how choices impact the main characters and each story’s ultimate outcome. (Ages 9 and up)
You can find other education games that promote critical reading skills on MindWare.com.
We hope you have a wonderful (or amazing, or sensational, or terrific!) Thesaurus Day!
