Darwin's Dragons - Session 13 - Word Workshop

The "Darwin's Dragons" session 13 Word Workshop is an educational activity designed to enhance vocabulary skills among KS2 students. In this session, participants are encouraged to explore various words through a series of exercises. Each word is to be understood in terms of its meaning, used in a sentence, modified by adding prefixes, suffixes, or changing its form, and then analysed for synonyms and antonyms. For instance, the word 'lagoon' might be classified as a noun, and students would be asked to create a sentence with it, possibly modify it to 'lagoons' for the plural form, find synonyms such as 'bay' or 'pool', and discuss antonyms like 'peak' or 'ridge'.

Similarly, other words such as 'insisted', 'impressed', 'impatient', and 'confused' are dissected to deepen understanding. Students might modify 'insisted' to 'insisting' or 'insister', find 'demanded' as a synonym, and 'suggested' as an antonym. With 'impressed', they could explore 'unimpressed' as an antonym, while 'impatient' could lead to discussions about 'patient' being its opposite. The workshop offers a structured yet creative environment for children to engage with language, encouraging them to think critically about word usage and the nuances of English vocabulary. Each term, from 'ruptured' to 'replace', is an opportunity to delve into the richness of language and its application in various contexts.