EMOTION WORDS
Perfect Plays for Building Vocabulary: Grades 5-6 © Justin McCory Martin, Scholastic Teaching Resources
House Party
CHARACTERS
NarratorLamp Couch
Steve BroomCoat
ClockFaucet
Narrator: Steve lived alone in a little house way out in the middle of the country. Steve worked
in town as a cook at a diner. Each day, after Steve left for work, the items in his house
came to life. Toaster played catch with Oven Mitt. Coffee Table sipped tea. Rug rolled
all over the place.
When he arrived home, everything was always normal. Well almost. Sometimes
Steve would notice something was a little out of place. That would make him feel
suspicious.
suspicious (adj., suh-spish-uhs): without trust, causing questions or doubt
Steve: Well, I’m off. Time to go to work.
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Perfect Plays for Building Vocabulary: Grades 5-6 © Justin McCory Martin, Scholastic Teaching Resources
Clock: Shh. Remember our rule. Everyone waits 15 minutes until we are sure Steve is gone for
the day. I’ll give the signal.
Narrator: Steve’s house was completely silent for a quarter of an hour. Nothing moved. And
then…
Clock: Ding, dong! Ding, dong!
Narrator: Everything in Steve’s house sprung into life.
Lamp: Hey, Piano. How about playing us a tune? Would you like to dance, Broom?
Broom: That would be lovely.
Lamp: This is great. I feel giddy.
giddy (adj., gi-dee) dizzy with excitement
Faucet: Drip, drip, drip. Hey, could you keep it down in there.
Broom: Faucet is always so irritable.
irritable (adj., ir-i-ti-bel) grumpy and cross
Faucet: Drip, drip, drip. Hey, you’d be irritable too, if you always had a cold. Drip, drip, drip.
Narrator: While Lamp and Piano danced, Couch just lay there. It didn’t make any effort at all
to be part of the fun. When Steve was away, it liked to spend the whole day watching
television. Couch could be so lackadaisical.
lackadaisical (adj., lak-uh-dey-zi-kuhl) lacking energy, determination, or enthusiasm; lazy
Couch: Yo, Television. Snap to! Put on a show for me. Yo, Mike! Mike, the microwave. Could
you make me some popcorn? Fridge. Oh, Fridge. Please bring me a cold soda.
Lamp: Everyone has to wait on you. You’re a real . . . couch potato.
Couch: Really, Lamp. All that dancing is making you light headed.
Narrator: As the day went on, things got crazy at Steve’s house. The dining room chairs marched
in formation like soldiers. Toilet blew bubbles and made silly sounds. Steve’s mattress
slid down the stairs, whee!
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Perfect Plays for Building Vocabulary: Grades 5-6 © Justin McCory Martin, Scholastic Teaching Resources
Then Steve’s winter coat got into a fight with the piggy bank. It chased Piggy all over
the house until he hid under Couch. Coat reached under Couch trying to grab the
piggy bank.
Couch: Hey, Coat, what are you doing?
Coat: I want to borrow a quarter from Piggy. But he won’t give it to me. He’s being stingy,
as usual.
stingy (adj., stin-jee): spending or giving as little as possible
Couch: What do you want with a quarter?
Coat: I like to feel loose change in my
pockets.
Couch: Whatever. Hey! Will you two stop
it! You just spilled my popcorn!
Faucet: Drip, drip, drip. For the last, time
please keep it down.
Narrator: The end of the day was drawing
near.
Clock: I’m starting to grow
apprehensive. Steve will be home
soon. We have a lot of cleaning
up to do. Fifteen minute warning!
Everyone needs to be back in place very soon. Ding, dong! Ding, dong!
apprehensive (adj., ap-ri-hen-siv): feeling fearful about future events
Narrator: Broom hurried to sweep up the spilled popcorn.
Broom: Why do I always have to be the considerate one? Why do I get stuck cleaning up
everyone else’s mess?
considerate (adj., kuhn-sid-er-it): thoughtful of the feelings and needs of others
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Narrator: Just then, Steve’s key started to turn in the front door. Broom and all the others
hurried to their places. Steve walked over, leaned down, and picked up a piece of
popcorn.
Steve: Hmm. I’m perplexed. I don’t remember eating popcorn anytime recently.
Perfect Plays for Building Vocabulary: Grades 5-6 © Justin McCory Martin, Scholastic Teaching Resources
perplexed (adj., per-plekst): puzzled, confused, or uncertain
Narrator: Then Steve sat down on the couch.
Couch: Groan!
Everyone: Shh!
Steve: That’s strange. I could swear I just heard something.
Clock (panicked): Ding, dong! Ding, dong!
Narrator: Steve sat back on the couch, picked up the remote control, and turned on the TV.
Steve: Oh well. I guess it must have been the wind.
Word Challenge
Here are three more words that express ways of feeling. Can you use each word in a sentence?
astonished (adj., uh-ston-isht): greatly surprised; amazed
flustered (adj., fluhs-terd): to cause to become nervous, confused, or upset
somber (adj., som-ber): sad, dismal, or full of gloom
Bonus!
Happy and sad are words that describe general states of feeling. Can you think of three synonyms
for each word that are specific and descriptive?
happy _________________, ________________, __________________ (example: thrilled)
sad _________________, ________________, __________________ (example: tearful)
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EMOTION WORDS
Name ___________________________________________________________________________________
Word Box stingy considerate lackadaisical suspicious giddy apprehensive perplexed irritated
Perfect Plays for Building Vocabulary: Grades 5-6 © Justin McCory Martin, Scholastic Teaching Resources
Synonym Match
Draw a line from each word to the correct synonym.
1.caring
stingy
2.distrustful
considerate
3.nervous
lackadaisical
4.lazy
suspicious
5.puzzled
giddy
6.ungenerous
apprehensive
7.excited
perplexed
8.annoyed
irritated
Word Search
Using the word box above, can you find and circle the vocabulary words found from this unit?
A P
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EMOTION WORDS
Name ___________________________________________________________________________________
Find the Antonym
Perfect Plays for Building Vocabulary: Grades 5-6 © Justin McCory Martin, Scholastic Teaching Resources
For each vocabulary word, circle the choice that is most opposite in meaning.
1. stingy
sweet
mean
generous
angry
2. considerate
frank
funny
nervous
thoughtless
3. lackadaisical
hardworking
silly
friendly
empty
4. suspicious
guilty
trusting
dark
happy
5. giddy
dank
hungry
mournful
cheerful
sad
pretty
nervous
calm
clear-headed
angry
silly
insane
sweaty
cheerful
quiet
nervous
6. apprehensive
7. perplexed
8. irritated
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EMOTION WORDS
Name ___________________________________________________________________________________
Word Box stingy considerate lackadaisical suspicious giddy apprehensive perplexed irritated
Perfect Plays for Building Vocabulary: Grades 5-6 © Justin McCory Martin, Scholastic Teaching Resources
Fill-in-the-Blank Crossword
Across
Down
3. Don’t be ________ about lending a friend
lunch money.
1. Jen was ________ when her ice cream fell
off its cone.
4. The mystery left the police ________.
2. Winning the game made Jamie ________
with delight.
5. Bruce was ________ about his grades.
He just didn’t care enough to succeed.
6. Helping your teacher clean up the classroom
sure was ________.
7. Tomorrow’s tough test has Tim feeling ________.
He wishes he had more time to study.
3. Jim was ________ that someone stole
his candy.
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Tips for Teaching With this Play
Model How to Read the Play
Share the list of vocabulary words in the play with students. Read each word aloud and talk
about strategies students can use to decode unfamiliar words—such as finding beginning or
ending sounds, or breaking the word into parts. Read the play aloud several times while students follow along. Use your readings to model how expression, pace, and inflection help communicate meaning. For example, read a sentence from the play slowly and then quickly. Read
it quietly, then loudly and grumpily. Ask kids: How does the way we read a line affect its.
meaning?. Read as a class.
Perfect Plays for Building Vocabulary: Grades 5-6 © Justin McCory Martin, Scholastic Teaching Resources
2
Try Choral and Echo Reading
Choral and echo reading give students the repeated practice they need to really absorb new
words. They also help to build fluency. To do choral reading, you and your students read together as a group, at the same pace, and with the same phrasing and intonation. In echo reading, you read a line and students then repeat it, echoing your expression, tone, and pacing.
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Assigning Roles
After reading together, have students take turns reading the play aloud. If some students are
reluctant to read aloud, assign two readers to each role. If you are using a document camera
or projector, assign one student the role of “pointer.” He or she can point to each line of dialogue in turn. If students have copies of the play, have them use highlighters to mark the
passages. Let them practice before reading aloud.
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Create a Role for the Dictionary
During some readings, you might assign a student or students the role of the Dictionary. The
Dictionary halts the play reading and shares the definition of the vocabulary word. You may
want to challenge the Dictionary to answer questions about pronunciation or meaning.
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Readers Theater
Consider breaking your class into groups and having them perform the play as Readers
Theater. Each group can decide how they want to perform the play. Encourage them to experiment and explore the characters. What voices will they use? How will they present the
vocabulary words? These variations of the same play will give students extra opportunities to
hear and learn the vocabulary words.
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Share the Wealth
Consider having your students perform their play for another class in the same grade or the
grade below. Have the student(s) who are playing the Dictionary on hand for questions!
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add another Scene
In the Activities section after the play, you’ll find three more related words. Challenge students to come up with an extra scene or extra dialogue to incorporate these additional words!
Meeting the Common
Core State Standards
Vocabulary is one of the foundational
elements of the common core State
Standards 2011 (corestandards.org)
because it is essential to speaking,
listening, and writing. Fifth and sixth
graders must be able to:
• use sentence-level context as a clue
to the meaning of a word or phrase.
• determine the meaning of the
new word formed when a known
affix is added to a known word
(e.g., agreeable/disagreeable,
comfortable/uncomfortable,
care/careless).
• use a known root word as a clue
to the meaning of an unknown
word with the same root
(e.g., company, companion).
• demonstrate understanding
of figurative language, word
relationships and nuances in
word meanings.
• distinguish the literal and nonliteral
meanings of words and phrases in
context (e.g., take steps).
• identify real-life connections
between words and their use
(e.g., describe people who are
friendly or helpful).
• distinguish shades of meaning
among related words that describe
states of mind or degrees of certainty
(e.g., knew, believed, suspected,
heard, wondered).
The plays and activities in this book were
designed to meet the common core
State Standards. each play presents a
carefully-chosen set of related vocabulary
words and presents them in the context
of an easy-to-read play. By studying
related words together (e.g., courteous
and considerate; colossal and immense),
students are given the opportunity to
distinguish precise shades of meaning.
Multiple readings of the plays and
completion of the activities give students
the needed repetition that allows them to
take an unfamiliar vocabulary word and
make it their own.
Vocabulary Word list
answers
Emotion words
SynonyM MATCH, page 24
1. considerate 2. suspicious
3. apprehensive 4. lackadaisical
5. perplexed 6. stingy 7. giddy 8. irritated
CRoSSWoRD, page 26
perplexed • irritated • astonished
FInD THe AnTonyM, page 25
• flustered • somber
1. generous 2. thoughtless
3. hardworking 4. trusting 5. mournful
6. calm 7. clear-headed 8. cheerful
Down 1. irritated 2. giddy
3. suspicious
stingy • considerate • lackadaisical
suspicious • giddy • apprehensive
Across 3. stingy 4. perplexed
5. lackadaisical 6. considerate
7. apprehensive
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