Frayer Model Template

What a Frayer model is

Dorothy Frayer developed this organizer at the University of Wisconsin so a student would learn a word by more than a definition. The word sits in the center. Definition and characteristics sit above it. Examples and non-examples sit below it. That cross is the whole Frayer model template.

A dictionary line is a start, and it is a weak one. The characteristics box asks for the traits a thing must have. The examples box asks for real cases. The non-examples box is where the learning usually happens: a near miss, something a reader might confuse with the word, written out so the boundary is visible.

A class list needs more than one card. Teachers often ask for a Frayer model vocabulary template: the same four boxes, repeated for every word on the list. Add a card, remove a card you do not need, and download the set as a PDF with one sheet per word.

How to use this Frayer model template

1. Name the set. Add a title, date, and subject at the top.
2. Write the word. Put one vocabulary word in the center of a card.
3. Fill the four boxes. Write a definition, the characteristics, examples, and non-examples.
4. Add or remove words. Use Add word for the next term. Remove drops a card when the set has more than one.
5. Keep a copy. Print the page, or download a PDF, Markdown, or a GoodNotes file.

The draft is saved in this browser as you type, using localStorage. Come back to the same address on the same device and the cards are still there. Clear draft removes them. Another browser, or a private window, starts empty.

Blank PDF, one page per word, and the iPad page

Blank PDF (A4) and Blank PDF (Letter) are empty printable sheets: a header for the title, date, and subject, a center band for the word, and four ruled boxes. They ignore the text on the page. Print one when the class will write by hand.

Filled PDF (A4) and Filled PDF (Letter) use the cards on the page, in the same order, one sheet per word. A short card stays on a single page. If a box runs past the lines, that word continues on the next page before the next word starts.

GoodNotes PDF uses a portrait iPad page, 768 by 1024 points, which is the classic 4:3 tablet page. Each word is its own page. Import the file into GoodNotes and write on the ruling.

Markdown is one note for the whole set. It has a heading per word, then definition, characteristics, examples, and non-examples. YAML frontmatter carries the title, date, and subject, so the file opens cleanly in Obsidian and still reads as plain text anywhere else.

A useful non-example is a near miss

For habitat, a frog is a weak non-example. The frog itself is better when the point is that a habitat is a place, not the animal. A pond where the frog lives is an example. The non-example should be close enough that someone might sort it wrong, then see why it does not belong.