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Reading Lesson: Context Clues Grade Level: 3

Lesson Summary: The teacher will show students a list of unfamiliar words and then the words embedded in text and have students journal about how they would figure out what the words mean. The students will play charades using emotion words and then discuss how they used clues to figure out the words. Then, after viewing a PowerPoint slideshow, students will use strategies learned to play a context clue detective game. For independent work, each student will complete a worksheet. Alternatively, they can create their own vocabulary quilt with each student completing a Vocabulary Quilt Square. Advanced learners will read an instructional-level text and create their own graphic organizer, which will be used to analyze 4 unfamiliar words found in their text. Struggling students will go through a Review PowerPoint slideshow with the teacher. They will read an instructional-level text with the teacher and fill out a Vocabulary Quilt Square for an unfamiliar word.

Lesson Understandings:

The students will know…  Context clues are clues within the text that help a reader determine meanings of unknown words.

The students will be able to…  Use context clues to determine the meanings of unfamiliar words within the text.

Learning Styles Targeted:

Visual Auditory Kinesthetic/Tactile

Pre-Assessment: Display the list of unfamiliar words* through a document camera. Ask the students to journal either on lined paper or in a notebook. Prompt the students with the following question: “How would you figure out what these words mean?” Give the students a few minutes to write and then share. Next, show the students the paragraphs with the same unfamiliar words* and ask students, “Now how would you figure out what these words mean?” Give the students a few minutes to write and see if any of their answers changed.

Whole-Class Instruction

Materials Needed: 1 set of pre-cut cards for Feelings and Emotions Charades*, Strategies PowerPoint*, 1 set of pre-cut and laminated Detective Game Cards* per pair of students, document camera, 1 copy of Independent Practice* per student, 1 highlighter per student

Materials Needed for Alternate Activity: students’ SSR books, 1 copy of the Vocabulary Quilt Square* to project, 1 copy of the Vocabulary Quilt Square Example* for teacher reference, 1 copy of the Vocabulary Quilt Square* per student, 1 dictionary per student

Procedure:

1) Tell students that they are going to play Feelings and Emotions Charades. Have one student draw a card from the stack and act out the word on the card for the rest of the class. S/he cannot speak or make any noises. The rest of the class will then call out the words that they think the student is acting out. After several students have had a turn acting, ask the class how they were able to figure out the words. Discuss how the students had to find clues in the actions of the students and what different clues that the students saw.

2) Discuss with the class that sometimes we have to be word detectives. We have to look for clues in text to help figure out what unfamiliar words mean.

Copyright © 2009 Study Island - All rights reserved. 3) Go through the Strategies PowerPoint with the students. During the slideshow presentation, have students do a “seven steps and share.” For every question that is prompted in the PowerPoint, have students stand, walk seven steps, and partner up with whoever is standing closest to them. Have students share their answer with their partner and then discuss as a class. Have students point out the context clues that helped them answer each question. There are yellow marks on each question slide to help you highlight important points.

4) Tell students that now they’re going to practice working with context clues by playing the detective game. Break the class up into pairs and hand each pair a set of Detective Game Cards. Then, explain the rules of the game to the class while modeling how to play under the document camera. This game is played just like concentration or memory. All of the cards are spread out and placed face down. The students will need to take turns turning over two cards at a time. The player will read the two cards carefully. If the cards are a match, then the player collects the cards and gets another turn. If the cards are not a match, they are turned back over in the same spot, and it becomes the other player’s turn. Two cards match when one has a sentence with an underlined word and the other card has a word that has the same meaning as the underlined word on the other card. After all the matches have been made, the student with the most matches is the winner. Give each student a hand lens to use to read the cards. This is a fun way for the students to feel more like word detectives.

5) Once students complete the detective game, have them work on the Independent Practice worksheet.

Alternate Activity:

1) Have students fill out a Vocabulary Quilt Square when they come across an unfamiliar word during sustained silent reading. Use one of the unfamiliar words from the PowerPoint to model the Vocabulary Quilt activity. Place a blank Vocabulary Quilt Square on the document camera and have the students help fill it out. Refer to the Vocabulary Quilt Square Example if necessary. The vocabulary quilt squares can be colored, cut out, and then taped together to make a large class quilt of new words.

Advanced Learner

Materials Needed: 1 copy of a Vocabulary Quilt Square* for student reference, 1 copy of an instructional-level text per student, 1 piece of construction paper per student, 1 dictionary per student, drawing and coloring materials

Procedure:

1) Have each student read an instructional-level text and choose 4 words that are unfamiliar to him/her.

2) Then, have students create their own graphic organizer to understand the unfamiliar words. Show students the Vocabulary Quilt Square as an example. The students must include the same information found on Vocabulary Quilt Square but create their own way to display the information. Some ideas are a Vocabulary House (each door or window has the dictionary definition, predicted meaning, sentence from text, own sentence, or word inside) and a Vocabulary Solar System (each planet has the dictionary definition, predicted meaning, sentence from text, own sentence, or word inside).

3) Give each student a piece of construction paper. Have students divide the construction paper into fourths. In each section, students will need to draw the graphic organizer that they created and fill it in for each of the 4 words that they chose. Allow students to color and decorate their graphic

Struggling Learner

Materials Needed: Review PowerPoint*, 1 individual whiteboard per student, 1 dry-erase marker per student, 1 tissue per student, 1 copy of an instructional-level short story per student, chart paper, marker, 1 copy of a Vocabulary Quilt Square* per student, 1 dictionary per student

Procedure:

1) Hand each student an individual whiteboard, a dry-erase marker, and a tissue. Gather students together around a computer and go through the Review PowerPoint. When you get to a question, have students write their answer (either A, B, C, or D) on their whiteboard. For each question, have a different student explain their reasoning by pointing out the context clues. If a student gets an answer wrong, guide the student in recognizing the context clues. Show students how to replace the underlined word with each answer choice to see which answer choice makes the most sense.

2) Read a short story with the students, and have them raise their hand when they see an unfamiliar word. When a student raises his/her hand, ask for the word, and then record it on the chart paper along with the page number, if applicable. Then, continue reading the text.

3) At the end of the story, have students choose a word from the chart paper. Then, give each student a Vocabulary Quilt Square, and have the students fill out the square for the word they chose. Closely monitor students, and if necessary, guide students in filling out the Vocabulary Quilt Square.

*see supplemental resources