Standard 4: Vocabulary

Students will expand their working vocabularies to effectively communicate and understand texts.

2.4.R.3 Students will use context clues to determine the meaning of words with guidance and support.

Student Actions 

Teacher Actions 

• Students will learn new vocabulary by using illustrations from text.
• Students will use surrounding text to determine meaning of new vocabulary.

Students at this level require guidance and support during instructional opportunities for this objective.Teachers use think alouds while reading texts to show students how to use illustrations to find meaning of unknown vocabulary.

• Teachers give students opportunities to create meaning using illustrations through collaborative discussions during read alouds.
• Teachers monitor and provide opportunities for students to receive feedback as students work with the teacher to use illustrations to learn new vocabulary.
• Teachers model using context clues to find meaning of unknown vocabulary.
• Teachers give students opportunities to practice finding meaning of unknown vocabulary using context clues and discussion.
• Teachers monitor and provide opportunities for students to receive feedback as students work with teacher to use surrounding text to determine meaning of  new vocabulary.

Supporting Resources 

Teacher Insights 

• Context clues are the information from the textual setting that helps identify a word or word group.

• There are four common types of context clues: definition, synonym, antonym, and inference.

• Context clues may appear within the same sentence or other parts of the text (a proceeding or preceding sentence, word parts, sentence structure, the overall tone of the passage, or an outside reference material).

• The intent of this standard is for students to begin recognizing context clues with guidance and support.

Due to recursive nature of the standards, it is essential that teachers are aware of how all objectives within and between strands work together for optimal instruction.