Use context clues, figurative language, word relationships, reference materials, and/or background knowledge to determine the meaning of multiple-meaning and unknown words and phrases, appropriate to grade level.
: Instruction for this benchmark should include text read-alouds and think-alouds aimed at building and activating background knowledge. Review of words learned in this way is critical to building background knowledge and related vocabulary. Texts read aloud can be two grade levels higher than student reading level.
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Description |
| Florida: My Florida | This lesson is #2 of an integrated unit using the text, Florida, by Tamra Orr. Using chapter 1 of the text, Florida, by Tamra Orr issues specific to Florida are explored. Students work in groups to identify issues that could become problems. Students then brainstorm ways that citizens could help and begin making connections with volunteerism and working with state and local government officials to resolve issues.
This resource uses a book that is on the Florida Department of Education's reading list. This book is not provided with this resource. |
| Florida: What's Up, Citizens? | This lesson is the first in a unit using the text Florida, by Tamra Orr. Students focus on understanding and using key concepts such as citizen, public issue, and taxation. Students then make connections to the impact that public issues such as taxation, transportation, schools, etc. have on their own lives, such as hurricane damage, non-native species, endangered and protected species, beach erosion, and so forth.
This resource uses a book that is on the Florida Department of Education's reading list. This book is not provided with this resource. |
| The Tree that Saved the Day! | In this lesson, students will read an informational picture book about a community in Africa that plants mangrove trees to help the community. Students will use a variety of strategies to determine the meaning of selected academic words in context. Students will also identify and describe the central idea and relevant details used throughout the book in order to write a summary paragraph. |
| Aesop's Fable "The Lost Wig" | This lesson on Aesop's Fable "The Lost Wig" will provide students the opportunity to share and discuss their ideas of the fable’s theme. Students will work together in cooperative pairs to determine the theme "The Lost Wig." They will also have the opportunity to add on to the ending of "The Lost Wig" to enhance the theme. |
| A Better Understanding of “Civil Rights on a City Bus” | This lesson consists of students reading a challenging text, "Civil Rights on a City Bus," about Rosa Parks. This text requires students to determine the claims made in the article by the author and the reasons and evidence used to support them. Students will also have a chance to use context clues to define vocabulary words within the text and answer text-dependent questions. Upon completion of the reading activities, students will write a short response that provides evidence to prove each claim made by the author. |
| Using Idioms to Explain the Plot and to Predict Future Events | In this lesson, students will use idioms to explain a plot and predict what will happen next in a story. The featured text for this lesson is the book In a Pickle and Other Funny Idioms by Marvin Terba. There are also two practice passages provided with the resource. |
| Figurative Language: Interpretation of Similes and Metaphors | In this resource, students will interpret the meanings of poems using similes and metaphors. The featured resource in the teacher modeling and guided practice sections utilize the text Poetry for Young People: Langston Hughes edited by David Roessel and Arnold Rampersad. The poem (not a Langston Hughes poem) for the independent practice is provided with the lesson. |
| Summarizing and Defending the Theme of Aesop’s Fable "The North Wind and the Sun" | This lesson will engage students in discussions that involve conceptual understanding of vocabulary, theme, and summarizing. After reading a short fable, "The North Wind and the Sun" by Aesop, students will complete activities that require them to think deeply, make inferences based on textual evidence, and defend their interpretation during discussions. Students will use context clues, word relationships, and/or figurative language to determine word meaning and unfamiliar phrasing. Students will participate in a class discussion evaluating conceptual understandings, examining themes, and making inferences. Students will engage in student-to-student discourse and partner work throughout the lesson. For the summative assessment, students will write a summary to convey understandings presented in the text and the discussions with their peers. |
| Name |
Description |
| Vocabulary: All For One | In this activity, students will produce the multiple meanings of words and use the words in sentences that demonstrate understanding of the multiple meanings. |
| Vocabulary: Analogy Soccer | In this activity, students will identify words to complete analogies. |
| Vocabulary: Ask-A-Word | In this activity, students will demonstrate a deeper understanding of the meaning of words by completing a questionnaire. |
| Vocabulary: Category Clues | In this activity, students will produce category labels for related words to demonstrate understanding of their shared attributes/meanings. |
| Vocabulary: Category Creations | In this activity, students will produce categories and corresponding words. As an adaptation to this activity, the students may sort teacher-selected words into categories and produce a category heading based on shared attributes OR produce words that belong in teacher-selected categories (based on units of study). |
| Vocabulary: Category Tag | In this activity, students will state words that correspond to specific categories by playing a board game. NOTE: A blank game board is provided to allow teachers to create categories relevant to classroom instruction. As an extension, students may choose the word that does not belong in a set of words and name the category for the remaining words. |
| Vocabulary: Choice Meanings | In this activity, students will identify the meaning of words in context. |
| Vocabulary: Compare Extraordinaire | In this activity, students will identify similarities and differences between the meanings of words using a Venn diagram. |
| Vocabulary: Context Clues | In this activity, students will read sentences containing context clues and sort by the type of context clue. |
| Vocabulary: Defining Depictions | In this activity, students will depict words by drawing pictures that relate to their meaning. |
| Vocabulary: Dictionary Cube |
In this activity, students will identify the meaning of words and word-related information using a dictionary.
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| Vocabulary: Dictionary Digs | In this activity, students will look up target words in a dictionary and record specific information. |
| Vocabulary: Get a Clue! | In this activity, students will determine the meanings of unknown words using context clues. |
| Vocabulary: Hink Pink Think! | In this activity, students will find Hink Pinks that correspond to meanings by playing a matching game. |
| Vocabulary: Know or No | In this activity, students will sort words based on their understanding of the words' meanings. They will then determine the meanings of the words and record them. |
| Vocabulary: Looking for Meaning | In this activity, students will determine the meanings of unknown words and rewrite sentences from text to demonstrate their understanding. |
| Vocabulary: Meaning Extender | In this activity, students will demonstrate their understanding of words by applying them to a variety of contexts. |
| Vocabulary: Now Featuring | In this activity, students will distinguish one word from another by completing an attribute analysis grid. As an adaptation to this activity, teachers may create attribute analysis grids that reflect units of study. |
| Vocabulary: Pun Fun | In this activity, students will identify examples of non-literal words and phrases in text and record possible meanings. |
| Vocabulary: Undercover Meanings | In this activity, students will write simple definitions, sentences, and examples of target words in a graphic organizer. |
| Vocabulary: Up With Words | In this activity, students will produce more precise alternatives for overused words in context. |
| Vocabulary: What Do You Mean? |
In this activity, students will match words to their meanings.
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| Vocabulary: Word Clues |
In this activity, students will use reference materials to develop clues about target words. They will provide the clues to a partner until the target word is identified.
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| Vocabulary: Word Share | In this activity, students will find, discuss, record, and define selected words in a text. |
| Vocabulary: Word Winner | In this activity, students will use strategies to identify the meanings of unknown words in context. |
| Vocabulary: Word-by-Word | In this activity, students will show the relationship among words by placing them on a continuum. |
| Name |
Description |
| Sleet and Freezing Rain: What's the Difference? | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article and graphics explain the atmospheric conditions needed to form different types of precipitation: snow, freezing rain, and sleet. |
| Green Invaders! | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This National Geographic Kids article explains how the invasion of non-native plants is threatening native food webs. |
| Your Amazing Brain | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This National Geographic article describes the amazing attributes of the human brain, comparing its features to everyday objects like a light bulb or a computer. |
| Sea Horses and How They Use Their Heads | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article describes how the dwarf seahorse's head shape allows it to be a better predator. |
| Carniverous Plants Say 'Cheese' | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article describes how, through high-speed video, scientists are able to see how bladderworts (carnivorous plants) trap small animals very quickly. |
| A Matter of Mixing | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This article describes properties of items as hyrdophobic or hyrdophilic and how they work. |
| Metamorphosis | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This article describes the complete and incomplete metamorphosis stages. |
| Weathering | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This article describes chemical, biological and mechanical weathering and includes causes and examples for each. |
| Another Link in the Food Chain | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article describes how energy passes through food chains. Examples of each link in the chain and a description of its role in the food chain are given. |
| Water Cycle | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This article discusses the steps in the water cycle. |
| Restoring a Sense of Touch | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This text explores the possibility of creating a prosthesis (artificial limb) that can feel things. |
| The Bad Breath Defense | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article describes the ability of the hornworm caterpillar to defend itself against predators using its food source. |
| Caught in the Act | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article discusses the study of a population's ability to adapt to the environment. The section of focus is on the cichlid population in Lake Victoria. |
| Tower Of Power | The article describes a new kind of solar energy which concentrates light waves from the sun. |
