Sometimes you won’t understand every word in a reading passage. One thing you can do to figure out new words is to use context clues. Good readers use context clues to help them understand the meaning of an unfamiliar and/or challenging word.
So often, students are told to figure out what a word means based on its word parts or on surrounding context clues, but if they don’t have the understanding of what a context clue is, that is a difficult task. We have been exploring strategies to help us use context clues. When students can effectively use context clues strategies to navigate a text, they will increase their vocabulary, activate prior knowledge, and improve reading comprehension and fluency.
There are four common types of context clues strategies we are investigating. The first is definition/explanation clues. In this strategy, the unknown word is defined. The word’s meaning is explained in the sentence. A second strategy is using restatement or a synonym to give a clue as to the meaning of the unknown word. A word or phrase is used in the sentence that has similar meaning. Often, authors use antonyms as clues to a word’s meaning. The meaning of the work is clarified by a work or phrase with opposite meaning. Finally, students can use their schema and inference skills to understand the meaning of the word. By labeling the context clues according to their specific type, rather than simply saying they are “clues,” students who are confused by generalities have a more concrete method and can look more easily for restatements, contrasts, inferences, and so on.
For more information and to better help your child improve their comprehension strategies by using context clues, check out this website, Using Context Clue Strategies.
Here are some mentor texts we shared.
We used an anchor chart to help us better understand how we used context clues.
Using a passage from A Dog’s Life, we discussed how to use context clues to help us figure out unknown words.
Playing Scoot, we used context clues task cards.
Using Google Classroom, we practiced our new skills.
Using context clues will be a comprehension strategy we will use on a daily basis. We will revisit this skill often.
