This strategy was used with Group B. In this strategy, the students were given a passage to read and used context clues to help them predict the definitions for the selected words.
One way of using this strategy is to have the students highlight the words that will be discussed before reading the selection and then tell them to pay attention to the words as they read.
A second way of using this strategy is to have them read the selection and circle any words they do not know as they read it. After they are done reading, the teacher chose seven words that she thought the students would not understand for their words of the week.
Tip: For the second way of using the strategy, when they are done reading, have them share the words they found and then choose words from their list to use as the words for the week.
Our thoughts: With this strategy we found a lot of success! Not only were the students interested in the articles we were reading, but they understood the words better due to context clues. The predictions that they made about the meaning of the words were point on to the real definitions due to the students using the knowledge they learned from the article. This strategy showed that when students can connect to the meaning of the word it is more significant.
Student thoughts....
"It was helpful because I could use context clues to find the answer."
"It was helpful because the context clues helped me figure out the words."
"It helped me look for context clues to figured out what the word means."
"We got to read examples of how the words were used."
