Using Context Clues to

Understand Word Meanings

Second Grade Reading

by April Brown July 1, 2018

This lesson will help your students use sentence level context clues to decode challenging words in a nonfiction
text. Students will enjoy learning about maps and figuring out tricky words along the way!

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to determine the meaning of words and phrases in a grade appropriate text.

Materials and preparation Key terms

Class set of the Learning About Maps worksheet located

Nonfiction text that students are familiar with created
Crayons and other coloring materials measure
Whiteboard and whiteboard markers label
Projector or document camera context clues
The Vocabulary Partner Talk worksheet
(optional)

Attachments

Vocabulary Partner Talk (PDF)

Learning About Maps! (PDF)

Introduction (5 minutes)

Explain to students that today they will be reading a short nonfiction text and figuring out what tricky
words mean.
Write the following learning objective in student-friendly language: "I can figure out the meaning of tricky
words using sentence level context for support!" Read the learning objective aloud and ask the students
to choral chant it back to you.
Write context clues on the board. Say, "It is often helpful to look at what comes before and after a tricky
word. The words before and after a tricky word can give readers helpful context clues about the meaning
and structure of the new word, as well as how it is used. Today, we are going to figure out tricky words by
reading the sentences before and after the word we are trying to figure out. We will be focusing on
finding examples and using logic to determine what they mean!"
EL

Beginning:

Prior to the lesson, define the following words in student's home language (L1): nonfiction, located,
created, measure, label, context clues.
Provide a mini-lesson on using context clues prior to the lesson.

Intermediate:

Provide students with a bilingual word bank with important words and phrases.

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 Allow students to sit near the front of the classroom during the lesson.

Explicit Instruction/Teacher modeling (15 minutes)

Find a short informational text in your classroom library or online that the students are familiar with.
Next, read a paragraph from the text aloud and find an academic vocabulary word that most students
probably won't know. Make sure the vocabulary word you choose can be figured out using sentence level
context, including examples and logic.
Say the word aloud and write it on the whiteboard. Model thinking aloud by saying, "Hmm...I'm not sure
what ____ means. I'm going to reread the sentence before and after the word to see if I can figure it out."
Write down words and phrases on the board that can help students figure out the meaning of the word.
Explain that these words and phrases are context clues.
Write the following sentence frames on the board and model completing them using the context clues
from the text:
The word ____ means ____.
I know this because the text says ____ .
EL

Beginning: Allow students to work in a small, teacher-led group where a simplified text in student's L1 is being
read aloud.

Intermediate: Provide students with the unknown words prior to modeling how to figure them out.

Guided Practice (20 minutes)

Project the Learning About Maps worksheet on the whiteboard and pass out copies to each student.
Put the students in small groups and explain that today they will be reading a short informational text
about maps and figuring out tricky words using context clues.
Ask students to point to the underlined word in the first paragraph of the text: located.
Give students a minute or two to do a think-pair-share with their elbow partner, explaining what the word
located means prior to reading the paragraph. Ask students to briefly rate their understanding of the
word using the following scale:
1. I'm not sure what the word means.
2. I have heard the word before.
3. I can use the word in a sentence.
Ask the students to read the paragraph in their small groups. Rotate around the room and provide
assistance as needed.
Ask students to look at the sentence frames at the bottom of the Learning About Maps worksheet. Have
students point to the first sentence frame.
Write the word located in the first space.
Encourage a student volunteer to come up to the whiteboard and explain the meaning of located, using
evidence from the text.
Help the student complete the second portion of the sentence frame.
Ask the students to briefly rate their understanding of the word located after reading the text and using
context clues, using the same scale above.
EL

Beginning:

Provide students with a simplfied text and allow them to read the text aloud to a teacher.
Choose 2–3 words from the simplified text for students to define in English and L1.
Encourage students to make illustrations that relate to each new word.

Intermediate:

Allow students to work with partners.

Encourage students to paraphrase each paragraph in their own words to their partner.

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Independent working time (15 minutes)

Ask students to go back to their seats. Explain that they will read the remaining paragraphs and complete
the sentence frames on the bottom of the page independently.
EL

Beginning: Allow students to work with a partner to fill out partially-completed sentence frames that connect
to their simplified text.

Intermediate: Allow students to read their completed sentence frames to a partner to check for accuracy.

Related books and/or media

Find interactive books for each child’s level.

Differentiation

Support:

Allow students who need extra support to work with a partner or in a small, teacher-led group during
independent work time.
Review and allow students to use the Vocabulary Partner Talk worksheet to provide students with
sentence frames to support in-depth conversation.
Introduce the concept of context clues to students in a short mini-lesson and allow students to practice
figuring out tricky words prior to the lesson.

Enrichment: Ask students to use their understanding of the vocabulary words to create sentences or a short
paragraph. Have students read the sentences or paragraph to a peer.

Assessment (5 minutes)

Ask students to turn in their Learning About Maps worksheets and use them as a formative assessment to
see how well students understood using sentence level context clues to figure out the meaning of tricky
words.
EL

Beginning: Provide students with the following sentence starter to check proficiency of using context clues to
figure out tricky words: Context clues help me because ____.

Intermediate: Allow students to compare their worksheet with a partner to check for accuracy and clarify any
confusion.

Review and closing (5 minutes)

Explain to students that today they learned about reading words and phrases before and after a tricky
word to figure out the meaning. Reinforce that this strategy is called using context clues to understand
the meaning of words.
Ask students to turn to a neighbor and finish one of the sentence starters:
Context clues are important because ____.
A new word I learned today was ____.
Something I learned about maps was ____.
EL

Beginning: Allow students to respond to the following sentence frame: The word ____ means ____.

Intermediate: Allow students to respond to one of the sentence starters.

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Names: Date:

Vocabulary Partner Talk

Decide who is Partner One and Partner Two. Using the sentence
frames below, share a difficult word with your partner, what you
thought it meant, and the dictionary definition.
Partner One Partner Two
1. What word did you not 2. I didn’t know what
understand?
meant.

3. Using context clues, what 4. I thought it might mean

did you guess it meant?
.

6.
5. What is the dictionary
definition? means
.
7. What word did you not
8. I did not know what understand?
meant.

10. I thought it might mean 9. Using context clues, what

did you guess it meant?

.
12. 11. What is the dictionary
definition?
means
.

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Name: _______________________________ Date: ______________________

Learning About Maps!

ons:
ecti
N

Dir
Read the text to learn about maps. W E

Can you figure out what the underlined words mean?

Use sentence level context clues to help you! S

Maps help people make sense of the world around them. They show where
things are located. Because the world is so big, maps are created to show
places as they look from above. Maps usually make places look much
smaller than they really are.

Maps are pictures created by people. First, mapmakers use photographs of

places taken from above to help them draw maps. They also measure the
ground to find out the sizes of places and how far away things are from
each other.

Next, mapmakers draw the maps. The mapmakers include the important
details about an area. Some maps have shading, labels, and little pictures
to help people learn more about a place.

Maps are important because they help us learn about the surface of the
Earth. They also help us get to the places we need to go. Learning about
maps is fun!

1. The word ______________________ means ___________________________________.

I know this because the text says___________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________.
2. The word ______________________ means ___________________________________.
I know this because the text says___________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________.
3. The word ______________________ means ___________________________________.
I know this because the text says___________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________.
4. The word ______________________ means ___________________________________.
I know this because the text says___________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________.

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