Vocabulary in Context 3rd Grade Unit
Lessons
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Students can use a dictionary and complete a graphic organizer to define the meaning of unknown words they encounter while reading books or Concepts of Comprehension Reading Passages. (See Additional Activity A in Teacher and Student Materials below.)
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If computers are available, teach students how to use an online dictionary to find the meaning of words from literature groups.
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Teach students how to use a thesaurus and find synonyms or antonyms for words. They should use parts of speech and the context of the sentence to determine which synonyms or antonyms are appropriate. Have students write sentences with appositives using the synonyms they found.
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Students can create their own personal dictionaries of words they have looked up in independent reading or literature groups.
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Use a bookmark or create a poster of strategies to hang in the classroom that students can use to read new vocabulary and understand the meaning of the words. You can add any ideas to the bookmark/poster included in this unit. More advanced students can create their own bookmarks or posters of strategies they find useful. (See Additional Activities B and C below.)
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Students should revise stories to include new vocabulary. For example, “I was sad” could be re-written as “I was devastated.” Have them circle the words that they want to replace and use a thesaurus to find additional words.
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Create a boring words list that students can no longer use in their writing. Brainstorm more interesting vocabulary to use instead. For example, “big” could be replaced with “huge,” “humongous,” “gigantic,” or “enormous.”
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Students should create a glossary or footnotes in their own nonfiction writing projects.
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Have students create their own appositives or contrasting statements to use in their writing assignments.
- Fountas and Pinnell
- R
- Lexile
- 910L
- Fountas and Pinnell
- V
- Lexile
- 1150L
Excellent.