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will explain that sometimes when I am reading, if I don’t know what a word means, I use a dictionary to look up the meaning of the word. I will read the section, “What is a beetle?” (pages 6–7) in The Life Cycle of a Beetle aloud. I will use a dictionary to look up the words “thorax” and “organs.” I will model how to find each word in the dictionary using alphabetical order and guide words. I will also model choosing the correct definition for each word by reading all the definitions and then rereading the sentence in the text. I will think aloud as I identify the correct meaning of each word based on what makes sense in the text.

Ask: How did I determine the meaning of unknown words? Students should respond that you used a dictionary. You used guide words on the top of the pages to help you find the words. Then once you found the right word you read all the definitions and thought about which definition makes the most sense in the context of the sentence.

will use a dictionary to look up the meaning of the words “abdomen,” “hind,” and “compound” from The Life Cycle of a Beetle. We will determine the correct definition of each word by thinking about the context of the paragraph or sentence. We will explain how we determined which meaning of each word was correct.

will read the section, “All grown up” (pages 18–19 from The Life Cycle of a Beetle) and use a dictionary to look up the words “species,” “mandibles,” “fierce,” and “larvae.” You will use the context of the paragraph or sentence to determine the correct meaning for each word. (Student Independent Practice is provided below in Teacher and Student Materials.) Note: You will have to provide students with pages 18–19 of The Life Cycle of a Beetle so that they can read the pages and use them with the Independent Practice worksheet.