Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Context Clues {Tried it Tuesday}

Last week we talked about context clues AGAIN. Anyone else have kiddos that just can't seem to get the hang of this? 

This time I had my students write sentences that contained context clues. I had students work with their talking partner on this activity. I created a list of 8 words before the lesson (previous vocabulary words) and pairs chose their word from that list. Each pair was assigned a specific type of clue to use in their sentence and they got to work! 

I had never really considered reversing the roles and having students do the writing, but I do think it made them more conscious of how and when authors use context clues in their writing. It was a bit challenging for them at first because it caused them to think in a new way, but we worked on it for two short mini-sessions and they finally got the hang of it. This is definitely an activity I'll do next year when I introduce context clues and then continue to build on it from there. 





Here are the anchor charts we created after the activity. They came up with some decent sentences considering this was their first time. 















The idea (and others we did throughout the week) came from this book from Scholastic.



I'm liking up with Holly at Fourth Grade Flipper for another wonderful Tried it Tuesday! 
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5 comments:

  1. My kiddos struggle with context clues too. I found this powerpoint on TPT and it really helped some of my kids finally "get it." Maybe it will help yours.

    http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Context-Clues-Are-Like-Sharks

    Hunter's Tales from Teaching

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  2. I just found you through the linky party and am your latest follower. Thanks for the link to the Scholastic book- I think most kids initially struggle with context clues. They're such literal little creatures!

    x Serena x
    Magic Mistakes & Mayhem

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    Replies
    1. Oh no I wondered why I recognized your owl! I'm already following you- I just hadn't added you to the blog list on my page- fixed!

      x Serena x

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  3. Thank you for sharing these resources! My students struggle with context clues too and I really can't wrap my head around the reason. I mean if a sentence says "The bear lumbered or walked slow and heavy through the forest," can't they figure out that "OR" means this is another meaning for lumbered?
    ~Holly
    Fourth Grade Flipper

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