Context Clues
Context Clues helps students figure out a word that they don’t know and what it means when reading text.
Instructions:
1. The student will try to decode the word using sounds and looking for the root word.
2. They will look to see if there are any suffixes or prefixes thy know.
3. The student will then look at the rest of the sentence for meaning of the unfamiliar word.
4. They will look for synonyms in the sentence that may help them with the definition.
5. Students should also look for antonyms or opposites to see if they can figure out meaning that way.
6. For younger students or students reading text with illustrations they can also look at the illustrations to see if they help with the meaning.
Another strategy for students is to substitute a word that they think will make sense in the sentence to assist them. If the student adds a word to the sentence to replace the one they do not know the students must be taught to ask themselves if the definition of the word they have come up with makes sense in the context of the passage.
A website that will be helpful is http://www.theworksheets.com/s/Context+clues+Worksheets.
