My winter vacation was restful and so restorative for me. I spent time with family, ate lots, relaxed and even got to work on some new products. Lately, I feel the creative juices flowing for reading comprehension skills. This year my role has changed on my campus and I work with more third and fourth grade students. Honestly, I am surprised at how much I have enjoyed teaching higher level reading comprehension skills.
I spent some of my break creating some new resources for my students. I want to share these resources with you throughout the new year. I put up a few of these resources before we left for the holiday break and I am not surprised that the most popular resource is my set of Context Clue Worksheets. You can grab a freebie below, or check out the full product at my TpT store.
The significance of teaching vocabulary and context clues cannot be overstated. When students enter third grade the rigor of the texts they are exposed to jumps. Students are encountering more complex vocabulary and as educators we need to equip them with the tools to understand these unknown words. Third and fourth graders are at a stage where they're not only expanding their language skills but also expected to understand more intricate subjects in math and science. A rich vocabulary empowers them to make meaning of these new concepts.
Teaching vocabulary is not just about memorizing definitions, we need to give students the power to find the meaning within the text. We have to give them the tools to decode the meaning of unfamiliar words within the context of the passage.
I created a great resource for my students that targets context clues within both fiction and non-fiction texts. There are a variety of different resources, first a fill in the blank with a word box. Next, students must define unknown words within a few sentences but also point out the context clues they used to determining the meaning.
Finally, I want to always include resources that align with the TEKS. I want all of my reading comprehension worksheets to have STAAR like questions. I included four "exit tickets." There are two fiction passages and two non-fiction passages for these "exit tickets."
Teaching vocabulary and context clues is essential in third grade and up! By developing these skills you are empowering students to understand more rigorous texts, allowing them to communicate more clearly and deepen their love for language.
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