Elementary context clue games

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Step 1: Reread and read ahead Stop and reread the words that come before and after the unfamiliar word. Step 2: Identify context clues Think about the meaning of the words in the text that surround the unfamiliar word.

Step 3: Decide on a meaning Use what you know from the context to make an educated guess about the meaning of the unfamiliar word. Step 4: Check that meaning in the context The meaning you decided on should make sense in the sentence and in relation to the main idea of the text. Even if your students are aware of these steps and have used them successfully in the past, using context clues is a strategy that improves with practice.

Try the activities here to give your students the boost they may need to make the most of their exposure to rich academic language. Display related sentences with blanks for missing—but not unfamiliar—words. Encourage students to suggest words that fit in each blank, and talk about other words in the sentence that helped them make their suggestions. Providing scaffolded practice with words that students can pull from their mental "word bank" builds confidence and proficiency with the strategy of looking for clues in surrounding text.

Write sentences that contain a fun, made-up word in place of a focus word. I woke up feeling hungry the next morning and sebberly ate breakfast. Have students work in pairs to figure out the likely meanings of the made-up words and then replace the made-up words with a real word or words.

Finally, ask students to explain how they used context to figure out the meanings of the made-up words. This activity, like the previous one, requires students to use the construct of the sentence to determine word meaning. Creating made-up words that mimic verb tenses -ed or parts of speech -ly reinforces the value of using more than one strategy context clues and morphology to determine word meaning.

As a bonus, this activity can also be used to internalize newly learned vocabulary terms! Work with students to create a Context Clue Anchor Chart. List and describe five common kinds of clues direct definition, definition after a comma, antonym, synonym, and example with an example of each.

Then, have students suggest meanings for the underlined words in the examples. Every once in awhile I like to do a review game to make it more fun. Context clues can be a dry lesson if you just practice looking for clues to understand a word. Adding a fun game element to it helps kids enjoy practicing. To get the kids excited, I like to play the theme song from the movie Mission Impossible. I tell them that the superheroes have been depleted of their powers and need our help getting put back together so they can get their powers back!

Before the game, I set up 30 different sentences that include context clues around the room. I divide the class up into teams of 3 or 4. Their mission is to go around the room and answer the context clues questions.