CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.6.4 - Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 6 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.6.4.a - Use context (e.g., the overall meaning of a sentence or paragraph; a word’s position or function in a sentence) as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.6.4.b - Use common, grade-appropriate Greek or Latin affixes and roots as clues to the meaning of a word (e.g., audience, auditory, audible).

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.6.4.c - Consult reference materials (e.g., dictionaries, glossaries, thesauruses), both print and digital, to find the pronunciation of a word or determine or clarify its precise meaning or its part of speech.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.6.4.d - Verify the preliminary determination of the meaning of a word or phrase (e.g., by checking the inferred meaning in context or in a dictionary).

 
Authors: National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, Council of Chief State School Officers

Title: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.6.4 Determine Or Clarify The Meaning Of Unknown And Multiple-meaning Words... Language - 6th Grade English Language Arts Common Core State Standards

Publisher: National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, Council of Chief State School Officers, Washington D.C.

Copyright Date: 2010

(Page last edited 10/08/2017)

1. A Fun Way to Teach Similes - A lesson idea from Bruce Lansky
2. Academic Vocabulary - Ten subjects to select from
3. Action Is Character: Exploring Character Traits with Adjectives - In this lesson, students analyze the character while also enriching their vocabulary by "becoming" a character in a novel they have read and making lists from that character's perspective.
4. Adding to Root Words - Build your own words, adding prefixes and suffixes to the root words. [Skillwise worksheet]
5. Alliteration in Headline Poems - In this lesson, students are introduced to the term alliteration and asked to create their own examples of alliteration as well as find examples of alliteration in poems.
6. An integrated poetry unit - The goal of this lesson is to aid the students in understanding and appreciating a variety of genres--in this case poetry. The unit incorporates vocabulary necessary for the study of literature (figurative language and elements of poetry) as well as recognizing the different types of poems dealing with many topics.
7. Analyzing Advice as an Introduction to Shakespeare - Students read and analyze the advice given in Mary Schmich's 1997 Chicago Tribune column "Advice, Like Youth, Probably Just Wasted on the Young," which inspired the popular recording "Everybodys Free (to Wear Sunscreen)" by Baz Luhrmann. Exploring the column and its recording, students focus on both content and style through the use of central questions.
8. Analyzing Poetry Tips - The elements of analyzing poetry listed at this site will help you identify the meaning through its parts and give a sense of interpreting a poem.
9. Bingo Lingo - Players match words on their bingo cards with word roots drawn at random.
10. Biography Project: Research and Class Presentation - As students give the class presentations, have other students use the Oral Presentation Peer Feedback Form to write their feedback.
11. Book Reviews, Annotation, and Web Technology - Students work in groups to read and discuss a book, keeping track of their feelings and opinions about the book, as well as facts and quotations, as they read. After reading, each group goes through their notes on the book, marking items they want to include in a book review. They look at sample book reviews and discuss the common elements of book reviews. Next, each group works together to write a review of their book and use Web-authoring tools to publish the review onto a Web page. Students then decide which parts of their review they wish to annotate, with each student in the group responsible for one topic. Students research their topics, taking notes. Each student writes about his or her topic, including bibliographic information. The writings are then peer-reviewed by the group, published to the Web, and hyperlinked back to the group's book review.
12. Building on Root Words - How to use prefixes and suffixes with root words. [Skillwise worksheet]
13. Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary - Worksheets and activities linked to this site, also Idiom dictionary
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15. Character Clash - A mini lesson on paragraphing and dialogue
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18. Comparing and Contrasting: Picturing an Organizational Pattern - This lesson is designed to be used during a unit when students are writing a comparison/contrast paper. It will be most helpful prior to drafting, but it could also be useful during revision
19. Complete sentence using correct vocabulary word - Select easy, medium or hard
20. Connotation Mini-Lesson - Proceed through a series of steps, gradually increasing their control over language, until they independently produce a text in which they concentrate on selecting words with powerful connotations
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22. Do you know your metaphors? - Drag words to make a metaphor
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24. Doodle Splash: Using Graphics to Discuss Literature - As students read a short story, they "doodle," either in a journal or using an online tool, responding to the text through images, symbols, shapes, and colors. They must be sure to represent all of the elements of the short story (setting, plot, character, point of view, theme) in their doodles.
25. Dynamic Duo Text Talks: Examining the Content of Internet Sites - While this lesson makes use of websites about Anne Frank and the Holocaust, teachers can easily adapt the activities to a variety of topics. Guided by the questions on the Observation and Inquiry Sheet provided, students work together to explore several online texts on the chosen topic.
26. Easy as Pie - Download a document - a set of cliches to edit using the MS Word Thesaurus - instructions included on the document
27. Energy Pioneers - This activity is designed to introduce students to many of the scientists and inventors who have contributed to the development of todays modern energy systems. Students may also be exposed to the developments that are being made in the technology of renewable energy.
28. Entering History: Nikki Giovanni and Martin Luther King, Jr. - Students read Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech in conjunction with Nikki Giovanni's poem "The Funeral of Martin Luther King, Jr." in order to better understand the speech and the impact it had both on observers like Giovanni during the Civil Rights Movement and on Americans today.
29. Everyone Loves a Mystery: A Genre Study - Students examine story elements and vocabulary associated with mystery stories through Directed LearningThinking Activities and then track these features as they read mystery books from the school or classroom library.
30. Fairy Tale Autobiographies - Students work together in small groups to read, discuss, and analyze fairy tales. After compiling a list of common elements, students collaborate on their own original fairy talesbased on events from their own lives or the lives of someone they know.
31. Figurative Language Quiz - Alliteration, similes and metaphors, personification, connotation and imagery
32. Figurative language: Metaphor - This lesson is a part of a unit on poetry and figurative language. It is designed to teach students the characteristics of metaphor within the context of poetry.
33. Finding Figurative Language in The Phantom Tollbooth - This lesson provides hands-on differentiated instruction by guiding students to search for the literal definitions of figurative language using the Internet. It also guides students in understanding figurative meanings through the use of context clues and making inferences.
34. Finding New Ways to Say Something - Practice your alphabetizing skills, learn about synonyms and pick the right one to finish a sentence, and match words to their entries in a thesaurus
35. Flip-a-Chip - Examining Affixes and Roots to Build Vocabulary - lesson plan
36. Found Poems/Parallel Poems - In this lesson, students compose found and parallel poems based on descriptive literary passages they have read.
37. Greek & Latin Roots Skills - Four types of Quia activities
38. Greek affixes - Meanings
39. Growing From Root Words - How to find a root word and 'growing' new words from root words. [Skillwise worksheet]
40. He Said/She Said: Analyzing Gender Roles through Dialogue - This lesson has students brainstorm some gender stereotypes, find examples in popular culture, and discuss how the stereotypes affect their lives.
41. Heinle's Newbury House Dictionary of American English - Simple, clear definitions, this online tool provides a wealth of sample sentences and idioms. quizzes and activities also.
42. Heroes Around Us - Students will explore the distinction between a hero and an idol. Based on collaboratively established criteria for heroism and characteristics of heroes, students will select, read about, and report on a hero. Students will identify how their hero matches their criteria and characteristics.
43. Homographs - A two person Quia quiz
44. Homonyms Exercises - This section will help you review and strengthen your knowledge of Homonyms. The 30 exercises are grouped into beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels. Determine your level of knowledge and then select an exercise from the lists
45. How To Use The Microsoft Word Thesaurus - Specific directions on using the Word Thesaurus
46. How Words Work - Learning the common roots and prefixes; meanings of prefixes
47. Imagine That! Playing with Genre through Newspapers and Short Stories - This lesson uses narrative structures to introduce students to one form of expository writingnews briefs and articles. By condensing a short story into a newspaper article and expanding an article into a short story, students will explore the ways that exposition differs from narration.
48. Infoplease - Dictionary, encyclopedia, atlas, thesaurus and more
49. Inside and outside: Paradox of the box - This lesson serves to introduce students to symbolism (the box), to the literary element paradox, and to the abstract notion of ambiguity (freedom vs. confinement). It is designed for 2nd and 3rd graders, but may be adapted for use with upper elementary or early middle school grades.
50. Integrating Tech: Applying Vocabulary with Digital Flashcards - This article provides a multitude of ways to help students make connections between words and the meaing of the definitions in a much more fun, interesting, and engaging way than the tedious task of writing definitions.
51. Interactive Vocabulary Builders for Test Prep - A collection of resources at Internet4Classrooms
52. Internalization of Vocabulary Through the Use of a Word Map - In this lesson, students will use this helpful handout to create their own word map for a preselected vocabulary word.
53. Latin and Greek Word Elements - Article with examples of common roots
54. Learn New Words Using Context - In this guided practicelesson, students will use context clues to determine meaning of unfamiliar words in short passages. When students have completed the practice activities, they will read a newspaper or magazine article, picking out unfamiliar words and using context clues to decide what the word means. As a group activity they will share the article, the words, and their meanings with the class.
55. Literary Devices Quizzes - Concentration quiz on similes, metaphors, personification, slang/dialect and allusions
56. Literary Devices Quizzes - Flashcards on similes, metaphors, personification, slang/dialect and allusions
57. Literary Devices Quizzes - Matching quiz on similes, metaphors, personification, slang/dialect and allusions
58. Literature Terms - Read sentence and determine if the wording is connotative or denotative
59. Making Personal and Cultural Connections Using A Girl Named Disaster - This lesson is intended to help students experience both efferent (reading for information) and aesthetic (reading as a personal, emotional experience) responses to the story A Girl Named Disaster by Nancy Farmer.
60. Metaphor Battleship Quiz - Quia quiz using the Battleship game format
61. Metaphor Quiz - A ten-question quiz at Quia
62. Metaphor Quiz - To print
63. Multiple Meaning Words - Long list of words to use as writing prompts, students write two sentences for each word using the word as a noun and then as a verb
64. Multiple Meaning Zig Zags activity 1 - Draw lines connecting each multiple meaning word to two descriptions [.doc format ]
65. Multiple Meaning Zig Zags activity 2 - Draw lines connecting each multiple meaning word to two descriptions [.doc format ]
66. Multiple Meanings Game - Lesson plan from Education World, print pairs of cards and have students search for the student matching their word, 6th to 8th grade word list included
67. Myth and Truth: The "First Thanksgiving" - By exploring myths surrounding the Wampanoag, the pilgrims, and the "first Thanksgiving," this lesson asks students to think critically about commonly believed myths regarding the Wampanoag Indians in colonial America.
68. N.C.- The Rip Van Winkle State - This lesson introduces students to Washington Irving's short story "Rip Van Winkle" and correlates it with the history of North Carolina. In the 1800s North Carolina was nicknamed "The Rip Van Winkle State."
69. On a Musical Note: Exploring Reading Strategies by Creating a Soundtrack - This lesson has students create a soundtrack for a novel that they have read. Students begin by analyzing how specific songs might fit with a familiar story. Students then create their own soundtracks for the movie version of a novel they have read.
70. One-minute Video on Root Words - Why learn about root words?
71. Oral Presentation Skills : Body language - Using body language in a presentation
72. Ordering the Phrases - Excellent interactive quiz; learn about the different stages of a presentation and to learn some phrases that tell your audience where you are in your presentation.
73. Organized Speech Writing: Speech Structure - Seven part video lesson
74. Patterns of Organization and Their Clue Words - Handout for students [from the Internet Archive]
75. Performing Poetry and Building Meaning - Through the use of dramatic reading and the exploration of Internet resources, sixth through eighth grade students build a greater understanding of poetry and the poet's voice.
76. Planning, Writing, and Completing Oral Presentations - Quiz with 30 multiple choice questions and 5 essay questions
77. Plot Structure: A Literary Elements Mini-Lesson - This lesson plan provides a basic introduction to Freytag's Pyramid and to the literary element of plot.
78. Prefix Skills - Quia quiz
79. Press Conference for Bud, Not Buddy - This lesson can be used after the reading of Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis. The lesson encourages students to use higher level thinking skills and asks them to examine different character perspectives. Students demonstrate comprehension of the story by actively involving themselves in group and whole-class discussions.
80. Principles of Organization - Scroll to middle of page to get to this section; four broad principles
81. Promoting Diversity in the Classroom and School Library through Social Action - Through an exploration of stereotypes in children's picture books such as books from Disney's Princess Collection, students identify the limited view established in these fictional worlds. Next, students compare these stereotyped representations to more diverse portrayals in matching texts
82. Reading and Writing Workshop: Freak the Mighty - This unit revolves around Rodman Philbrick's Freak the Mighty. Lessons include teaching and practicing pre-, during, and after reading comprehension strategies.
83. Robert Frost Prompts the Poet in You - In this lesson, students write poems similar in form and style to one of three poems by Robert Frost. First, students learn key details about the life of Frost. They then read and discuss three Frost poems.
84. Root Words - Underline the root words in the slides. Circle the prefix or suffix.
85. Root Words - Summary of what root words are and why they are helpful. [Skillwise factsheet]
86. Root Words - Entry level quiz [Skillwise quiz]
87. Root Words - Level one quiz [Skillwise quiz]
88. Rooting Out Words - Help Remainder the Dog gather enough mushrooms to sell at the market by uncovering the roots of words. (three categories, several difficulty levels - from FunBrain)
89. Roots & Prefixes - Test your knowledge of the meanings of Latin and Greek roots and prefixes! Quia quiz
90. Roots and Their Families - Learn common roots that appear in many words, sort roots to complete sentences correctly, and answer questions about new words by using their roots as clues
91. Simile lesson - Includes a printable quiz
92. Story Character Homepage - Combine higher order thinking with creativity in this lesson that uses diamante poems to illustrate the phenomenon of cause and effect. Students define and identify instances of cause and effect to help them generate their own examples.
93. Taking Away the Prefix to Find the Root Word - Exercise in finding the root word by removing the prefix. [Skillwise worksheet]
94. Taking Away the Suffix to Find the Root Word - Exercise in finding the root word by removing the suffix [Skillwise worksheet]
95. Techniques for Writing: Using Specific Language - Strike a balance between specific and general language. Interactive exercise.
96. The Big Bad Wolf: Analyzing Point of View in Texts - Lesson plan helps students look at the author's purpose and viewpoint, and also recognize gaps in the text - Extension activities include debating a fairy tale using different character viewpoints.
97. The History Behind Song Lyrics - In this lesson, students research and categorize items from the song as well as illustrate their historical relevance. Students use an online chart to display their research.
98. The Reading Performance: Understanding Fluency Through Oral Interpretation - This lesson examines how oral reading of poetry may be useful in supporting fluency for sixth- through eighth-grade students. Central to this lesson is the idea that students require practice and repetition to master decoding skills for fluency and comprehension in oral reading.
99. Using a Glossary - A lab activity to recognize and use the definitions in a glossary as they relate to a text [10 multiple-choice questions]
100. Using Context Clues - This section will help you review and strengthen your knowledge of using context clues. The 30 exercises are grouped into beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels. Determine your level of knowledge and then select an exercise from the lists at the site.
101. Using QARs to Develop Comprehension and Reflective Reading Habits - Middle school is a time when students move from reading for literal comprehension to developing inferential comprehension strategies. This lesson provides a foundation for building reflective reading habits, which enables students to develop these higher-level comprehension strategies.
102. Using Root Words to Make New Words - How to use root words to make new words. [Skillwise worksheet]
103. Using the Dictionary - A lab to use the dictionary to understand the meanings of words in context [20 multiple-choice questions]
104. Using the Four-Square Strategy to Define and Identify Poetic Terms - In this lesson, students will learn the definitions of alliteration, assonance, simile, and rhyme. Using these definitions and a graphic organizer, they will search through a variety of poems for examples of each poetic element.
105. Using Word Webs to Teach Synonyms for Commonly Used Words - Encourage students to use more descriptive words in written and oral language. lesson plan
106. Vocabulary - Complete each sentence using the correct word
107. Vocabulary Review - Many activities; answer key given at bottom of page
108. Vocabulary Worksheets for Test Prep - A collection of resources at Internet4Classrooms
109. Ways to Make Communication Sparkle - We can sparkle in conversations, walking down the street or even ordering fries at McDonald's.
110. What am I? Teaching poetry through riddles - In this lesson, students explore, analyze, and discuss how metaphor, simile, and metonymy are used in riddle poems.
111. Which word is it? - In this lesson, students will determine the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary words using Context Clues, a dictionary, and structural analysis within a game format.
112. Word Parts - This section will help you review and strengthen your knowledge of root words, prefixes, and suffixes. For each topic, exercises are grouped into beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels. Determine your level of knowledge and then select an exercise from the lists below. The 87 exercises are grouped into beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels.
113. Writing Free Verse in the "Voice" of Cesar Chavez - This lesson gives students the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the characteristics of free verse and to write a free verse poem using written material about the labor activist Cesar Chavez.
114. You can customize the lesson, if desired, to promote reading any time of the year. - In this lesson, students first explore resumes using the internet. They then work as a class to construct a sample resume for a character in a book they have all read. Next, they explore want ads and online job sites for possible jobs for a character from a book they have read on their own. They write a letter of application and create a resume for their character for the selected job.
115. You Can't Spell the Word Prefix Without a Prefix - In this lesson, students learn in a cooperative setting to identify, define, and construct words with prefixes.
116. You Know the Movie is Coming-Now What? - In this lesson, students take on the role of the director of a movie. After exploring cinematic terms, students read a literary work with director's eyes, considering such issues as which scenes require a close-up of the main character and when the camera should zoom out to see the entire set.