Activities

1. Identify context words (e.g., cause/effect relationships and comparisons) in text.
   
   
2. Match common grade-appropriate Greek and Latin affixes and roots with their meanings.

3. Describe how contextual words can provide clues to the meanings of unknown words in a text.
   
   
4. Determine the meaning of a word that contains a Greek or Latin affix or root. 
   
   
5. Use appropriate tools to determine the meanings of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases used in a text.

6. Construct sentences that use context words to give clues to the meaning of an unknown or multiple-meaning vocabulary word. 
   
   
7. Construct words that demonstrate the understanding of meaning of words using Greek and Latin affixes and roots. 
   
   
8. Analyze various tools to determine the meanings of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases used in a text.

Answer Key/Rubric

1. Student recognizes context clue words in a text. Context clue words provide clues to the meaning of an unknown word. These words might:

• show a cause/effect relationship.
• show a comparison.
• indicate words are synonyms or antonyms.
• provide an explanation or example of the unknown word.

Student also identifies strategies (such as dashes or commas in the text) that may give clues to the meaning of words.

2. Using a list of Greek and Latin suffixes and affixes and their meanings, students are able to match the correct pairs.
3. Student explains the meaning of an unknown word based on the context clues. The student recognizes the clues, which might:

• show a cause/effect relationship.
• show a comparison.
• indicate words are synonyms or antonyms.
• provide an explanation or example of the unknown word.
• demonstrate an understanding of how writers use punctuation such as dashes and commas to give clues to a word’s meaning

Based on the context clue words, the student begins to generalize the meaning of the unknown word.

4. Using the meaning of Greek and Latin affixes and roots, the student begins to generalize the meaning of an unknown word that contains Greek or Latin words parts. The student may not be able to define the word with an exact definition, but should be able to generalize the meaning or categorize the word using knowledge of Greek and Latin word parts.
   
   
5. The student demonstrates the ability to use tools to determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases. These tools might include: print dictionaries, online dictionaries, glossaries in textbooks, web searches, and using experts. Students need to know how to both choose and use the best tool to find the meaning of vocabulary words that are not commonly used and are likely only encountered in specific contents.
   
   
6. Student demonstrates an understanding of the use of context clues by writing sentences that use context clues to demonstrate the meaning of vocabulary words.  By doing so, students demonstrate that they:

• know the meaning of the word.
• understand how context clues are used. 

7. Student demonstrates an understanding of Greek and Latin roots and affixes by combining them to make words that may or may not be actual words. This will demonstrate their understanding of the meaning of such roots, prefixes, and suffixes.
   
   
8. Student analyzes tools that can be used to find the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words. There are many ways that students can find the meaning of these words. The student should consider which tools are most appropriate and if and how their appropriateness changes in various situations.