Grade 08 ELA - EC: E08.B-V.4.1.1

Continuum of Activities

The list below represents a continuum of activities: resources categorized by Standard/Eligible Content that teachers may use to move students toward proficiency. Using LEA curriculum and available materials and resources, teachers can customize the activity statements/questions for classroom use.

This continuum of activities offers:

Instructional activities designed to be integrated into planned lessons
Questions/activities that grow in complexity
Opportunities for differentiation for each student’s level of performance

Grade Levels

8th Grade

Course, Subject

English Language Arts

Related Academic Standards / Eligible Content

E08.B-V.4.1.1 E08.B-V.4.1.1

Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words or phrases based on grade 8 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies. 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. b. Use common, grade-appropriate Greek or Latin affixes and roots as clues to the meaning of a word (e.g., precede, recede, secede). c. Determine the meaning of technical words and phrases used in a text.

Activities

Identify a strategy to determine or clarify the meaning of unknown words.
Identify a strategy to determine or clarify the meaning of multiple-meaning words.

Explain the use of context clues to determine the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words.
Apply an understanding of Latin or Greek affixes and roots to determine the meaning of an unknown word.

Evaluate the effectiveness of using different strategies to determine the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words.
Analyze the relationship between similar words that share a common Latin or Greek affixes or root.

Answer Key/Rubric

Student identifies a strategy to determine or clarify the meaning of unknown words. An example of a strategy to determine or clarify the meaning of words includes, but is not limited to, using a dictionary or glossary. Most dictionaries include the pronunciation, the part of speech, and the definition of a word. Glossaries include content specific words included in a specific text.
Student identifies a strategy to determine or clarify the meaning of multiple-meaning words. An example of a strategy to determine or clarify the meaning of multiple-meaning words includes, but is not limited to, using dictionaries and thesauri. Dictionaries and thesauri allow students to differentiate between words that have multiple meetings or more than a single part of speech.
Student explains the use of context clues to determine the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words. The student correctly identifies context provided around unknown words as clues that can often be used to determine the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words. Context clues include the words and sentences around unknown words. Context clues may provide a reader with definitions, examples, or comparisons to reveal the meaning of an unknown word.
Student applies an understanding of Latin or Greek affixes and roots to determine the meaning of an unknown word. The student correctly identifies roots as a word part that includes the primary meaning of the word. An affix is a word part that is attached to a root word to expand a word’s meaning. A prefix is an affix attached before the root, and the suffix is an affix attached after the root. The student recognizes and understands the function of common Latin and Greek affixes. For example, intervention, meaning the act of coming between, combines various Latin word parts.

Latin Root: ven (to come)
Latin Prefix: inter- (between)
Latin Suffix: -ion (act or process)

Student evaluates the effectiveness of different strategies to determine the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words. For example, using context clues is an effective strategy when words and phrases are provided near an unknown word to help a reader determine its meaning. A dictionary or thesaurus is effective when context for the unknown word is not provided, or when unknown words existing isolation. The use of a glossary is an effective strategy to determine the meaning of content-specific words in texts such as textbooks.
Student analyzes the relationship between similar words that share a common Latin or Greek affixes or root. A student may analyze this relationship by creating word families to group together words that share common Latin or Greek Word parts.