Looking for context clues worksheets that do more than ask students to copy definitions? This Science of Reading-aligned bundle covers all 40 mentor texts in Volume 3, so 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students spend the whole year learning tier 2 words straight from your read alouds. It’s all four Volume 3 vocabulary companions in one place.
Each book’s set is built around six tier 2 words from the book, along with some tier 3 words when a book uses them. Students meet every word in the book first, gather clues from the text, and work out what it means before they practice using it. There are no word lists to memorize and no copying definitions out of a dictionary.
The books are not included. I chose favorites that most school libraries already have.
How each book’s set works:
Word cards for the week’s words
What Do You Think? Students record each word’s part of speech and the clues the book gives, then write what they think it means in their own words.
Practice pages that change with the book and its words. Depending on the book, students use context clues to finish sentences or a short story, sort multiple-meaning words, make word associations, work with synonyms and antonyms, break words into parts, complete analogies, or decide whether a word fits a situation and explain why.
Show What You Know, a quick formative check on the week’s words
When I Was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant
The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins by Barbara Kerley
Why teach vocabulary this way?
Many tier 2 words aren’t new ideas for students. They’re more precise ways to say things students already say with simpler words: trudged instead of “walked slowly,” or weary instead of “really tired.” Students will meet these words again and again, in books and in conversation, so they’re worth teaching well. When students learn a word inside a story they already know, the book shows them exactly what the word adds. Using each word several times, in different ways, helps students start choosing it in their own writing and speaking.
Want everything for these books in one place? My Yearlong Mentor Text Curriculum, Volume 3 covers grammar, vocabulary, reading, and writing for all 40 Volume 3 books, plus 5 bonus units.
