CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.6.4a

ELA6th GradeVocabulary Acquisition and Use

The Standard

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.

Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts

What This Standard Means

Students need to use the words around an unknown word to make a smart meaning guess. They should look at the whole sentence, nearby sentences, examples, contrasts, and the word’s job in the sentence.

Mastery looks like a student saying, “I think it means ___ because ___.” Strong students can revise their guess when more context appears. Many students get stuck by grabbing only one nearby word, ignoring punctuation, or choosing a meaning that sounds right but does not fit the paragraph.

Ways to Teach It

Give pairs a paragraph with three boxed unknown words, and have them underline clues, guess meanings, then check a student dictionary.
Prompt students: “What clue helped you most, and what wrong meaning did you reject?” after reading a short passage.
Use a four-question exit ticket with one sentence each, asking students to choose the best meaning and circle the context clue.
Show a sports article headline with an unfamiliar word, then have students use surrounding lines to infer its meaning.