Kentucky Reading and Writing L.2.4.e

ELA2nd GradeLanguage

The Standard

L.2.4: Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 2 reading and content, choosing flexibly from an array of strategies.

Use glossaries and beginning dictionaries to determine or clarify the meaning of words and phrases.

Kentucky Academic Standards for Reading and Writing (2025) · Vocabulary Acquisition and Use

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students find an unfamiliar word or phrase in a book’s glossary or a beginner dictionary. They read the entry and use the sentence to choose the meaning that fits.
What Mastery Looks Like: A student can find an entry using the first letters of a word and explain its meaning in their own words. If an entry lists two meanings, they choose the one that fits the sentence.
Common Misconceptions: Students may expect every word in a book to appear in its glossary. They may pick the first dictionary meaning of bank without checking the sentence, or look for take off under off.
How to Assess It: Give students a pond glossary with “bank: land beside a river” and a dictionary card with “bank: land beside a river; a place to keep money.” Ask, “What does bank mean in ‘The frog sat on the bank’? Point to the entry that helped you.”

Lesson moves

Pairs find bank in a pond book’s glossary and a beginner dictionary, then draw the meaning that fits the page.
Read “The bat flew at dusk” aloud and ask, “Which dictionary meaning of bat fits, and what clue tells you?”
Play a glossary hunt: give pairs word cards from a science reader and have them find and read each entry.
Show a printed weather report; students look up forecast in a beginner dictionary and explain tomorrow’s forecast to a partner.

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