Voice: How do you determine the meaning of an unknown word?

Voice: Readers, In this lesson you will learn how to determine the meaning of an unknown word by looking in the same sentence or a sentence close by.

Voice: Let’s Review: We’ve been reading the nonfiction article, My name is Mengmeng. In nonfiction texts, we read to learn new information- in this case, we’ve been reading to learn about a boy from China, Mengmeng. As we learn new facts about Mengmeng and his life, we are also learning new words.

Voice: In nonfiction articles, authors will sometimes use words that are specific to their culture; authors may also use words related to the topic of their article- words we don’t often use on a daily basis. Here are some examples of words in our article, specific to Mengmeng’s culture. Sometimes in nonfiction articles, words will be written in italics to show their importance and to bring attention to the reader.

Voice: Let’s think about a common mistake: What happens when we come across a word we don’t know? We either skip the word and keep reading; or, if we have the resources, we might try to look up the word in a dictionary. We might also ask someone for help. However, oftentimes, we choose to ignore the word and keep reading.

Voice: In this lesson, we will learn how to find the meaning of an unknown words by looking in the same sentence or a sentence close by. When we come across an unknown word or a word written in italics, we know before we continue with the rest of the article, we will STOP and get ready to find the meaning by rereading.

Voice: Let’s start with our first example Voice: Let’s start with our first example. Take a look at this paragraph from our article: After getting dressed in jeans and sweatshirts, they like to have hot porridge for breakfast. Sometimes their mother also gives them steamed bread or some jianbing, which is a pancake made out of cornmeal. It is so thin it looks like a napkin. Did you see a word in italics? That’s right, jianbing. Let’s STOP and reread the sentence with our unknown word to see if the definition is in the same sentence. Sometimes their mother also gives them steamed bread or some jianbing – which is a pancake made out of cornmeal. WOW, we just learned that jianbing is a type of pancake. Let’s reread the next sentence to see if we can learn more.

Voice: By using the strategy of rereading the same sentence and looking in a sentence close by, we learned jianbing is a thin pancake made of cornmeal.

Voice: Let’s look at another example. This one is a bit tricky. My brother and I are different, even though we are twins, Mengmeng said in Mandarin. I have bigger eyes, but a smaller head. He has smaller eyes, but a bigger head. And our voices are different too. In this paragraph, I’m stopping to determine the meaning of Mandarin. Sometimes the definition of a word is not always found easily like jianbing. But, if we use the strategy of rereading the same sentence and the sentences close by, we can oftentimes come close to the meaning by using what we know.

Voice: Let’s start by rereading: My brother and I are different, even though we are twins, Mengmeng SAID in Mandarin. Hmm, this is interesting. Listen as I think aloud and use what I know: Mengmeng SAID in Mandarin. Just like I say in English or my friend says in Spanish. We know Mengmeng lives in China, maybe Mandarin is his language, a Chinese language- just like English is my language. Mengmeng SAID in Mandarain.

a language spoken in China 1. jianbing thin pancake made of cornmeal 2. Mandarin a language spoken in China Voice: It’s important not to skip unknown words, but rather stop and reread the same sentence and the sentences close by. Take a look, we determined the meaning of two unknown words from our article!

Voice: In conclusion, when you come across an unknown word, STOP and get ready to reread, 2) reread the same sentence and the sentences close by and 3) use what you know to help you determine the meaning

Voice: In this lesson, you have learned how to determine the meaning of an unknown word by looking in the same sentence or a sentence close by.

Learning how something works exploration Learning how something works

Using the reading strategy you just learned, see if you can apply this strategy to another nonfiction text. Choose a nonfiction article Practice stopping when you come to an unknown word and rereading Write your new words and their meanings in your notebook

Challenge: Can you write a paragraph with a difficult word, but provide clues for the definition in the same sentence or sentences close by? Pick a word from a topic you are currently studying or a vocabulary word you’ve recently learned Write a paragraph using that word Give your paragraph to a buddy to see if they can determine the meaning of your word