In this lesson you will learn how to understand the meaning of new vocabulary by paying attention and looking at words and sentences close by.

NF readers read unknown vocabulary words and must ask themselves “what clues did the author leave around this word?” to help me find a words meaning Let’s go ahead and read the first paragraph. “when people think of camouflage, they often picture animals hiding from predators mimicking, or taking on the appearance of something else.” Wait…there are a few words in that sentence I don’t know. The word predators is in the glossary, again I know this because the word is in bold. But there is also that word mimicking… I am not sure what the meaning of that word is. Therefore, I am going to look for clues that the author left behind around this word

A common mistake is that readers read over words they don’t know the meaning of without stopping to think and understand. When we don’t understand the key vocabulary and definitions the author leaves in a text then we aren’t able to fully comprehend what we are reading.

Next I am going to ask myself, what clues did the author leave around the word… Here, I see or taking on the appearance of directly after the word mimicking. These words are also in a clause separated by commas. Often times authors use what we call clauses right after a word to give us the definition. Perfect so now I know I can go ahead and read the clue, or definition the author left in the clauses right after the word. So it says “mimicking, or taking on the appearance of something else.” So know I know that the ward the word mimicking means taking on the appearance of , it is important to recognize anytime I see to word or, or even a comma after an unknown word more than likely the author is going to go ahead and give me that exact definition

Trying to look like something else Mimicking- Trying to look like something else So now that I have identified and found the clues the author left around the word I am now going to jot down your own definition of the word on a sticky note. So the clues tell me that mimicking is taking on the appearance of something else, so now I am going to create a definition in my own words so I am know that appearance is like looking like something else…so for the definition of mimicking is trying to look like something else Jotting down my version helps me ensure that I understand and will remember what this word means The author is not trying to trick us, they want us to understand the information they are giving us so they are going to leave behind clues for these unknown words

Let’s Review

Go through the second paragraph of Come and Get It Go through the second paragraph of Come and Get It! Look specifically at the word “luring.” Ask yourself, “what clues did the author leave around the word?” Specifically, look for clues in clauses. Jot down your own definition of the word “luring.”

Go through the second paragraph of Come and Get It Go through the second paragraph of Come and Get It! Look specifically at the word “Caudal luring.” Ask yourself, “what clues did the author leave around the word?” Jot down your own definition of the word “Caudal Luring.”