New Concept Introduction

An important skill that students are required to learn in fourth grade Language Arts is Context Clues. This is Virginia's Standard of Learning (SOL VA 4.3a) that states that:
4.3a The student will read fiction and nonfiction with fluency and accuracy
a. Use context to clarify meanings of unfamiliar words.
In other words, the students are to read the selection and find clues to identify the meanings of unfamiliar words. The students would have had prior knowledge in the use of synonyms and antonyms, homonyms and homophones and the use of the various reference sources (dictionary and thesaurus). The information needs to be presented in a logical, sequential order in order to make the learning effective. By the conclusion of the lesson, student will be able to identify and construction logical definitions for many unfamiliar words through the use of clue words in the surrounding sentences.

Context Clues Lesson Plan
Step 1: Introduce the Lesson
Begin with a real life scenario to start the thinking process. Example scenario: "I am home and I want to bake chocolate chip cookies and I am out of sugar. I cannot go to the store because it is closed. I decide to ask my neighbors for a cup of sugar, so I head next door to my first neighbor and then I go to my second neighbor for help." Then explain that just like our neighbors help us, sentences have neighbors that can help them too. When we come to an unfamiliar word we can use the word's neighbor's to help us understand the meaning of the word. In order to do that, we need to look in the sentence, the sentence before and the sentence after.

Step 2: Model the Lesson/ Strategy
a. Introduce the strategy of looking for the clue words around the unfamiliar words. When we look for these words, we need to remember to look not only in the sentence that has the word, but also in the sentence before and after it.
b. Select a passage to use and underline a word as the "unfamiliar" and create an overhead. Circle the "unfamiliar" word on the overhead and underline the rest of the sentence in orange. Have the students write the sentence in the middle of the page and do the same as you have done on the overhead, using the same colors.
c. Next, look at the sentence's neighbors. Point out the main sentence, the orange one. Go in reverse to the sentence just before the orange one. Underline this sentence in red and have the students write this sentence on the top of the page and underline it the same way.
d. Now, point out the main sentence, the orange one, again. Go forward one sentence and underline it in green and have the students write this sentence on the bottom of the page and underline it the same way.
e. The "unfamiliar" word and its sentence and the neighboring sentences have now been found and underlined. It is now time to learn the strategy, it is time to CLAP!
C= Color or highlight the unfamiliar word
L= Look around the "unfamiliar" word for clues. Clues could be any words that are
repeated or linked together (put together). Think about the words and circle
them (orange).
A= Ask the neighboring sentences if they have any clue words that can help them
to understand the unfamiliar word. Circle those clues in the color that matches that sentences' underline color.
P= Put the meaning or new word that was determined back into the sentence to
see if it makes sense.
(To help the students remember this strategy, hand cut-outs can be distributed.)
f. Review CLAP with the students again to ensure understanding. Answer any questions that may arise to clarify the steps to this point.
g. Apply the strategy to the sample passage to the overhead.
C= Color = Have the students identify the "unfamiliar" word that was circled in
orange on the overhead and written on their paper.
L= Look = Have the students look in the orange sentence for ANY words/phrases
that will help and circle them with orange also.
A= Ask = Have the students look at the sentence before (red) for any clues or
related words and circle them with red. Have the students then look at the sentence after (green) for any clues or related words and circle them with green. Now, the students need to look at the clues and determine their own definition (meaning) of the word in relation to the story.
P= Put = Have the students put their new word or definition in the sentence to see
if it makes any sense.

Step 3: Review/ Student Questions
Ask the students: What is the first step in the CLAP strategy stand for? (Color) What do I color/highlight? (the "unfamiliar" word) Then ask for the example from the demonstration. What color do we use for this step? (orange) Repeat this process for each of the other letters in CLAP and use the sample passage from the overhead to extract support for the student answers.

Step 4: Group Practice
For this step, it is recommended that a second passage be pre-selected. This could be from a textbook or on a handout to be passed out.
The students are to work through the strategy, in the same sequence, with the teacher. The students take the lead and tell the teacher what step is to be done when and how and in what color.

Step 5: Independent Practice
This step also requires the use of a third pre-selected passage from the textbook or handout. This time the student is to be completing the activity on their own and turn in to the teacher for a grade.

Reference :
Commonwealth of Virginia Board of Education. Virginia Standards of Learning for English
Grade Four. Retrieved January 15, 2008 from website http://www.doe.virginia.gov