Students become word detectives — using the clues hiding in a sentence to unlock the meaning of a word they’ve never seen before, without ever reaching for a dictionary.
Students will be able to…
You hit a word you don’t know. Before you look it up — what clues in the sentence can tell you what it means?
Project each sentence and read the bolded mystery word. Have students hunt for the clue, then choose the meaning — the tool shows which clue cracked the case.
Tap any phase to open the teacher moves and student actions.
A sentence with one word you’ve never seen.
Teacher thinks aloud to find the clue.
Class uses the Word Detective.
Students crack words in a passage.
Students share how they cracked a word.
Aligned to the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts.
Use sentence-level context as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.
Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words in a text.
Ask and answer questions, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.
Use context as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.
Preview the three formative checks. Tap “Sample answer” to see what mastery looks like — hide them before you print for students.
As students read, have them log new words, the clue that helped, and the meaning they figured out — building independent word-solving habits. A printable word-detective log is in the ELA library.
Tap a card to flip it, then rate whether you knew it. Built from this lesson’s vocabulary.
A quick self-check with instant feedback, drawn from this lesson’s key terms.
A print-and-go review sheet with a built-in answer key. Tap “Show answer key” to reveal answers, or print the clean version for students.