What is the best way to teach fourth graders to find definitions in their textbooks?

Question

I want my fourth grade students to find definitions in their textbooks rather than me writing the definition out for them. Sometimes the definition is written in the text rather than the glossery or dictionary. What is the best way to teach them to find the definition of a word for themselves? Any suggestions would be great. BTW, I am a six week old teacher (in other words, a newbie) so ya'll (sorry, I live in Oklahoma) experienced teachers just pour it on for me.

I try to use the words as much as possible even outside the subject areas from which the word came from. I like the matching idea. It certainly does seem easier without giving the answers answers. The student must still deduce...

Answer 1

How about making up some kind of worksheet where either the student has to match the def. with the word, or fill in the blanks. That way the student will have to not only have to know what the meaning of the word is, but they will also have to read!!!! (You can kill 2 birds with one stone)

Answer 2

I've been a teacher for 5 years now The key to getting kids to work is make a game. This seems to work great on the 3 rd & 4th graders.
Have a contest . call out a word and see how many definitions they can come up with. Best if 2-3 a day. Now the fun tell them to go home research the word and see who had the funniest the closest match etc. Use a star chart Class votes for the funniest, for the week Correct answers or closest by teacher. End of week reward the best answers. Works great You will find they can come up with fun answers.

Answer 3

The prior question is whether you want children to find and copy definitions of terms from their textbooks. This is the typical way teachers ask students to learn technical vocabulary, and it is nearly always ineffective in gaining control of new vocabulary.

Learning vocabulary usually takes a much richer type of instruction. Teachers must explain new words in simple terms and help students discern the boundaries of meaning from examples and nonexamples. They must help students learn how new words are used (for example, water can erode--eat away--a mountain, but families can't erode at McDonalds). Next, students need to encounter the new word in 8-12 different contexts to extricate it from its original context. Finally, students need to begin to create their own sentences.

If your question is how students comprehend word meanings from expository text, they have to learn the many ways English reveals these meanings in context. For example, writers set off new terms with appositives, e.g., "The ancient Greeks were the first people to practice democracy, or rule by the people."

Robert Sternberg has cataloged about a dozen ways astute readers can use to glean word meanings from context. These are described in his book Intelligence Applied.

If this or another answer here proves helpful in your research, you can encourage good answers by choosing one answer as the "best answer."

Cheers,
Bruce

Answer 4

hmm...probably make it into a word hunt or something. Sometimes you have to make it very fun to get the students involved because otherwise they will expect you to do all the work

Answer 5

Pratice makes perfect!