Context Clues

Context clues are hints or definitions that a writer uses in the text to help the reader understand the meaning of new or unfamiliar words. These clues can appear within a sentence, a paragraph, or in other areas of a passage. Want to learn more about Context Clues? Here’s a refresher on the different types of context clues.

Let’s Play Outside

On Saturday morning, John ate cereal while watching cartoons on TV. His little sister Frankie was still in her high chair. Mom was wiping the kitchen table after breakfast. “Today I need to clean the house,” said Mom. “Can I help?” asked John. He liked to draw pictures in the…

Terry Makes a Friend

Terry the turkey was very brave. The turkey flock usually stuck together, with all of the younger turkeys lining up to follow an adult as they made their way around Farmer Gregory’s fields. Together, the turkeys scratched in the dirt to find bugs and seeds to eat. “I’m not hungry,” said…

The Big Goal

Sam loved soccer. Ever since he could remember, his family spent Saturday mornings at the town soccer fields watching his big brother and sister play. It always looked like great fun, with kids running up and down over the grass, chasing the black and white ball as fast as they…

Fortune Cookie Friends

Mei Mei frowned as she helped her mother and father set out the cooking supplies in the shiny steel kitchen. Her family had just moved here from San Francisco, having bought a small restaurant, which was set to open in the next few days.   “Moving here was a dumb idea,”…

The Wish Fish

Today was the day of the school festival. When the bell rang at the end of class, Laurel and her friends went outside to the playground. It was decorated with colorful balloons and tents. Inside each tent was a table with a special activity. There was weaving, painting and jewelry…

The Golden Age

Jupiter and his Mighty Folk had not always dwelt amid the clouds on the mountain top. In times long past, a wonderful family called Titans had lived there and had ruled over all the world. There were twelve of them-six brothers and six sisters-and they said that their father was…

The Pool of Tears

Lewis Carroll wrote Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in 1865. The story is about a girl who has some amazing adventures when she follows a white rabbit down a hole to a very different world. Alice has trouble staying her normal size. Sometimes she grows very large. Other times, as in…

Heartache

In Little Women, the March sisters have grown up and are now young women. Jo has been away in New York City, but has returned home. Laurie, the boy next door, has grown into manhood, and has just graduated from college. Jo has met Laurie as he returns home. He…

Peter’s Coal-Mine

This is from a story of an English family with three children named Peter, Phyllis, and Roberta. The mother and children move to a house near a railway, or railroad track, after the father has been put in prison. In this passage, the children and their mother have just arrived…

Aunt March Settles the Question

The four March sisters in Little Women are growing up. The eldest, Meg, has feelings for Mr. Brooke, the tutor who works next door for the Laurence family. However, she’s not ready to announce these feelings, so when Mr. Brooke declares his love, she tells him she is not interested.…