Reading Strategy: Monitor Your Reading

When you read, you may come to a word that you don’t understand. Use this set of strategies to figure out the meaning.

Reading Strategy Monitor Your Reading
    How to Clarify Vocabulary

  • 1. Ask: “Have I seen the word before? What do I already know about it?”

  • 2. If you still do not understand the word, find context clues around the word. The clues may help you understand the meaning.

  • 3. If the word is still not clear, break the word into parts. Do any of the word parts help you figure out the word’s meaning?

  • 4. If you are still confused, ask someone for help, or look up the word in a dictionary.

Strategy in Action

Here’s how one student clarified vocabulary.

Look Into the Text: Making Boxes and Bags

Down the river, the water arrives at the Longview paper plant. Alan Whitford watches as recycled paper falls into huge tanks. The recycled paper is mixed with water from the river. Machines turn this mixture into paper boxes and bags. Then most of the water from the plant flows back into the Columbia River.

I know a plant is something that grows. I don’t think it means that here. I’ll try Step 2.

This paragraph is about making paper. A plant must be the place where paper is made. Step 2 helped me with this word.

Practice Together

Reread the passage “Making Boxes and Bags” above. Follow the steps in the How-To box to clarify the meaning of mixture. What helped you figure out the meaning?