Dictionary Skills…Made EASY!

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Hello my friends…Do you have to teach Dictionary Skills to your students?  I do!  And let me tell you…. THIS IS NO EASY TASK!!!!  🙂  Teaching my little ones how to use Guide Words to “guide” them through the dictionary is difficult…so what did I do???  I created a resource that would help ME…teach THEM…how to use it. This is how I made teaching Dictionary Skills Easy!

How I started…

The first thing I did was create this resource to help me TEACH them how to use it…I created a mini-book that would help them understand the elements of a dictionary page and HOW to use the guide words to guide them through it.  But I wanted it to be FUN and keep their interest while they are plodding through the dictionary.  

This was my Guided Instruction piece to my lesson.  This mini-book was a week-long activity.  The first two days we worked on understanding the parts of the dictionary and labeling the dictionary page in their mini-book.  The next day was working together as a class to use our guide words to find specific words in the dictionary.  The remainder of the week, they needed to find two of our spelling words, amazing words, or high frequency words in the dictionary and record it in their mini-book.   By the end of the week, 99% of my little ones were able to quickly find their entry word using the guide words in the dictionary.

After I taught my students HOW to use the dictionary I created another Mini-Book called The Case of the Unknown Word. I copied a mini-book for each student to complete as their word word station for the week.  The students had to make their way through the dictionary to find specific words that they probably do not know.  They had to find the word, write the definition and then use clues to help them solve the secret message at the end of the mini-book.   It really was fun and they couldn’t wait to get to the end book to find out the secret message! They were working feverishly!

Then…

I used the words on the briefcase task cards to guide them through the dictionary. They had to write the guide words, the page number, and the definition of each word. Then at the bottom of each page they had to write the mystery letters to help solve the case. I was really impressed with how well they did!

It definitely kept my little ones busy and I have to say they were pretty quick finding the words.

So…that…in a nutshell is how I teach my little ones HOW to use the dictionary.  Now…they are seasoned PROS 🙂  They rarely ask for my help trying to locate a word in the dictionary and now they really use the dictionary as a tool during their Work on Writing station.

If you are interested in this unit, check it out in my Blog Shop store by clicking the image below!

Check out all my other great blogs and resources by CLICKING HERE and heading to my Blog Shop!

Wait!!! Before you go, here is a FREEBIE you can use in YOUR classroom! CLICK HERE to get your FREEBIE!

Thanks again for stopping by 🙂  

Hugs,

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Anna D.

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I'm Anna DiGilio

Hi, I'm Anna! I was a primary teacher for over twenty-three years, wife of a firefighter, mother of twin teenage boys, obsessed with being creative and helping teachers and love my Saturday morning quiet cup of coffee!
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