HOW TO MAKE A VOCABULARY MINI-MEAL

There are SIX basic ways to guess what a word means.:

1. PARAPHRASE​ Example: The large skyscraper, ​a tall building​, is located in

New York. ​(says the meaning in different words)

2. DEFINITION​: A skyscraper ​is a tall building, often located in big cities like New
York​. ​(gives the meaning like a dictionary)

3. DESCRIPTION​: The skyscraper in New York ​has thirty nine floors and is 100
meters tall.​ (tells what the word looks, sounds, feels, smells or tastes like)

4. ANTONYM:​ The skyscraper,​ not a small building at all​, is located in New York.
(gives the opposite of the word)

5. SITUATIONAL CLUES:​ The firemen ​rushed to the fiftieth floor of the

skyscraper to rescue the people trapped inside. ​(gives a situation related to the
meaning of the word. In this sentence, fireman normally rescue people in
BUILDINGS, so a​ skyscraper​ is probably a building. Since the skyscraper has
FIFTY floors, the building is TALL.)

6. PREFIXES and ​SUFFIXES:

A ​PREFIX​ is located at the BEGINNING of SOME words. Prefixes have

a MEANING like words do. You have already learned about ​im, il, ir,​ and
in​. If you remember, all of them mean ​NOT.

​ ​ ​SUFFIX​ ​is located at the end of​ ​SOME​ ​words. You have already
A
learned about ​ant​ and ​ent,​ ​ which mean ​RELATED TO​. You also learned
about ​ous​ which means ​FULL OF.
STEP #1 - Make this 2 x 4 chart

Meaning The word ________ means...

Evidence Words that helped me infer meaning are:

Analysis The way I used to figure this out was…

(​PARAPHRASE, DEFINITION,
DESCRIPTION, ANTONYM,
SITUATIONAL CLUES, PREFIXES​, OR
SUFFIXES.​)

Link Therefore this word means...

Step # 2.

Now read this passage. Pay attention to the word ​precaution.

In January 2019, the pilots of a Southwest Airlines flight and a United Airlines flight spotted a
drone approximately 3,500 feet (1,067 meters) above a small airport in Teterboro, in the U.S.
state of New Jersey.

Questions swirled as if a UFO had been sighted. Was it a recreational drone? A commercial
drone? Was it a weapon?

As a ​precaution,​ the FAA held up 43 flights already on their way to Newark Liberty
International Airport, which is near Teterboro. ​Nine planes had to land at other airports. The
ripple effect forced another 170 Newark-bound planes to postpone their takeoffs from other
airports around the country.

Step #3

EXAMINE the TWO sentences before the sentence with precaution and the TWO sentences
afterwards.​ (the ones in ​blue​)
Step #4

On the chart, put the word precaution in the first box. This is the word whose meaning you are
trying to figure out or INFER. Then reread the sentences in​ BLUE​ and take a guess at the
meaning.

Meaning The word ​precuation​ means ​something you

do to prevent danger.

Evidence Words that helped me infer meaning are:

Analysis The way I used to figure this out was…

(​PARAPHRASE, DEFINITION,
DESCRIPTION, ANTONYM,
SITUATIONAL CLUES, PREFIXES​, OR
SUFFIXES.​)

Link Therefore this word means...

Step #5

Now, give the words, suffixes or other clues that helped you guess. You may use bullet points.

Meaning The word ​precuation​ means ​something you

do to prevent danger.

Evidence Words that helped me infer meaning are:

● Weapon
● FAA held up 43 flights already on
their way to Newark Liberty
International Airport,
● Land at other airports
● Postpone their takeoffs

Analysis The way I used to figure this out was…

(​PARAPHRASE, DEFINITION,
DESCRIPTION, ANTONYM,
SITUATIONAL CLUES, PREFIXES​, OR
SUFFIXES.​)
 Link Therefore this word means...

Step #6

Now, look at the six ways to guess a word’s meaning and see which one fits here.

1) Is there a paraphrase?
2) Is there a definition?
3) Is there a description
4) Is there an antonym
5) Does the situation help you guess?
6) Are there suffixes and prefixes.

In your groups, take three minutes and figure out what type of clue there is. There could be
MORE than ONE.

Step #7

Write down what you came up or INFERRED based on your evidence in the A box,

Meaning The word ​precaution​ means ​something you

do to prevent danger.

Evidence Words that helped me infer meaning are:

● Weapon
● FAA held up 43 flights already on
their way to Newark Liberty
International Airport,
● Land at other airports
● Postpone their takeoffs

Analysis The way I used to figure this out was…

???????????????????

Link Therefore this word means...

Step #8

Now, paraphrase M. The word ​THEREFORE​ means the same as ​IN CONCLUSION​.

Meaning The word ​precaution​ means​ something you

do to prevent danger.

Evidence Words that helped me infer meaning are:

● Weapon
● FAA held up 43 flights already on
their way to Newark Liberty
International Airport,
● Land at other airports
● Postpone their takeoffs

Analysis The way I used to figure this out was…

???????????????????

Link Therefore, this word means an action taken to

prevent harm.

Now we will do a second passage. The word is ​maliciously.

Similarly, in December 2018, two drones were reportedly spotted near the runway at Gatwick
Airport in London, England. About 1,000 flights were canceled, and nearly 140,000 holiday
travelers were stranded or delayed during the busiest travel season of the year. A few weeks
later, yet another drone sighting briefly halted flights at London's Heathrow Airport, one of the
largest and busiest travel hubs in the world.

So far, authorities in the U.S. and London don't know who launched the drones. They don't
even know if they were launched ​maliciously.​ To complicate matters, some officials are
claiming that the aircraft might not have even been drones in the first place!
Step #9 - Repeat STEP #s 1-8

1. MAKE the chart.

2. READ the passage.
3. EXAMINE the two sentences BEFORE and the two sentences AFTERWARDS,
4. Write your guess about what the word means in the MEANING box
5. Put the words, suffixes, or prefixes that helped you guess in the EVIDENCE box. Use
BULLET POINTS.
6. Look at the six ways to guess the word’s meaning.
7. Write down what you came up or INFERRED based on your evidence in the A box,
8. Write a paraphrase of the meaning you wrote in the meaning box.

Meaning The word ________ means...

Evidence Words that helped me infer meaning are:

Analysis The way I used to figure this out was…

(​PARAPHRASE, DEFINITION,
DESCRIPTION, ANTONYM,
SITUATIONAL CLUES, PREFIXES​, OR
SUFFIXES.​)

Link Therefore this word means...

Now your group will do this one on your own. The word is deployed.

In any case, officials in the U.S. and England are not leaving it up to drone manufacturers to
safeguard the skies. In late 2018, the U.S. Congress authorized the Homeland Security and
Justice Departments to institute a process that identifies, disables, and, if necessary, destroys
drones. Agents from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey—which operates Newark
Liberty International Airport—met with the FAA, FBI, and Homeland Security to achieve the
same goal. Following the Gatwick incident, drone-defense equipment was ​deployed​ at airports in
the UK.

Meaning The word ________ means...

Evidence Words that helped me infer meaning are:

Analysis The way I used to figure this out was…

(​PARAPHRASE, DEFINITION,
DESCRIPTION, ANTONYM,
SITUATIONAL CLUES, PREFIXES​, OR
SUFFIXES.​)

Link Therefore this word means...