Dictionary Skills

2nd GradeDictionary Skills

Why Use a Dictionary?to see how to spell a wordprincipalto learn how to say a word correctly (prin-suh-puhl)to find what the word meanA principal is a person who leads a school.to see how to use words in sentences The students listened to the principal as he spoke about how to behave in the school.

Have students brainstorm the different uses. Put on the side of the whiteboard.When finished, display uses.2Guide Words and Entry WordsGuide words show the first word and the last word on the page.The guide words on this page are painting and pandaEntry words are in ABC order. In this dictionary, they appear in red.

Quick way to look for a wordABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZStart by going to the beginning, middle or end of the dictionary to locate a word.Example: If you were looking for the word cat, would you find the word in the beginning, middle or end of the dictionary? How about:forgetshakeopposite

Using the guide words:Lets practice locating a word using the guide words.We will locate the word new by locating one letter at a time.n If the first letters match, look at the second letter.e If the second letters match, look at the third letter etc.wWhat page number is it on? 141

Now try to find the Secret Word. Remember the ruleone letter at a time.roosterrooster

Neat pg 140Rooster pg 177Honey pg 1046Lets try againonion

onion

One more timegrape

grape

syllable (part of a spoken word). A dictionary generally uses dots between the syllables of a word.Can you sound out these words?Clap the number of syllables in theses words.

serious (sir-ee-uhs)polite (puh-lite)passenger (pas-uhn-juhr)dictionary (dik-shuh-ner-ee)wonderful (wuhn-duhr-fuhl)

Students brainstorm quietly in groups antonym (a word that is the opposite of another word). A dictionary may list an antonym for a word. Can you think of an antonym for:happy shortdarksadtalllightsynonym (one of two or more words that have highly similar meanings). A dictionary may list synonyms for a word. Can you think of a synonym for:littlerock funnysmallstonesilly

homophonesSome words sound alike but have different meanings. These words are called homophones. Look up these words in a dictionary.

ate/eightflower/flourplane/plainNight/knight

AssessmentNow try some on your own.Words to look up (hand out worksheet)clownNewspaperdragonsink

Good Job!