Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words or phrases based on grade 8 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.

What's the point of learning how to write in English if you don't know any of the words to write it with? That's the question that this Common Core Standard attempts to address. According to them, this is what students should be able to do:

1. They should be able to guess what a word means based on what's going on around it. For example, if a sentence says that "the guillotine was a harbinger of death," students shouldn't think that harbinger means sunshine and rainbows.
2. They should be able to guess what a word means based on a Greek or Roman word it's related to. Who knew that afros come from the goddess Afrodite?
3. They should be able to look up what a word actually means in the dictionary. Even though paper ones are starting to go the way of the dodo, the Common Core still wants students to learn how to theoretically search through one.
4. Once they have the real definition of a word, they should check to see if they guessed its correct definition the first time around. There's nothing better than finding out that hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia means exactly what it looks like!

There you have it. Now tell those students to get back to learning some new words.

P.S. If your students need to brush up on their spelling and grammar, send 'em over to our Grammar Learning Guides so they can hone their skills before conquering the Common Core.

Standard Components

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.8.4.A
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.8.4.B
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.8.4.C
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.8.4.D