The Skills section explicitly states students will analyze authors' word choice and context. Question #3 asks students to explain the meaning of a line from the poem "Washington D.C.", requiring students to use surrounding text to interpret a phrase. Activities require students to identify and record nouns, adjectives, and action verbs from poems, engaging students with words in their textual context.

Students are asked to identify a simile in Question #3 (Record the simile in the poem, 'Skier'), with the answer provided: "He swings down like the flourish of a pen / Signing a signature in white on white." Students are also asked which poem creates the most vivid image and to describe what they see, and to describe the mood of a poem, which requires using surrounding text to interpret meaning and tone.

Students are asked directly to determine the meaning of the word "inspired" in the context of Love That Dog (Question #2), and an answer is provided that defines it as "influenced or encouraged by someone." The lesson's skills list includes applying knowledge of language structure and figurative language, and parent prompts ask caregivers to discuss word choice after students read their poems aloud, which implies attention to word meaning in context.

Students are asked to "review the definitions and read through the sentences in the book where the words are used," and the Student Activity Page lists vocabulary words with page-number references so students can locate the words in text. The Vocabulary Cube activity has students read the words in context and then generate original sentences using those words during the rolling game.

The lesson defines idioms and explicitly states that "sometimes the meaning can be deduced in context." Activity 3 directs students to "translate the idioms from the novel" and provides page numbers so students must refer to the surrounding text to match idioms to meanings. The parent guide also instructs caregivers to "check to see that your child understands the idioms found in the text," reinforcing student practice in using textual context to infer meaning.

Students receive a definition of similes and metaphors and are directed to "explain what two things are compared" for similes and metaphors drawn from the text. The Metaphor and Simile activity asks students to identify comparisons in specific sentences (e.g., staircase compared to DNA) and to write similes/metaphors for characters. The Life Application and writing tasks ask students to make comparisons between the movie and the party and to include similes or metaphors in a paragraph about a friend.

Students are asked to explain the difference between 'mischief' and 'malice' based on the sentence, "Mrs. Olinski had a great tolerance for mischief, but she had no tolerance for malice," which requires using the comparison in the text to infer meanings. Students are also asked to explain what Ms. Olinski meant by, "...you have to risk making mistakes," which asks them to interpret a phrase in context of the surrounding discussion of students and risk.

Students are asked to translate figures of speech taken from the story (e.g., "as easy as climbin' a greased pole with two baskets of eggs," "happy as a jay bird," "as sour as week old buttermilk"), which requires interpreting nonliteral language in context. Option 2 specifically asks students to use figures of speech they know in sentences that show how the phrase is used in context. Parent instructions direct checking and discussion of any figures of speech the student did not understand, prompting students to explain meanings drawn from the text.

Students are asked to explain what John Henry meant when he said, "I've got a man's heart in here. All the machine has is a metal engine" (Question #4), prompting them to infer the meaning of a phrase from the story context. The "Author's Language" activity asks students to list three sentences that helped bring John Henry to life, which requires students to attend to an author's word choices and interpret how language conveys character.

In the reading questions for "Sister Fox and Brother Coyote," students are asked to explain the meaning of the phrase "...brains could often get the better of brawn," which asks them to interpret a phrase in context. Activity 2 provides an explicit list of transitional words and phrases, including examples that indicate cause/effect (if/then, as a result) and comparison (like, similarly), which are the types of contextual relationships named in the standard. The "Pale-Faced Lightning" questions also ask students to infer what might have been in a character's jar, prompting inference from text context.

Students are asked in Activity 1 to "write a definition for each word using the context to help you with the meaning," then look up the words in the dictionary. The lesson provides underlined sentences that place target words in context (e.g., "looks like a part of old Holland...and there are no dikes," "lulled by the bobbing of the raft," "I knew Timothy was in a rage"). Activity 2 asks students to identify a simile and name the two things being compared, which teaches using comparisons in text.

Students read Chapters 5 and 6 of The Cay and answer comprehension questions that require interpreting text-based phrases. For example, Question #2 asks what Phillip meant by "His [Timothy's] eyes were becoming mine," and the expected answer explains the figurative meaning based on the situation that Phillip cannot see and relies on Timothy. Question #1 also asks students to identify what Timothy thought he heard ("the faint drone of an aircraft"), which requires using textual context to identify the source of a sound.

Students read Chapters 15–16 and answer comprehension questions that require defining terms and interpreting descriptions (for example, Question 3 asks What is the eye of the hurricane? and Question 1 asks what words and phrases the author used to describe the storm). Students identify descriptive phrases such as "splintering sound, driving rain, raging whitecaps," which requires attending to surrounding text to select context-based details. Students also summarize events (how Phillip survived) which engages them with cause/effect information in the narrative.

Students read or listen to Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech and are asked to read part aloud to hear how it sounds. Discussion prompts ask students to explain what King means by the phrase, "Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred," and to describe King's dream. These tasks require students to use surrounding language and ideas to interpret the meaning of a figurative phrase.

Students are asked to recognize cause-and-effect relationships and to use text structure (such as cause and effect or chronology) to locate and recall information (Skills and Wrapping Up sections). Students complete clause activities that highlight dependent markers for cause/effect (the chart lists 'because, in order to, why') and practice combining dependent and independent clauses. Students create picture maps for vocabulary words and are instructed to look up each definition in a dictionary, and parent notes provide explicit definitions for target words.

The lesson includes an explicit Activity 1 titled "Cause and Effect Relationships," where students connect causes from Chapters 3–6 with corresponding effects using a two-column table and write their own examples. The directions ask students to record effects caused by actions and events in the story and to explore many cause-and-effect scenarios in the first three chapters. The student pages provide multiple textual scenarios (e.g., "The soldier looked for Dina" -> "Dina's mother had to send her to America instead of Katharina") for students to analyze.

Students read each vocabulary word together with a quoted sentence from the book (e.g., "The coarse brown fabric was piled up on the chair..."). Students create vocabulary cubes that require a definition, an illustration, a sentence using the word, and a synonym/antonym. The materials direct students to use a dictionary and thesaurus and note that hearing words in context is important.

Students are asked to interpret meaning in Question #2: "What do you think Johann meant when he said, 'Your eyes light up when you talk about making the hat.'" The Skills list explicitly includes "Draw conclusions and support them with text evidence," and several discussion prompts ask students to explain characters' feelings and motivations, which requires using surrounding text as clues to meaning.

Students answer a comprehension question asking, "What does Sam mean when he says, 'I knew how to make fire, and that was my weapon'?", which requires interpreting a figurative use of "weapon" from surrounding context. Students complete a Forced Analogy activity that asks them to make comparisons between forest nouns and wilderness survival, practicing use of comparisons as a clue for meaning. The Natural Root Words section tells students that prefixes, roots, and suffixes can be clues to word meanings and asks them to choose words containing each root and use them in sentences.

Students are asked to "think about why Bando would have called Sam 'Thoreau,'" which requires comparing Sam to Thoreau and using that comparison in the text to interpret the nickname. Question #4 asks students what Sam thought about Bando and who Bando was, prompting students to infer Bando's identity from context in the story.

Students are asked in Part B to "write the meaning of the following words using your knowledge of prefixes, suffixes, and roots from context—without using a dictionary," which requires them to use surrounding sentences as clues to word meaning. Students underline prefixes and suffixes in a paragraph (Part A) and then apply those morphological clues to define words such as "postponement," "insightful," and "uninhabitable." Parent notes and wrap-up direct students to review affix meanings and provide examples, reinforcing use of context plus morphology to determine word meanings.

Students are asked to interpret Nat's line, "A man is loyal to the place he loves," which requires using context to explain the meaning of the phrase. Activity 2 (An Island Bird) asks students to identify a metaphor and compare two things (Kit and a Jamaican bird), prompting use of comparison in the text to clarify meaning. Students must list ways Kit's experience parallels the bird, which involves drawing meaning from comparisons and surrounding context.

Students are asked to underline similes and circle personification in a passage that includes explicit comparisons (e.g., "burned like a gigantic torch," "stretched like a carpet of jewels"), and the lesson defines simile as a comparison using "like" or "as." A discussion prompt asks students to interpret Nat's remark ("...it would gobble up a nice fat partridge in no time"), which requires using surrounding context to infer meaning. Students are also prompted to notice how descriptive language appeals to the five senses to help visualize the environment, connecting context to meaning.

Students are instructed to locate and record the sentence from the book that contains each vocabulary word and then guess the word's meaning "based on context clues and the meanings of the prefixes and suffixes within the words." The student activity pages include spaces for the sentence, the student's guessed definition, and the actual dictionary definition, requiring students to use context and affix knowledge and then verify with a dictionary. The Parent Plan explicitly tells caregivers to check how closely students guessed definitions using context clues and knowledge of prefixes and suffixes.

Students are asked to underline eight words in a paragraph and look up synonyms for each on the "Synonyms" activity page, and to write both the original words and their synonyms. The parent check notes that the "synonyms should make sense in the context of the paragraph," requiring students to consider whether a chosen synonym fits the surrounding text. The Things to Review section asks the child to use a thesaurus and review examples of synonyms and why a thesaurus is useful for writing.

The lesson includes an Idioms activity that tells students some idioms 'can be translated by locating clues in the text' and directs them to 'match each idiom to a sentence where it's used literally or figuratively.' The Skills list explicitly states students will 'Apply knowledge of idioms to determine meanings,' indicating students will practice interpreting figurative language. The Student Activity Page requires students to connect listed idioms with meanings, which engages them in using textual context to infer meaning.

Students are prompted to 'Guess the Meaning' of vocabulary words using provided example sentences (e.g., placidly, judiciously, vulnerable, inexorable) and to record an 'Actual Meaning' after checking a dictionary. Students complete a separate activity that asks them to circle prefixes and suffixes and then guess word meanings based on those affixes before looking up roots or dictionary definitions.

Activity 3 directs students to locate each target word in the text, read and copy the sentence that contains the word, look up definitions, and then "identify the correct definition based on the context of the sentence." The Parent Plan also asks students to use reference aids (dictionary, thesaurus) to clarify meanings and to use each vocabulary word in a sentence orally. The vocabulary activity uses sentences from the reading so students must use surrounding text as clues to select the appropriate meaning.