Students are asked to interpret figurative language in questions such as "What do you think Abigail's grandmother meant when she said that 'wild colts make the best horses'?" and to explain what John Adams meant by needing "ballast" (Question #1 and #4). The vocabulary pages present target words with example sentences and page references (confidences, lucrative, wistfully, foreboding, affliction, fortitude, entail), giving students contextual sentences to read. Activity 2 asks students to choose vocabulary words and write letters that use those words correctly in context, requiring students to apply meaning in sentence- and paragraph-level writing.

Students read chapters and original letters and answer comprehension questions that require interpreting meaning from text. Question 4 asks students to explain what Benjamin Franklin meant by calling the vice president "His Superfluous Excellency," which requires using the sentence/paragraph context to infer that the office carried little power. The activity instructions also suggest reading letters aloud when the style is hard to understand, implying use of overall meaning to make sense of older language.

The unit test Part 1 asks students to fill in blanks in eight sentences using vocabulary words from a provided list (abolish, disconsolate, destitute, etc.), requiring students to use sentence-level context to select appropriate meanings. The Student Activity Page's top box asks students to review and make notes on "All of the vocabulary terms covered in previous lessons," which prompts students to consider word meanings prior to the test.

Students are instructed to "consider how [a word] is used in the sentence" and are given explicit examples showing how the same word can have different functions and meanings (e.g., "running" as verb vs. noun; "up" as adverb vs. preposition). Activity 1 asks students to label each word's part of speech and to indicate phrases and verb phrases in sentences drawn from Chapter 1 of Animal Farm. The activity pages require students to mark subjects, verbs, prepositional phrases, and the functions of words within whole sentences.

The lesson explicitly teaches that "every personal pronoun must have a clear antecedent" and explains that the antecedent usually appears before the pronoun. Students are asked to underline each pronoun and draw an arrow to its antecedent and to replace repeated nouns with appropriate pronouns (Part I and Part II activities). The exemplar sentence "She told him to take it to the curb" is used to show how a pronoun's referent must be clear from surrounding sentences.

Students are taught to simplify sentences and use sentence structure as a clue (e.g., ‘Please pass the cookies to Michael and I/me') to choose the correct pronoun form. Students practice deciding who vs. whom by rearranging clauses and using a replacement test (e.g., replace with 'him') to determine whether the pronoun is subject or object. Students circle the correct pronoun in sentences and identify its case, applying word position/function to select the appropriate form.

The lesson asks students to review a Unit Test Review that lists science terms and explicitly suggests using the book index to look up any unfamiliar terms. The Parent Plan skills list includes a bullet that students should "determine the meaning of symbols, key terms, and other domain-specific words and phrases as they are used in a specific scientific or technical context." The research and writing activities require students to use domain-specific vocabulary in their papers and the rubric evaluates use of domain-specific vocabulary.

Students are instructed in Activity 3 to "read the words in context and select the best definition based on those context clues," and they complete multiple-choice items that place words (e.g., ornery, plunder, gaudy, loll, contrive, contrite) in sentence excerpts. The vocabulary pages present sentences and short passages where students must use surrounding text to choose a definition and are told to use a dictionary only if additional help is needed. The directions and items explicitly require students to rely on sentence-level context to determine word meanings.

The lesson explicitly discusses how word choice reveals meaning and connotation (e.g., comparing "clever" and "smart" and noting how the "n word" carries negative connotation). It tells students they can "tell the feelings of a character based on word choice" and asks students to analyze quotes to explain what they reveal about characters. Activity 1 requires students to read quotes in context and record what each quote shows about a character, which has students use surrounding text to infer meaning about characters and word usage.

The lesson introduction explicitly instructs students that they can "use clues" and "look at the sentences and other words around the new word and take a guess at what it means," directing them to use context. The Parent Plan skills list includes determining the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text. Activity 2 presents vocabulary that is "defined based on how they are used in the story" and asks students to write sentences using each word.

Students are asked to "interpret figures of speech (e.g., verbal irony, puns) in context" and to record and categorize examples of verbal, situational, and dramatic irony from videos and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Students analyze quoted lines such as Pap's "Oh, yes, this is a wonderful government, wonderful..." and decide that the speaker means the opposite of the literal words (verbal irony). Option 2 asks students to "analyze the irony to make sure that it matches the definitions," which requires using surrounding context to determine intended meaning of phrases.

Students analyze puns (example: "buck teeth") and multiple-meaning plays on words in the Pun section, which requires recognizing alternate meanings. Students identify and label figurative expressions from Huckleberry Finn in the "Figurative Language in the Novel" table, and they mark examples in "Fred's Letter" using color-coding for puns, idioms, hyperbole, simile, and oxymoron. The Parent Plan notes that students will "interpret figures of speech (e.g., verbal irony, puns) in context," indicating tasks that require reading expressions in their sentence contexts.

Students read Chapters 1 and 2 and answer QUESTION #1, which asks them to infer what Elijah's mother means by calling him "fra-gile," requiring them to derive meaning from context in the narrative. Activity 2 lists vocabulary words and asks students to study meanings and illustrate each word, which engages students with word meanings encountered in the text.

Students are asked to explain the true meaning of the proverb "familiarity breeds contempt" and give examples, which requires interpreting a saying in context. Students are prompted to interpret Mr. Leroy's statement to Elijah and explain what he is communicating, which asks them to infer meaning from a character's quoted speech. The lesson defines an idiom or proverb in "Things to Know," giving students a label for figurative expressions they must interpret.

The Skills section asks students to "Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings," and to "Interpret figures of speech... in context." The Figures of Speech activity requires students to identify idioms, similes, metaphors, personification, puns, and hyperbole in sentences from Elijah of Buxton (e.g., labeling "My blood ran cold" as an idiom). Activity prompts also ask students to analyze passages for sensory language and precise word choice, which has students use surrounding wording to infer meaning and effect.

Students are explicitly asked to read passages from Elijah of Buxton containing italicized vocabulary words and to "determine from the context what the word means" and write their definitions. The Vocabulary student activity directs students to compare their context-based definitions to the given definitions and to discuss the words with a parent. The Skills section names using context (overall sentence or paragraph meaning; a word's position or function) as a clue to meaning, and the activity page includes multiple passages and lines for students to analyze vocabulary in context.

Students are asked to analyze allusions by writing 2–3 sentence explanations of an allusion's origin and connection to Elijah of Buxton (Student Activity Page). Students examine a specific scene where Elijah refers to a biblical story ("stones into fish") and are given Mark 6:33-44 to link the allusion to the scene. Other activity pages ask students to interpret allusions to the Liberty Bell and the fall of Jericho and provide the related biblical passages so students can connect the passage context to the novel.

The vocabulary activity directs students to find each word in the dictionary and to use the sentences from the book to determine which definition and part of speech to record, which requires using sentence context to choose among meanings. The parent-plan skills explicitly state that students should "verify the preliminary determination of the meaning of a word or phrase (e.g., by checking the inferred meaning in context or in a dictionary)." Students are also asked to create sentences or illustrations that show they understand the chosen meaning, reinforcing use of contextual examples.

Students underline pronouns in context and label their types in Part I, which requires examining each sentence to determine how the pronoun functions. Students identify what noun demonstrative pronouns (e.g., "These") refer to and determine antecedents for pronouns in specific sentences, using surrounding words and sentence meaning as clues. Students explain whether "themselves" is reflexive or intensive by testing removal and considering sentence meaning, which uses a word's function and the sentence context to decide meaning.

Students are asked to define words from a given list in their own words (vocabulary section listing disconsolately, furtively, harangued, rite, etc.), and a vocabulary activity requires short answers linking words from the text (e.g., Fidelito, eejits) to meanings. The Parent Plan explicitly lists as a skill: "Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings." These items require students to produce word meanings based on the novel's usage.

Students are given sentences from Watership Down and instructed to "select the definition and part of speech that best fits the context of the sentence," directly asking them to use sentence context to determine meaning. The Vocabulary Cube requires students to record a word, its definition, an alternate definition, and the part of speech, and then practice by rolling the cube and matching definitions or sentence uses to words. The parent plan and wrap-up prompt students to review vocabulary and discuss meanings based on the map and terms, reinforcing context-based interpretation.

The student activity page instructs students to "write a definition for each italicized word based on its roots, prefix, and suffix and the context of the passage from Watership Down," and provides seven sentences from the text with target words in context. The Parent Plan explicitly states students are to "determine the meaning of unfamiliar words using Latin roots, prefixes, suffixes and the context of a passage." The lesson also includes review prompts that ask students to discuss the meanings they determined and how those reflect Latin roots.

Students are asked to use the meanings of roots, prefixes, and suffixes together with the meaning of the word in the context of the example sentence to hypothesize definitions (worksheet directions). Students complete multiple items where they read a sentence (e.g., "Ann offered her condolences to the widow at the funeral") and write a hypothesis about the unfamiliar word before recording the dictionary definition. Students also use context in the dramatic irony activity to explain what the reader knows versus what the characters believe, reinforcing sentence- and passage-level interpretation skills.

The lesson's Skills section explicitly lists the target skill: "Use context (e.g., the overall meaning of a sentence or paragraph; a word's position or function in a sentence) as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase." The Multiple Meaning Vocabulary activity directs students to "read the word carefully in its context, and then write what you think the word means in the context given." Student activity pages require students to write a "Definition from context" for italicized words and then look up dictionary definitions and star the meaning that matches the passage.

Students read passages with italicized word pairs (e.g., run/bolt, strange/marvelous, punt/raft) and are instructed to compare and describe the different connotations and denotations of those words. The student activity directions ask students to read the passages focusing on the target words and write their sense of each word's connotation. The review prompt asks students to look for words in daily use that have similar denotations but different connotations.

Students complete a unit-test vocabulary section in which they must fill each sentence with the appropriate word from a word bank, requiring them to use the sentence context to choose the correct term. The study guide and test include sentence-level vocabulary items and matching exercises that ask students to connect Latin roots/affixes to word meanings, and the curriculum directs students to make and use flash cards for roots and affixes to determine meanings.

Students are directed to "Read each vocabulary word in context from 'The Book Thief'" and are given specific sentences from the book for each target word (e.g., sentences for misogynistic, nefarious, ferocity, infamy, melancholic). Students are asked to "write the definitions in your own words" and copy words and definitions into a mini dictionary, which requires them to reference the context when forming definitions. The Similes and Metaphors activity asks students to identify comparisons in underlined phrases from sentences in the text and to explain the effect, which asks students to use surrounding sentence meaning to interpret figurative phrases.

Students encounter multiple unfamiliar terms in the text (for example, "Kommunist," "Aryan," "Mein Kampf," "anti-Semitism," and the "yellow stars") and are asked specific questions about their meanings on the Historical References activity page. The activity directs students to read passages cited (e.g., the speech on p.110 and pages 83–84) and to consult provided web links and an infographic to learn what those terms referred to in Nazi Germany. In the Propaganda activity, students analyze posters and must explain the posters' goals and effectiveness, which requires interpreting words and phrases in visual and textual contexts.

The "Be Specific" activities teach denotation versus connotation and ask students to compare similar verbs (e.g., stroll, trudge, stomp) so they consider subtle differences in meaning and image. Students are prompted to discuss unusual word combinations (e.g., "He unleashed his quietest words so far") and explain why those phrases create a unique impression. Students revise underlined portions of sentences and replace vague words with more specific descriptive choices, with guidance to consult a dictionary or thesaurus.

Students are asked in the 'Questions to Discuss' to consider how the meaning of 'standover man' changes from the beginning to the end, which requires using the text's events and character descriptions as contextual clues. The lesson also directs students to reread 'The Standover Man' and to think about what makes the story effective, prompting them to infer meaning from surrounding sentences and narrative context.

The Parent Plan explicitly lists the skill: 'Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone.' Activity 2 provides three examples of figurative language (e.g., "The visions began to pour...", "trees standing like emaciated statues", "the guilt...was moist...") and asks students to write descriptions in the voice of the narrator, prompting analysis and creation of connotative meaning. The Ideas to Think About section asks how writers use figurative language and word choice to create tone and engage readers, orienting students toward interpreting word choice.

Students are directed in Activity 1 to find and record instances of personification, simile, metaphor, and onomatopoeia from the text, which requires attention to how words and phrases function in sentences. The Parent Plan Skills statement explicitly lists determining the meaning of words and phrases, including figurative and connotative meanings, and analyzing the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone. In Activity 2, students pick a word to "paint" and refine wording, which engages them in examining a word's use and effect within a sentence.

Students are asked in Question #4 to interpret Max's phrase that the stars "burned" or "set fire to [his] eyes," and they are prompted to offer "possible meanings to that phrase." The provided answer notes two contextual interpretations (surprise at brightness and increased desire to be outside), showing students practice deriving meaning from the surrounding narrative. The activity asks students to generate other ideas, requiring them to rely on sentence and paragraph context to support their interpretations.

Students are asked to interpret Max's allegory (e.g., identify what Hitler is "planting" and explain the phrase "a nation of farmed thoughts"), requiring them to use sentence- and paragraph-level meaning to infer figurative meanings. Students explicitly identify and analyze adjectives, adverbs, and strong verbs and explain why those word choices are effective, which requires attending to a word's position and function in a sentence. The Parent Plan and activity directions state that students should "determine the meaning of words and phrases... including figurative and connotative meanings," tying tasks to clarifying word meaning from context.

The vocabulary activity instructs students to determine the meaning of specific words using context and then verify the definitions with a dictionary. Students complete a two-column page where they write a "my definition" derived from passages in chapters 3–4 and then record the "dictionary definition." The activity provides five sentences/passages with highlighted words (assuaged, predilection, sojourn, disapprobation, asinine) for students to use as context clues.

Students are asked to write a literature response that includes at least one quotation from Chapters 8–9 and explain the meaning and importance of that quotation, which requires interpreting text in context. Discussion questions ask students to consider why Atticus does not want Scout to use the "n" word and to recognize its derogatory meaning and historical associations. The Character Line-Up organizer includes a column for "Quotes or dialogue about or by the character," prompting students to record and reflect on wording from the text.

Students read chapters 14–15 of To Kill a Mockingbird, where the vocabulary words appear in context. The Student Activity Page reproduces example sentences from the book for each target word (e.g., sentences using elucidate, amiably, mollified, volition, indicted). Students are prompted to write their own sentences for each vocabulary word on the activity page.

The parent plan lists the skill of determining the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text. In Activity 1 students complete a fill-in-the-blank worksheet ("The Trial") that requires choosing legal terms to fit sentences about the courtroom, using sentence context to select terms. Activity 2 directs students to identify word function (adjective vs. adverb, subject vs. predicate) and to test whether words describe nouns or tell when/where/how, which trains students to use a word's position or function in a sentence.

Students are asked to mark subjects, predicates, objects, and parts of speech when diagramming sentences and are given sentence-diagram examples that label subjects, verbs, direct objects, conjunctions, and adverbs. The "Things to Know" note explains compound subjects and predicates, prompting students to consider a word's function in sentence structure. The diagramming hints and answer keys require students to place words into grammatical roles, which involves using a word's position or function in a sentence.

Students are asked to choose five quotes from To Kill a Mockingbird and "explain each quote in your own words," and an example explanation (Miss Maudie's mockingbird quote) shows a student-style paraphrase that clarifies meaning. The Parent Plan reiterates that students will "analyze 10 quotes ... by explaining what they mean or putting the quotes in their own words," which requires interpreting wording in its context.

Students are asked to look up synonyms for the word "acquainted" and then reread Robert Frost's poem to decide whether any synonym "works as well with the rest of the poem," explicitly using the poem's context to judge word fit. The Word Choice activity directs students to look up "noiseless," list synonyms, and choose which synonyms fit best in Walt Whitman's poem title, requiring them to evaluate words against the poem's language and tone. The lesson also prompts students to consider how sound, rhythm, and repetition (title repeated in first and last line) affect a word's appropriateness in context.

The text models interpreting figurative phrasing in context (for example, it explains that in Poe's stanza "Thank Heaven!" does not mean a literal prayer but instead means "What a relief!"). Student questions ask learners to identify personification in a specific stanza of "Paul Revere's Ride" and to compare opening lines of two poems, which requires using the surrounding lines to determine what is being compared. Part II asks students to observe a scene and then write descriptions using simile/metaphor and imagery, prompting students to derive meaning from sensory/contextual details.

Students are asked to analyze words' denotation and connotation and to distinguish literal and symbolic meanings (Things to Know; Activity 1), which requires attention to how words function in poems. The lesson directs students to analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (Parent Plan Skills) and asks them to infer mood from words like "horror," "crashing," and "torrents" in a poem (Question #2). The student activity pages prompt students to look up unfamiliar words and to identify symbolism and allusions (Student Activity Page and Answer Key).

The Skills section directs students to "Analyze idioms, analogies, metaphors, and similes to infer the literal and figurative meanings of phrases" and to "Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone." The Poem Analysis activity asks students to read a poem several times (including aloud) and to complete sections on Figurative Language and Meaning (asking for the poem's literal meaning and any symbolic meaning). The vocabulary activities require students to match poetic terms to definitions and examples, reinforcing word-meaning connections in poetic contexts.

The Skills section directs students to "Analyze idioms, analogies, metaphors, and similes to infer the literal and figurative meanings of phrases," which requires using surrounding language to determine meaning. Activity questions ask students to read specific lines or stanzas (e.g., "Read the last stanza of 'Poetry'..." and "Read the last two lines of 'Ars Poetica'...") and explain what the author means, prompting interpretation of words and phrases in their textual context. Activity 3 asks students to consider why poets use ellipses and how changing punctuation affects meaning, which requires students to infer function from sentence- or line-level context.

Question #2 directs students to look up the word "deferred" and then reread the poem "Dream Deferred" to interpret the final line, prompting students to combine word meaning with the poem's lines. Several comprehension questions ask students to interpret word choice and effect (for example, analyzing capitalization in the E.E. Cummings poems and asking what techniques make Countee Cullen's poem memorable), requiring students to consider how words function in context. The Parent Plan skills section explicitly states that students will "determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text" and "analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone."

The Parent Plan skills explicitly state that students will "analyze idioms, analogies, metaphors, and similes to infer the literal and figurative meanings of phrases" and "determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings." The unit test and review activities ask students to identify figurative language (e.g., a question asking which device is used in a line from "The Raven") and to explain denotation versus connotation, which require students to interpret word meaning in context.