Lesson length30 min 45 min 60 min

Questions🔀 New questions

Print the plan for yourself; the student sheet prints on its own page after it.

English lesson plan · 3rd grade (Year 4 in England) · 45 minutes

Word meaning in a text

Reading Comprehension

CCSS RL.3.4CCSS RI.3.4England: Y3/4 Reading (vocabulary)England: KS2 SATs ReadingEngland: 11+ English

Objective and success criteria

Students will: Word meaning in a text.

I can answer questions on today's skill on my own, without help.
I can explain each step and say why it works.
I can check my answer and spot a mistake.

Before and after

Needs first: Using context clues

Leads to: the next skill in this area.

Materials: A short text or extract (one copy each), Highlighters, Question cards, Mini whiteboards, A short model text on the board, Printed student sheet (below).

Warm-up · 5 min

Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Using context clues). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

Use the clues in the sentence. What does the word in brackets mean? We had to postpone the match because of the storm, so we will play next week. (postpone) (put off until later / watch on TV / win easily / cancel forever) → put off until laterPrompt: Look at the other words in the sentence. What do they tell you?
Use context clues. What does the word in brackets most likely mean? The teacher's admonition — "Never run near the pool!" — made us slow down. (admonition) (reward / warning / joke / question) → warningPrompt: Look for signal words: unlike, despite, so…that, a colon or dash that explains.
Use the clues in the sentence. What does the word in brackets mean? The timid kitten hid behind the sofa when visitors came. (timid) (fierce / playful / shy and nervous / hungry) → shy and nervousPrompt: Look at the other words in the sentence. What do they tell you?

Hook · 5 min

Read the first lines of a short text aloud and ask what students predict will happen and why.
Share the objective: Word meaning in a text. Read the success criteria together.

I do: model it · 10 min

Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
Example: The giant tortoise is ancient. Some live for more than 150 years. What does "ancient" mean here?
Step 1: The words around an unfamiliar word help show its meaning.
Step 2: So the answer is: very old
Answer: very old
Pause after each step and ask a student to say what comes next.

We do: guided practice · 10 min

Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.

Our team was victorious. We won the final by three goals! What does "victorious" mean? (late / having lost / tired / having won) → having wonPrompt: Find the word in the text and read the whole sentence around it.
The giant tortoise is ancient. Some live for more than 150 years. What does "ancient" mean here? (very old / very slow / very rare / very large) → very oldPrompt: Find the word in the text and read the whole sentence around it.

You do: independent practice · 10 min

Students work on the student sheet. Circulate and check the first two answers of every student early.
Students who finish: write a question of their own for a partner, with the answer.

The 8 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.

Exit ticket · 5 min

Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.

The path was slippery after the rain, so we walked cautiously, holding the rail. What does "cautiously" mean? (happily / loudly / carefully / quickly) → carefullyPrompt: Find the word in the text and read the whole sentence around it.

Watch out for

Answering from memory or opinion instead of evidence in the text.
Copying a long quote without explaining what it shows.

Support and stretch

Support

Review first: Using context clues.
Use concrete materials: a short text or extract (one copy each).
Give the first step of each question, or a partly worked example to finish.
Pair with a confident partner for the guided practice.

Stretch

Explain a common mistake in writing and how to fix it.
Write a word problem that uses today's skill, then solve a partner's.

Homework and more practice

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/english/grade-3.

Free lesson plan from eurekami.com/lesson-plan-builder

eurekami

Word meaning in a text

Name

Date

Score/ 8

The Four-Day Week: Promise and Pitfalls

In recent years, a growing number of companies have experimented with a four-day working week, in which employees work about 80 per cent of their usual hours for 100 per cent of their pay, on the condition that they maintain their output. Supporters argue that the model could transform working life. Critics warn that its benefits may be exaggerated. The most widely reported trials have produced striking results. In one large study involving several dozen organisations, most companies chose to continue the four-day week after the trial ended. Employees reported less stress, better sleep and fewer days off sick, while company revenue remained broadly stable. For businesses struggling to recruit, the promise of an extra day off can be a powerful attraction. Yet these findings come with important caveats. Companies that volunteer for such trials may already be enthusiastic about flexible working and well suited to it. Their success may not be representative of all workplaces. Moreover, many of the participating organisations were offices or creative businesses, where output is relatively easy to reorganise. In hospitals, schools or factories, where staff must be present to deliver a service, reducing hours without hiring more people may simply be impossible. There are also questions about what happens in the long term. Early enthusiasm can fade, and the pressure to fit five days of work into four may eventually lead to longer, more intense working days, cancelling out the benefits to wellbeing. None of this means the idea should be dismissed. It does suggest that the four-day week is less a universal solution than a tool that may suit some sectors far better than others. The challenge for policymakers is to learn from the trials without assuming that what worked for a marketing agency will work for an emergency ward.

1
Question 1
Read "The Four-Day Week: Promise and Pitfalls". As used in paragraph 3, "caveats" most nearly means…
- A. agreements
- B. statistics
- C. rewards
- D. warnings or limitations

Lady Montagu and the Smallpox Gamble

In the early eighteenth century, smallpox was one of the most feared diseases in Europe. It killed around three in every ten people it infected and left many survivors scarred or blind. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu knew its cruelty personally: the disease had killed her brother and marked her own face. In 1717, while living in Constantinople (now Istanbul), where her husband was the British ambassador, she observed a remarkable practice. Local women would take a small amount of material from a mild smallpox sore and scratch it into the skin of a healthy person. The person usually developed a mild illness and was then protected for life. This process was called variolation. Montagu was so impressed that she had her young son variolated. When she returned to England, she campaigned to spread the practice, despite fierce opposition. Some doctors resented being taught by a woman; others distrusted a practice from abroad. To win public confidence, Montagu had her daughter variolated in front of physicians from the royal court. Variolation was not without risk: a small number of patients developed severe smallpox, and they could infect others. Decades later, in 1796, Edward Jenner developed a safer method using cowpox, a related but much milder disease. His method, called vaccination after the Latin word for cow, gradually replaced variolation. Smallpox was declared eradicated worldwide in 1980. Jenner is often called the father of vaccination, but the story began with the courage of a woman who noticed what others had overlooked.

2
Question 2
Read "Lady Montagu and the Smallpox Gamble". What does "eradicated" mean in the final paragraph?
- A. made more dangerous
- B. completely wiped out
- C. spread widely
- D. discovered

Pepper's First Week: A Diary

Saturday. Today we collected Pepper from the rescue centre. She is a skinny brown dog with one floppy ear and one ear that stands straight up. In the car, she shook the whole way home, and I held her blanket so she could smell it. I felt nervous too. Sunday. Pepper hid behind the sofa all day. Mum says rescue dogs sometimes need time to trust people because they do not know what is going to happen next. I lay on the floor and read my comic out loud so she could get used to my voice. Tuesday. A breakthrough! When I got back from school, Pepper crept out and sniffed my shoes. Then she licked my hand. I stayed completely still, although I wanted to cheer. Thursday. We went to the park on her lead. A bicycle rang its bell, and Pepper jumped behind my legs. I knelt down and talked to her calmly until her tail started wagging again. Friday. Tonight Pepper fell asleep with her head on my foot. I didn't move for an hour, even though my foot went numb. I think she has decided she lives here now.

3
Question 3
Read "Pepper's First Week: A Diary". On Tuesday the writer says, "A breakthrough!" What does breakthrough mean here?
- A. an important step forward after waiting
- B. a bad surprise
- C. a hole in a wall
- D. something that broke

How Bees Make Honey

Honey bees are busy insects. They live together in a home called a hive. One hive can hold thousands of bees. Worker bees fly from flower to flower. They suck up a sweet juice called nectar with their long tongues. They carry the nectar back to the hive in a special part of their body called a honey stomach. Back at the hive, the bees pass the nectar to other bees. These bees put it into tiny six-sided rooms made of wax. The nectar is still runny, so the bees fan it with their wings. This dries it out and turns it thick and sticky. Now it is honey! Last, the bees cover each room with a wax lid. The honey is saved for the winter, when there are no flowers.

4
Question 4
Read "How Bees Make Honey". What is nectar?
- A. a bee's home
- B. a type of insect
- C. a sweet juice from flowers
- D. a kind of wax

From Egg to Frog

A frog starts life as a tiny egg in a pond. The eggs stick together in a soft, wobbly clump. A small tadpole hatches from each egg. A tadpole has a long tail. It swims in the water and breathes with gills, just like a fish. The tadpole eats and grows. Soon it grows back legs. Then it grows front legs. Its tail gets shorter and shorter. At last, the tail is gone. Now it is a frog! The frog can hop on land and swim in the pond. It breathes air with its lungs. It catches flies with its long, sticky tongue. One day, the frog may lay eggs of its own. Then the life cycle starts all over again.

5
Question 5
Read "From Egg to Frog". The text says the eggs are "wobbly". What does wobbly mean?
- A. very hot
- B. very loud
- C. hard and still
- D. shaky and not firm

Rethinking Screen Time

Few debates generate as much anxiety among parents as the question of screen time. Headlines warn that smartphones are "destroying a generation", while technology companies insist that their products connect and empower young people. The truth, as so often, is more complicated than either side admits. Part of the problem is that "screen time" is a crude measure. An hour spent video-calling a grandparent, coding a game or researching a school project is not the same as an hour spent scrolling through an endless feed of short videos. Researchers increasingly argue that what young people do on screens matters more than how long they spend on them. That said, quantity is not irrelevant. Several large studies have linked very heavy use – more than five or six hours a day of recreational screen time – to poorer sleep and lower wellbeing. Screens can displace other activities that support health: exercise, face-to-face friendship and, crucially, sleep. Light from devices and the stimulation of social media late at night can delay sleep for teenagers, whose body clocks already push them towards later bedtimes. It is worth noting, however, that most of these studies show correlation, not causation. Teenagers who are already unhappy may turn to their phones more, rather than their phones making them unhappy. Untangling cause and effect is notoriously difficult. What, then, should families do? Rather than fixating on a single number, experts suggest asking three questions. Is screen use getting in the way of sleep? Is it crowding out exercise and real-world relationships? And does the young person feel in control of it, or controlled by it? If the answers are reassuring, the exact number of minutes may matter less than we fear.

6
Question 6
Read "Rethinking Screen Time". In paragraph 3, "displace" most nearly means…
- A. explain
- B. speed up
- C. take the place of
- D. improve

Inside a Volcano

Deep beneath our feet, the Earth is extremely hot – hot enough to melt rock. This melted rock is called magma. Because magma is lighter than the solid rock around it, it slowly rises upward. Sometimes it collects in a huge underground pool called a magma chamber. A volcano forms where magma finds a way to the surface. When the pressure in the magma chamber becomes too great, the magma bursts out through cracks or vents. Once it reaches the surface, it is called lava. Over time, layers of cooled lava and ash can build up to form a mountain. Most volcanoes are found near the edges of tectonic plates, the giant slabs of rock that make up the Earth's outer layer. More than half of the world's active volcanoes surround the Pacific Ocean, in a horseshoe-shaped zone known as the Ring of Fire. Scientists sort volcanoes into three groups. Active volcanoes have erupted recently and could erupt again. Dormant volcanoes have not erupted for a very long time but might wake up in the future. Extinct volcanoes are not expected to erupt ever again. Although eruptions can be deadly, volcanoes also bring benefits. Volcanic ash breaks down into rich soil, which is why many farms are found on the slopes of old volcanoes. In some countries, such as Iceland, the heat from underground is used to warm homes and produce electricity.

7
Question 7
Read "Inside a Volcano". What is the difference between magma and lava?
- A. Magma is underground; lava has reached the surface.
- B. Lava is underground; magma is on the surface.
- C. They are two different kinds of ash.
- D. Magma is cold; lava is hot.

The Mapmaker's Apprentice

Ines had worked in Master Corvo's shop for three years, and in all that time he had never let her draw a single line on a real map. She ground his inks, stretched his parchment and swept up the shavings from his quills. When she asked why she could not draw, he only said, "A mapmaker must first learn to see." So Ines watched. She watched sailors come in, sunburnt and impatient, to buy charts of the southern coast. She watched merchants argue over which mountain pass was fastest. Most of all, she watched Master Corvo, who spent far longer listening to travellers than he did holding his pen. One winter morning, a fisherman stumbled into the shop, soaked and shaking. A storm had pushed his boat far north, past the edge of every chart in the city. He had found a narrow channel between two islands that no map showed, and it had saved his life. Master Corvo was in bed with a fever. The fisherman was leaving on the evening tide. Ines hesitated only for a moment. Then she sat the fisherman by the fire and asked him questions — not just where the channel was, but how the water changed colour near the rocks, where the gulls gathered, how long it took to row from one island to the other. She wrote down every answer. Only when she had heard everything did she pick up a pen. When Master Corvo recovered, she laid the new chart in front of him. He studied it for a long time without speaking. Then he took his own pen, signed his name in the corner, and beneath it, for the first time, he wrote hers.

8
Question 8
Read "The Mapmaker's Apprentice". What does Master Corvo mean by "A mapmaker must first learn to see"?
- A. A mapmaker should travel to every place.
- B. A mapmaker must learn to observe and gather information carefully.
- C. A mapmaker needs very good eyesight.
- D. Ines needs glasses.

Free from eurekami.com

for the adult only

Answer key: Word meaning in a text

1. D. warnings or limitations
2. B. completely wiped out
3. A. an important step forward after waiting
4. C. a sweet juice from flowers
5. D. shaky and not firm
6. C. take the place of
7. A. Magma is underground; lava has reached the surface.
8. B. A mapmaker must learn to observe and gather information carefully.