alphabetizing, guide words, and the dictionary grade 4 2013-2014

Alphabetizing, Guide Words, and the Dictionary

Grade 4 2013-2014

Why alphabetize?

to ORGANIZE lists!

Why is this important?

to locate information easily!

What can we alphabetize?•names of people in a list, names of people in a telephone directory

• words in a dictionary• titles of books, authors in a card catalogue

• other things we file/ organize

How do we alphabetize?

• arrange the first letters alphabetically (a, b, c, d, e…)

Examples: Boco, Ludy appoint Dimakiling, Izia commission Garcia, Vanessa occasion Rosanes, Ayen recommend

• if the first letters are the same, use the second letter!

ex. arrange and apply Which should be first?

Answer: apply should be first, then arrange because “p” is first in the alphabet

• if the second and/or the third and/or fourth letters are the same, use the next letters!

Example: Which comes first?

apply or application?

Answer: application! Because “i” comes first before “y”

Arrange the following words alphabetically:

1. bicycle, blood, battle, branch, between

Answer: battlebetweenbicyclebloodbranch

2. half, harbor, hail, hamburger, habitat

Answer: habitathailhalfhamburgerharbor

3. marvelous, marble, marine, market, mark

Answer: marblemarinemarkmarketmarvelous

4. postpone, postage, posture, posterity, postcard

Answer: postagepostcardposteritypostponeposture

5. corner, counter, clock, composition, compliment

Answer: clockcomplimentcompositioncornercounter

1.fireforest flipflair

2. trip travel trooper tripod

3. thrum thrush threw thrust

4. worm world worry worship

5. indelible indeed indecisive independent

When you know how to alphabetize….

• you can easily find words in the dictionary

• you can easily organize your lists and find information easily

Besides alphabetizing, looking at the guide words will help you find words in the dictionary easily!

Where do you find the guide words?

On TOP of the page!

Guide words are found at the top of each page. They tell you the first and last word that is found on that page.

How do these words on top of the page “guide” you?

The guide words come in pairs (2). The 1st word tells you the first word on that page, and the 2nd word tells you the last word.

Example:

If the guide words on top of the page are fish-flicker

On that page, you will see words like: fist, flame, flat, flea… (words between fish and flicker)

You will NOT see: fire (because “r” is before “s”), float (“o” is after “i”)

Practice: What words are on the page given the following guide words:

1. child- chlorophyll ___ chimney ___ chorus ___ chirp ___ chief

2. impress - incorrect ___ image ___ improve ___ indent ___ include

3. rain - rattle ___ race ___ rake ___ ratio ___ raven

Dictionary Definitions

What do they mean?

How is a Dictionary Organized

?

Let us take the definition of the word flag:

flag (flag)

1. noun A piece of cloth with a pattern or symbol of a country, an organization, etc.

2. verb To stop, or to signal. We flagged down the police officer.

flag (flag)

1. noun A piece of cloth with a pattern or symbol of a country, an organization, etc.

2. verb To stop, or to signal. We flagged down the police officer.

The word being defined is followed by the pronunciation in parenthesis.

flag (flag)

1. noun A piece of cloth with a pattern or symbol of a country, an organization, etc.

2. verb To stop, or to signal. We flagged down the police officer.

The first word tells the word’s part of speech

1. noun A piece of cloth with a pattern or symbol of a country, an organization, etc.

2. verb To stop, or to signal. We flagged down the police officer.

The next section is the actual definition of the word.

1. noun A piece of cloth with a pattern or symbol of a country, an organization, etc.

2. verb To stop, or to signal. We flagged down the police officer.

Finally, you might see a sentence showing how the word is used. Especially if the use is not the most common for the word.