dictionary skills: agama lizard
The Grammar Bit!
Learning how to use a dictionary is an important skill – one which you will be very familiar with now that you are in Year 6. Dictionaries can be used to help you understand the meaning of a word and ‘stretch’ your vocabulary. They can also be used to help you spell a word correctly.
Dictionaries are ordered alphabetically with words that begin with A at the front and those that begin with Z at the back. Once you have found the general location of a word in the dictionary, you will need to look at the second, third and sometimes the fourth letters of a word to find its exact location. (Using a dictionary’s guide words, located at the top of each page, will speed up the process of finding the word that you need.)
Read the three scintillating sentences opposite. With your talk partner, use a dictionary to quickly locate one of the words highlighted in bold. How quickly were you able to do this? What is the meaning of this word?
Scintillating Sentences
1) A fly-loving lizard must be judicious when selecting its target.
2) The lion’s patience for the red-headed agama lizard dwindled as his beauty sleep was repeatedly interrupted.
3) Although resolute in his determination to catch the flies, the lizard was sensible enough to know when to quit.
Did you know?
Agama lizards have a well-developed sense of vision, which is used both for hunting prey and for avoiding predators.