Explain that the alphabet is the key to the organization of the dictionary. While fourth-graders know the alphabet, alphabetizing not just with letters but with words might be confusing to some students. Make a list of words all starting with the same letter, such as "cat," "color," "cunning," "calculate" and "cent." Ask them to put the words in alphabetical order. Do this with lists of words starting with other letters, such as "dent," "damage," "dandelion" and "door." After they correctly put the words in order, have them look up the words in the dictionary. List pairs of words, such as "tree" and "ten," "flower" and "food," "book" and "blocks." Ask students to look in the dictionary to find which word should come first in the alphabet as well as in the dictionary.
Explain to the students that a dictionary helps them spell words accurately. Provide a list of words from the dictionary. Use words with different starting letters and words with which the fourth-graders aren't that familiar. These may include words such as "system," "voyage," "crossroad," "distribution," "former" and "wayfarer." List the words with a letter or two out of place, but not the first three letters. The words might look as follows: "voygeag," "crossrdoa," "distributoin," "formre" and "wayafrer." Don't mix up the letters so much that you discourage your students. Have them use the dictionary to put the words in alphabetical order and find out how to spell them correctly.
Provide a list of 10 words most of your fourth-graders do not know, such as, possibly, "grate" and "transverse." Have students look up the words and write down the meaning or meanings of the words. Ask them to use the words in sentences. Discuss those words that show several meanings. Ask the students to write sentences using the word in proper context of each meaning listed. Ask students to write a poem or paragraph using the word in the proper context.
A dictionary reveals the roots or ancestry of a word. Ask the fourth-graders to choose five words and trace their roots. Have them show the country or origin and word or words from which they were derived. If the word is a combination of elements, show how these pieces all fit together from the roots to become the word with the contemporary meaning. Words might be old English, French or Latin. They might be derived from foreign words of phrases. Have students speculate how the words came to be included in the American language.