Signal Word Sleuths

This worksheet trains students to recognize signal words that indicate how a text is organized. Learners read brief passages, identify and highlight the key words that show relationships between ideas, and then determine the corresponding text structure. By focusing on words like because, both, next, or for example, students learn to detect whether a passage follows a cause/effect, compare/contrast, chronological, problem/solution, or descriptive pattern. This activity promotes active reading, enhances analytical thinking, and builds vocabulary awareness of structural cues that improve comprehension of nonfiction texts.

Curriculum Matched Skills

English Language Arts – Reading Informational Text: Analyze Text Structures

English Language Arts – Vocabulary Acquisition: Signal and Transition Words

English Language Arts – Reading Comprehension: Author’s Organization and Purpose

English Language Arts – Critical Thinking: Contextual Inference

This worksheet is part of our Identifying Text Structures collection.