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Foreword
to Words Are Wonderful
by Andrew Biemiller, Institute of Child Study, University
of Ontario |
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We
have long known that vocabulary is intimately related to reading
comprehension,
and hence to most school learning. Indeed,
Jean Chall argued that testing vocabulary is functionally equivalent
to testing reading comprehension. Chall found the correlation
between the two to be so high that only vocabulary needed be
assessed. There is evidence of the usefulness of teaching children
vocabulary to improve comprehension. Beck and her colleagues
reported significant gains in reading comprehension following
vocabulary instruction in the fifth grade.1 Unfortunately,
relatively few studies of vocabulary instruction have been
implemented for
long enough to have a “real-world” effect. But we
are relatively certain that unless vocabulary instruction and
support are maintained over a period of several years, at-risk
children will achieve relatively few academic gains. With vocabulary
there is no easy way.
At
one time, most educators believed that children would learn
the vocabulary they needed spontaneously
once they had learned to read. Educators also believed that
children with small vocabularies were simply “less intelligent.” Now
we are beginning to realize a number of things:
• that vocabulary differences reflect home learning, especially
before grade three;2
• that although children with both small and large vocabularies
typically gain new root words at about the same rate
after grade two, they already differ by several thousand words;
•
that unless we teachers actively begin to introduce and explain
root words and to acquire skills for extending word meanings,
most at-risk children will never “catch up.”
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Free
ready-to-use lessons for your classroom!
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NEW!Words
Are Wonderful: An Interactive Approach to Vocabulary, Dorothy
Grant Hennings
Recommended for Grades 3–5
This three-part
series is a collaborative, research-based approach to building vocabulary
skills for students in grades 3–5. Words Are Wonderful introduces new
words through challenging reading selections in multiple genres. As students
discover the joy and power of language, they learn to understand and identify
the parts of words—roots, prefixes, and suffixes—and unlock the
meaning of words that are unfamiliar.
The wraparound
Teacher’s Guide for Words Are Wonderful provides reduced
student pages, a wealth of strategies and enrichment activities, as well as
suggestions and activities for students’ individual learning styles.
Words Are
Wonderful features
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Extensive
teaching suggestions in the wraparound teacher’s guide |
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New
words presented in context at the beginning of each lesson |
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Multi-genre
selections drawn
from social studies, geography, science, biography, myths, fables, fairy
tales, and poetry |
| • |
A
comprehensive oral component—students hear, use, and discuss
new words, clap syllables, and read chorally |
| • |
Critical
thinking, discussion, and writing about words and relationships |
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A review
lesson at the end of each unit and a glossary at the end
of the book |
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Writing
Workshop topics |
Book 1 for grade
3 is available now. Book 2 for grade 4 will be available in spring 2003. |
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This
month’s free Lesson Packs are Suffixes:
-sion and -tion for grades 3–4 and Synonyms
and Antonyms for grades 5–6.
Suffixes:
-sion and -tion
[5
page, 68kb Acrobat PDF File] |
Synonyms
and Antonyms
[13
page, 220kb Acrobat PDF File] |
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Lesson
Packsare selections from popular EPS series,
grouped together by skill. They include teaching tips, alignments
with standards, and extensions for use in the classroom.
They are just one component of Lesson Logic, an online service
of EPS.
For more Lesson
Packs, visit www.lessonlogic.com
and sign up for a 30 day free trial! |
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