CUR 566 - Vocabulary Gateway to Expression: Books

Exciting and engaging vocabulary instruction can set students on the path to a lifelong fascination with words. This book provides a research-based framework and practical strategies for vocabulary development with children from the earliest grades through high school. The authors emphasize instruction that offers rich information about words and their uses and enhances students' language comprehension and production. Teachers are guided in selecting words for instruction; developing student-friendly explanations of new words; creating meaningful learning activities; and getting students involved in thinking about, using, and noticing new words both within and outside the classroom. Many concrete examples, sample classroom dialogues, and exercises for teachers bring the material to life. Helpful appendices include suggestions for trade books that help children enlarge their vocabulary and/or have fun with different aspects of words.

This practical book presents an array of research-based instructional strategies for use with struggling readers in the upper-elementary and middle grades. It is filled with proven ideas for engaging students and developing the key components of successful reading: vocabulary, comprehension, word recognition, and fluency. Each chapter reviews techniques for working on specific skills, provides needed materials and teacher-friendly instructional tips, and lists suggestions for further reading. The book's utility is enhanced by its convenient 8½" x 11" format and numerous reproducible charts, graphic organizer templates, and activities.

Children's speaking, reading, and writing skills are closely connected, and this engaging text guides pre-service and practicing teachers in choosing instructional strategies that promote the integrated development of these skills.

Your students may recognize words like determine, analyze, and distinguish, but do they understand these words well enough to quickly and completely answer a standardized test question? For example, can they respond to a question that says "determine the point of view of John Adams in his Letter on Thomas Jefferson' and analyze how he distinguishes his position from an alternative approach articulated by Thomas Jefferson"? Students from kindergarten to 12th grade can learn to compare and contrast, to describe and explain, if they are taught these words explicitly. Marilee Sprenger has curated a list of the critical words students must know to be successful with the Common Core State Standards and any other standardized assessment they encounter. Fun strategies such as jingles, movements, and graphic organizers will engage students and make learning these critical words enjoyable and effective. Learning the critical vocabulary will help your students with testing and college and career readiness, and will equip them with confidence in reading, writing, and speaking. Marilee Sprenger is also the author of How to Teach So Students Remember, Learning and Memory, and Brain-Based Teaching in the Digital Age.

Understanding a text requires more than the ability to read individual words: it depends greatly on vocabulary knowledge. This text brings together leading literary scholars to synthesize cutting-edge research on vocabulary development and its connections to reading comprehension.

Researchers identify & discuss the multiple components of effective vocabulary instruction. New ideas for designing curricula & providing experiences that help students of all ages & skill levels gain access to the meanings of words that they need are outlined.