27 May 2006 - 17:43

Sadlier Oxford for Grade School Vocabulary

Catherine mentioned in this post that Sadlier Oxford has grade school books for vocabulary improvement -- they are workbooks, labeled for different grades and with different colors for the levels.

We've used these books for Ben... green first, now blue, and soon we'll do orange. They're great! Ben didnt pick up vocabulary from context very well, and so when we started he was perhaps a year or two behind where he should have been. He picked up not only the words themselves from the books -- and he did begin to use them -- but also the habit of learning new vocabulary. Now he has a good vocabulary for his age, and is also able to learn new vocabulary with less effort.

It seems that schools don't teach vocabulary directly any more, so parents do need to step in and do something. Sadlier Oxford is a good choice; the kids can sit down and do the sections largely on their own, with parent input needed mainly in order to correct the kids' work. The levels are excellent, neither too easy nor too hard.

Having watched my husband coach my two stepsons through learning vocabulary for SAT preparation,I also think that getting kids started on the habit of actively acquiring new words when they are preteens is a wise idea. They end up with a better base of vocabulary going into the SAT, for one thing.

Furthermore, the process of drilling on words and using them in context seems downright weird if you've never had to do it before in your life.

-- CarolynJohnston - 27 May 2006

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I'm a HUGE fan of teaching vocabulary directly now. As usually, the "research" (i.e. you can't teach vocabulary directly) is junk.

Thank heavens I figured this out sooner rather than later.

I wish I'd gotten started with these books back when Carolyn did.

-- CatherineJohnson - 27 May 2006

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This is one of those great minds think alike moments - I had just sat down to find the WSJ article on SATs & vocabulary...

(Apparently vocabulary is now much less important to SAT scores, which is good to know.)

I'm still using the VOCABULARY WORKSHOP series. It's great.

-- CatherineJohnson - 27 May 2006

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This book is working great!!

We all learn one word at dinner - lots of fun.

Because the words are big, and there's just one to a page, everyone can see it, learn it, and tell what "photo - graph" means (drawing with light).

The book is ridiculously expensive, unfortunately, given that all you really need is the index cards.

Actually....that's a thought.

You could just buy the index cards from the website, and forget the book.

(I don't have the MOST cognitively flexible brain on the planet...)

-- CatherineJohnson - 27 May 2006

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Here's the website

-- CatherineJohnson - 27 May 2006

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Latin concentration

-- CatherineJohnson - 27 May 2006

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The cards are $10 cheaper than the books.

-- CatherineJohnson - 27 May 2006

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cheaper cards here

-- CatherineJohnson - 27 May 2006

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-- CatherineJohnson - 27 May 2006

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I just noticed....Karen already linked to the article on declining SAT scores (decline from the old test to the new one).

This article says, and Karen confirms, that you can't cram for the new version as well as you could for the old one.

-- CatherineJohnson - 27 May 2006

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I'm going to use the "Wordly Wise 3000" series this summer with Megan. She doesn't pick up vocabulary from context either, and I'm hoping directly teaching vocabulary helps with comprehension.

-- KathyIggy - 27 May 2006

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The PSAT and KTM--

Early last December, I was surfing the net, looking for information about state cutoff scores and somehow I ended up finding both No. 2 Pencil and KTM. I have been a devoted reader ever since!

-- KarenA - 27 May 2006

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Kathy,

What's the Wordly Wise 3000? I'm looking for something for my son and I know he has some similar issues with Megan.

Carolyn,

Do you need the teacher's edition for the Sadler books? I tried to just order both (makes my life easier), but they wanted my teaching certificate to get the teacher's edition. With math I need the answers, but I'm thinking with high school vocabulary I probably don't.

-- SusanS - 27 May 2006

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Kathy

oh wow, that's cool!

-- CatherineJohnson - 27 May 2006

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Susan

You definitely don't need the teacher's edition, and it would be a waste of money to get it.

-- CatherineJohnson - 27 May 2006

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Wordly Wise

It's from EPS, same place that publishes Megawords.

-- CatherineJohnson - 27 May 2006

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sample lesson from Book 9

looks great

Wordly Wise may have more sentence writing than Sadlier; not sure

The Sadlier books are an incredible deal. $9.72 apiece, and you're set.

-- CatherineJohnson - 27 May 2006

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golly, it's kind of horrifying to learn that Wordly Wise 3000 teaches only 3000 words in grades 5 - 12 ....

I think the Sadlier Oxford NCLB document mentioned a figure of 83,000 English language words... (I'm going to check)

-- CatherineJohnson - 27 May 2006

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heck

can't find it

I have no idea how many words there are in the English language; pulled that number out of a hat, I guess.

-- CatherineJohnson - 27 May 2006

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The number of words in English is essentially unknowable.

It depends on the definition of what an English word is, and that's pretty much arbitrary. (Do you include words from organic chemistry? O-Chem is in some ways a language of its own, and is infinitely extensible.)

How many words from other languages do you count? Is "reconnaissance" an English word? How about "sudoku"?

It also changes daily by nearly any definition, since word coinage is easy enough, and common enough, to happen all the time.

So, all that said, you might want to take a look at this page, which cites estimates ranging from 450,000 to 1,000,000.

BTW, the search that found this page was for 'number of words in english language". Creativity is important in these matters. 8-)

-- DougSundseth - 28 May 2006

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SusanS,

You definitely don't need the teacher's edition for the Sadlier-Oxfords -- I can't imagine why a teacher would need them -- it's not an area in which teacher presentation is critical, unlike math. The kids just sit down and do these exercises.

-- CarolynJohnston - 28 May 2006

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Thanks,

I'll cancel it then.

-- SusanS - 28 May 2006

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Hi, Doug!

How on earth did I come up with 83,000???

I'm either reading too much, or too fast.

Safire has a column on the number of English language words today - very cool.

-- CatherineJohnson - 29 May 2006

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I think Hirsch used 60k as the number of words a kid graduating high school knows.

-- KDeRosa - 29 May 2006

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oh Ken, thanks!

Was that an average?

Was it optimal?

Which reminds me....more vocabulary horror stories from the Irvington High School graduate.

He she does not know these words:

academic
hijacking
citizenship
defective

This is a white middle class non-special ed person.

I conclude from this that the Irvington School District does essentially no formative assessment whatsoever...no checking.

This person probably did not have any SAT tutoring; the district is probably relying on SAT tutors to fill-in vocabulary deficits.

-- CatherineJohnson - 29 May 2006