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Description and Opinions
Product Description: Bringing Words to Life has enlivened the classrooms of hundreds of thousands of teachers. Responding to readers' success stories, practical questions, and requests for extended examples, this ideal volume picks up where Bringing Words to Life left off. The authors present additional tools, tips, and detailed explanations of such questions as which words to teach, when and how to teach them, and how to adapt instruction for English language learners. They provide specific instructional sequences, including assessments, for grades K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12, as well as interactive lesson planning resources. Invaluable appendices feature a quick-reference menu of instructional activities and a comprehensive list of children's books and stories with suggested Tier Two words for study.
So much fun!  This book, and the first one, are just fabulous. I used them to make a "vocabulary" unit for my 1st graders, based off of the first Magic Treehouse book. The students have latched on to the new words so much that anytime I read one in another context, say a read aloud, the kids shriek with glee-- no kidding. My first graders are happily using words like "muttered", "glance", "peer", "boldly", "cautiously", and more.
I love that the vocabulary instruction has made a huge impact, yet most days I didn't spend more than 5-10 minutes a day on it. (I mixed in some longer days here and there as well.) The instruction is SO FUN and not dull at all.
The only negative thing is that the lessons take a long time to plan and are implemented so quickly. In other words, it takes way longer to write a lesson than to implement it. That being said, these are lessons I will use year after year. If you've read this book and could use my Magic Treehouse Dinosaurs Before Dark unit, leave me a comment with your e-mail and I'll get it to you.
It would be ideal do have a few teachers write a few different unit studies and then share them.
Anyway, if you couldn't tell already, I just love this book, as it is one that REALLY HAS made an impact on my classroom teaching instead of just sitting on my shelf. (I have way too many of those!)
Oh, last thing-- while I am writing from the perspective of a 1st grade teacher, this book is relevant all the way up through high school.
Cutting Edge  If you want to know how to make your vocabulary instruction effective, regardless of age level, this is the book you need to read and use. Examples included. |