What's Taught

teacher holding Words in Action picture card

Social and academic learning flourish when they are integrated naturally, rather than pursued separately. During Words in Action lessons, the students discuss texts and vocabulary words in pairs and as a class, and as they work together, they develop caring and respectful relationships, creating a safe and supportive classroom environment conducive to sharing their thinking. Social development objectives are integrated into each week’s lessons along with the academic ones. As the students build their vocabulary, they also learn to work together, fostering their growth as caring, collaborative, and principled people. 

Vocabulary Selection

By using words from real books, students are learning words in context. Our developers chose Tier II words that include vivid verbs, adjectives, and adverbs for use in writing to replace overused words; words with multiple meanings; words with prefixes, suffixes, and Latin roots (in upper grades); and words that are compelling for students to learn and use in multiple content areas.

Independent Word-learning Strategies

Students learn the meanings of words and use those words in context. As they progress through the program, they learn to recognize synonyms, antonyms, idioms, shades of meaning, and words with multiple meanings; use context clues, prefixes, suffixes, and Latin roots to determine word meanings; and analyze compound words. Each strategy is introduced through discussion of a vocabulary word.

The following strategies are taught at each grade level:

Kindergarten

  • Recognizing synonyms
  • Recognizing antonyms
  • Recognizing shades of meaning
  • Recognizing words with multiple meanings
  • Using inflectional endings

Grade 1

  • Using context to determine word meanings
  • Recognizing synonyms
  • Recognizing antonyms
  • Recognizing shades of meaning
  • Recognizing words with multiple meanings
  • Using inflectional endings

Grade 2

  • Using knowledge of compound words to determine meanings
  • Using context to determine word meanings
  • Using the prefixes un- and re- to determine word meanings
  • Using the suffixes -er and -y to determine word meanings
  • Recognizing synonyms
  • Recognizing antonyms
  • Recognizing shades of meaning
  • Recognizing words with multiple meanings

Integration with the Common Core State Standards

The Common Core State Standards were one of the primary tools our developers used to identify independent word-learning strategies in the program. In accordance with the standards, the program develops in students the ability to use "formal English in their writing and speaking [and] make informed, skillful choices among the many ways to express themselves through language."1

Support for teachers includes a full correlation of the CCSS to the program, and alerts in the Teacher's Manual the first time a CCSS strategy is formally taught and reviewed.

Social Skills and Values

Social development objectives are provided each week. The week’s lessons include questions, activities, and cooperative structures that target the objectives.

Following are the social skills emphasized in the program in grades K–2*:

  • Listening carefully
  • Taking turns talking and listening
  • Sharing their thinking
  • Sharing their partner’s thinking
  • Giving one another time to think
  • Speaking clearly
  • Looking at the person who is talking during whole-class discussions
  • Contributing ideas that are different from other people’s ideas during whole-class discussions

Notes

  1. Common Core State Standards Initiative, "Key Points in English Language Arts," http://www.corestandards.org/about-the-standards/key-points-in-english-language-arts (accessed June 2, 2011).

* Grades 3–6 will be available Summer 2012.