Vocabulary Virtuoso: Mastering Middle School Vocabulary
Nancy Forderer
Paperback
(The Critical Thinking Co., Aug. 16, 2015)
This 168-page book increases vocabulary, stimulates imagination, and boosts standards-based language arts skills. Each of the fifteen lessons teaches 180 PSAT (Preliminary SAT–a great primer for the SAT) vocabulary words, which are made up of dynamic, real-life words students may encounter while reading or use in their writing.Each lesson contains definitions, pronunciation keys, parts of speech, and alternate choices for each word made up of synonyms, idioms, and/or phrases. Lessons also include a story involving middle school students that introduces language arts concepts such as alliteration, idioms, fallacies in reasoning, foreign words and phrases, mythology, and journalistic writing.Students complete a variety of exercises requiring critical reading and writing skills to contextualize the words. The exercises deliberately use other forms of the words as different parts of speech, so that students learn to recognize these forms as variations of the original words— further expanding their vocabulary and enabling them to use the words in more contexts. The correct spelling of vocabulary words are emphasized with the jumble activity that asks students to unscramble the word before writing the correct spelling.Whether used in the traditional classroom, as a homeschooling resource, or for independent study, Vocabulary Virtuoso is a highly effective and fun vocabulary resource!Middle School Level - 180 Vocabulary Words and These Concepts:alliteration, idioms, fallacies in reasoning, foreign words and phrases, mythology, journalistic writing