Word Web Vocabulary

I bet that headline got your attention! Perhaps I overstated a bit, but many of Word Web’s words do crop up with regularity in newspaper headlines. Actually, during my ten years as Head of The Banner School, teachers there claimed that once I chose vocabulary words, the world fell in line with them.

This was an example of awakened awareness, a big help in the learning process. Of course, I had no way of knowing what words were about to pop up in the news, but I believe that I did (and still do) know that having a good vocabulary helps to explain and understand what’s going on in the world.

For instance, this week alone, when I read the newspaper, two examples of anti- (Volume I, Lesson 9) capture my attention. The first was, “Antiwar organizers plan major D.C. protest,” while the second was, “Security Council weighs antiterror resolution.” I want to bring them into my classroom, but since it doesn’t exist any more, I’d like you to take them to yours when similar headlines catch your attention! I believe that these Periodical Pearls provide relevancy to the teaching of language, especially when students look through the daily paper and find them.

In the same newspaper in reference to the disastrous situation in New Orleans, a headline proclaimed, “Rescue work hampered; water abating.” Abate is the Wicked Word of the Week in Lesson 5, Volume I. On the next page, I found, “Multifaith service slated at Trinity Church,” multi- being a prefix in Lesson 8, Volume II. The sports page proclaimed, “Concern shown for Celtics patriarch,” Lesson 29, Volume II.

I also continue to uncover words I left out of various lessons, so I’m asking you to add these to their appropriate places in your teacher’s guide for Volume I: (Lesson 9) antimatter; antigravity; (for advanced students, Lesson 10); add malicious to malice. For the “-ette” suffix (Lesson 17), I keep bumping into many more of these “little” words: Bernadette (little Bernard), launderette (little laundry), bathinette, bassinet (small cradle), brunette (brownish — maybe “little brown”?), marionette (a small figure of a person operated from above with strings by a puppeteer), banquet, palette (from Old French, small potter's shovel, diminutive of pale, shovel, spade).

For Volume I, Lesson 11, please append these additional answers for Think Link #22 (What adjectives describe the terrain near your house?) Answers will vary but should contain words like hilly, rolling, sandy, flat, rocky, harsh, muddy, rugged, level, (un)familiar, (un)even, slippery, impenetrable, broken, unbroken, unforgiving, tough, stark, unknown, dangerous, steep, uncharted, varied, diverse, mountainous, hazardous, undulating, urban, rural, new, strange, unexplored.

You can be sure that I’ll be updating words all year long. But what I’d really like, is for you to send me words as you and your students uncover them! And please contact me (emiller@seepub.com) with questions or comments. I'd love to know how you are making out with Word Web and how your students are doing!

And remember, Word Web Vocabulary is not a word for a day. It’s many words for a lifetime!

Visit Word Web Vocabulary at the October ASCD Conference in San Francisco.
We'll see you at Booth 409!

Word Web Vocabulary - recommended on Heidi Hayes-Jacobs' website, moving vocabulary from the edge of language arts to its center

WORD WEB VOCABULARY MAKES NATIONAL HEADLINES