Word Power (Vocabulary Enrichment Activities, Grades 5-6)

This book is one of a series of five vocabulary enrichment texts created to add word power by expanding the working vocabularies of young readers and writers. Each book contains 22 new word activities and three, two-page review lessons. Each activity presents three new, challenging, and useful words for students at the designated grade. The content is of value to a wide range of students providing flexibility for use in grades above or below those for which each book was primarily intended.

This series is unique in its approach to vocabulary selection. Teacher-authors use grade-appropriate children’s literature (see book lists in Teaching Guide) as sources for the basic word pool. The words recognized as above-level by ordinary readability standards provide a core of potentially useful words for vocabulary enrichment. Lessons combine the core words with related words—often a synonym and

an antonym—to create a reasonable and practical learning environment. Words are then introduced in mini-stories for motivation, context clues, and maximum reinforcement of meaning.