OLYMPIC VOCABULARY
[Learned through Sentence Context]
1st - 2nd 3rd - 4th 5th - 6th 7th - 9th grades 10th - 12 grades
grades grades grades [SSAT / ISSE] [SAT / ACT]
Five levels of Vocabulary in Sentence Context studybooks are available for academic and personal enrichment. Created and developed by English teachers in the U.S.
All five levels are desktop published (8 1/2 x 11, spiral bound in heavy card stock).
INTRODUCTORY NOTES
1
Regarding the Central Importance of Vocabulary
Everyone knows the importance of a broad vocabulary for young and old alike. And regarding students, in particular, I'm sure everyone would agree that the greatest tools we can give students for succeeding, not only in their education, but more generally in life, is an expansive, rich vocabulary and the skills for using those words. Our ability to function effectively in today’s complex social and economic worlds depends largely on our language skills and word knowledge.
2
Regarding Vocabulary and Students
Without a strong vocabulary, students find it difficult to comprehend their textbook material; and so frustration, loss of interest, and despair, eventually prevent them from keeping up in school.
A wide vocabulary is critical to reading success, since comprehension improves when students know the meaning of many words; and since comprehension is the basic goal of reading, we cannot overestimate the importance and value of vocabulary development.
An increased vocabulary, therefore, improves overall academic aptitude, reading comprehension, critical thinking and problem solving skills.
3
Regarding Olympic Vocabulary
There are numerous vocabulary building books on the market, and they all have their own special value, so long as students are willing to study hundreds of word definitions and sentences, and put forth the effort of memorizing them by rote either through flash cards, category word groupings, or some form or other of mnemonics.
Simply memorizing word defintions can be tedious and even counterproductive inasmuch as memori- zation gives only a superficial retention that is easily forgotten if familiarty of the word definitions is not reinforced by repetition.
Of course, memorization of word defintions is necessary for retention; but, without an understanding of a word and its definition by thinking through them, there is merely a familiarity, a knowing of them. For example, I may know that an acute angle is an angle less than 90 degrees simply by familiarity with the actual word and its definition without understanding the concepts underlying either the word to be defined or its definition, or again, the relationship between the word "acute" and its definition, "an angle less than 90 degrees." So, to memorize this word and its definition simply by knowing, that is, without understanding them is like memorizing a shadow of their meaning, similar to memorizing words of a foreign language without
In our extensive research over the years of available vocabulary books, we can truly say that no book on the market teaches vocabulary development through sentence context; that is to say, through exercises that require students to think through the context of the sentence in order to derive the correct definition of a given word.
The Olympic Vocabulary series fills this gap.
Olympic Vocabulary is an original and unique study method that increases students' vocabulary level through sentence context.
The purpose of these exercises is to train students through critical thinking to grasp the meaning of unfamiliar words through the context, or meaning, of the sentence as a whole. This training facilitates not only retentive vocabulary development, but the ability to read for contextual meaning in one's whole reading experience.
This study method teaches students to understand the meaning of new words rather than merely memorizing them. By combining both understanding and memorizing new words meanings, students experience a challenging and effective vocabulary development.
This method of vocabulary building through sentence context is especially essential to students who are basically non-readers, and so have a low vocabulary range. Increasing vocabulary through reading a variety of interesting sentences can be for students (and nonstudents) a first step to being better able to read textbooks and other books at their grade level.
In brief, Olympic Vocabulary studybook series is an essential key to world-class reading skills.
The efficacy of this method has been proven over an over again by orally testing students' retention of the learned words. The definitions they cannot recall is remedied by reading to them the word in the familar sentence in which they learned the word's meaning; and 90% of the time once having read them the sentence, they are able to recall the word's definition.
SAMPLES
This level covers 725 1st -2nd grade vocabulary words in their conversational sentences' context.
Sentence and paragraph writing assignments are available at the back of the studybook.
[NOTE] This level does not include, as the other 4 levels do, definitions, since students will be mostly orally familiar with the words. The main point of this study is for students to transform their oral familiarity of word meanings to a literate familiarity.
The study procedure of this Olympic Vocabulary level is straightforward inasmuch as students read each incomplete sentence and fill in the blank with the appropriate word selected from the word list at the left hand column.
The following examples of context clues will introduce students to finding words from the context of sentences.
How long have you been _______________ from school?
CONTEXT CLUES: “from” school / You cannot be “at” school if you are “from” it. so, you are away from school, you are not there. From this reasoning, the correct word that completes the sentence from the 10-word list would be: absent.
Look ___________________ at the floating clouds.
CONTEXT CLUES: “look” and “clouds” / Where would you look to see clouds?
From this reasoning, the correct word that completes the sentence from the 10-word list would be: above.
Don't go _______________ mad.
CONTEXT CLUES: “go” and “mad” / Where would you go if you were mad? From this reasoning, the correct word that completes the sentence from the 10-word list would be: away.
____________________
It is advisable that the teacher, first, have students read aloud the word list before they begin filling in the blanks; and second, have students read aloud the completed sentences with the correct rhythm.
SAMPLE VOCABULARY PAGE
ANSWER KEY
SET 1: 4 2 6 8 3 9 10 1 5 7
SET 2: 15 19 18 12 16 11 20 13 15 17
SAMPLE SENTENCE & PARAGRAPH WRITING ASSIGNMENT
WRITING INSTRUCTIONS:
NOTE: Depending upon the particular student, or class dynamics, these writing exercises can be optional.
After completing 2 vocabulary sets, students are to turn to the back of their studybook, and complete the two following writing assignments: For the first 2 sets (SETS 1 & 2), students are to choose any three of the vocabulary words, write each one in its blank, then write an original sentence -- with the meaning of each word as part of their sentence idea. For the next 2 vocabulary sets (SETS 3 & 4), students are to choose any three of the vocabulary words, and write a short paragraph. This paragraph can be in the form of a story, a letter, a dialogue, a factual report, a description, a situation, or a poem. Have students write a title for their paragraph.
The FIFTH AND SIXTH sets, repeat this sentence-paragraph pattern, and so on, alternately.
Optional
Level B of Olympic Vocabulary consists of 1080 vocabulary words in sentences formatted in 76 sets consisting of 10 words in each set.
This level covers 1080 1st -2nd grade vocabulary words in their conversational sentences' context.
The main purpose of this Vocabulary in Context vocabulary study is to prepare students in the 3rd and 4th grade, as well as ESL and remedial students, to (1) learn the meaning of words through the context of their use in a sentence, and (2) make fine distinctions between the various shades of meaning of a word, through varying definitions of that word, and as the word is used as different parts of speech.
Two examples of these distinctions are exemplified by the following two words from the exercises:
(1)
ache (Ak)
__ I had a stomach ache after eating too much.
[is a word that names an idea - a noun]
__ My muscles ached after doing my exercises for the first time.
[is a word that shows action -a verb]
This example demonstrates that the word "ache" is used both as a noun and a verb. Students have to recognize this distinction by choosing the correct definition for each word from the given list of definitions. The correct definition for the first sentence is the noun definition "a pain that does not go away"; and the correct definition for the second definition is the verb definition "to have a pain that does not go away."
A brief grammatical definition follows a given word’s sentence so as to distinguish it from another grammatical use of that same word in order to highlight the distinction for the student.
(2)
appear (uh pEr')
__ The sun suddenly appeared from behind a dark cloud.
__ It appears the weather will be nice today.
This example demonstrates that the word "appear" has two different meanings. In the first sentence, it means "to become visible; to be able to see"; and in the second sentence, it means "to seem; to be likely."
By repeatedly being exercised in these types of distinctions, along with finding the meaning of words with one definition through the context of the sentence, students not only increase their vocabulary recognition, but their critical thinking ability, as well.
SAMPLE VOCABULARY PAGE
INSTRUCTIONS: Students pronounce each vocabulary word, with help of the pronunciation key next to it, then read the sentence. From the context of the sentence, they will derive a general meaning of the word. Then, they will choose the correct definition from the boxed definitions at the right-hand column.
Also included in this vocabulary study are optional sentence and paragraph writing exercises for selected vocabulary words. These exercises are placed at the back of the book.
ANSWER KEY
SET 1 10 8 3 4 6 5 1 2 9 7
SAMPLE SENTENCE & PARAGRAPH WRITING ASSIGNMENT
Optional
INSTRUCTIONS: After completing each set of vocabulary words in context, students are to turn to the back of their studybook, and complete the two following writing assignments: For the first set (SET 1), students are to choose any three of the vocabulary words, write each one in its blank, then write an original sentence - with the meaning of each word as part of their sentence idea. For the second set (SET 2), students are to choose any three of the vocabulary words, and write a short paragraph. This paragraph can be in the form of a story,a letter, a dialogue, a factual report, a description, a situation, or a poem. Have students write a title for their paragraph.
The third set, repeats the sentence writing pattern and the fourth set repeats the paragraph writing pattern, and so on alternately.
See BOOK CATALOG for ordering
INTRODUCTION
Level C of Olympic Vocabulary consists of 760 vocabulary words in sentences formatted in 76 sets consisting of 10 words in each set.
The words have been targeted for approximate grades 5 through 6.
The words have been chosen according to school subjects which include the physical sciences, social studies, the fine arts, psychology, and ethics. This choice is a transitional phase from everyday conversational vocabulary words to a more academic study that will facilitate students' textbook reading.
INSTRUCTIONS: Students pronounce each vocabulary word, with help of the pronunciation key next to it, then read the sentence. From the context of the sentence, they will derive a general meaning of the word. Then, they will choose the correct definition from the boxed definitions at the right-hand column.
Also included in this vocabulary study are optional sentence and paragraph writing exercises for selected vocabulary words. These exercises are placed at the back of the book.
SAMPLE VOCABULARY PAGE
ANSWER KEY
SET 1: 7 10 9 3 1 2 6 4 5 8
SAMPLE SENTENCE & PARAGRAPH WRITING ASSIGNMENT
Optional
INSTRUCTIONS: After completing each set of vocabulary words in context, students are to turn to the back of their studybook, and complete the two following writing assignments: For the first set (SET 1), students are to choose any three of the vocabulary words, write each one in its blank, then write an original sentence - with the meaning of each word as part of their sentence idea. For the second set (SET 2), students are to choose any three of the vocabulary words, and write a short paragraph. This paragraph can be in the form of a story,a letter, a dialogue, a factual report, a description, a situation, or a poem. Have students write a title for their paragraph.
The third set, repeats the sentence writing pattern and the fourth set repeats the paragraph writing pattern, and so on alternately.
See BOOK CATALOG for ordering
Level D of Olympic Vocabulary consists of 1600 vocabulary words in sentences formatted in 160 sets consisting of 10 words in each set.
The main purpose of LEVEL D Vocabulary in Context vocabulary study is (1) to learn the meaning of words through the context of their use in a sentence, and (2) to prepare students in the 7th through 9th grades for national tests, such as the SSAT and the ISSE. There are 1650 vocabulary words divided into 165 sets of ten words. These words fairly much cover a wide spectrum of word meanings that junior high and high school freshman students will come across in their textbook reading and national tests.
Also included in this vocabulary study are optional sentence and paragraph writing exercises for selected vocabulary words. These exercises are placed at the back of the book.
INTRODUCTORY NOTES & INSTRUCTIONS
Purpose: The purpose of these exercises is to train students to grasp the meaning of unfamiliar words through the context, or meaning, of the sentence as a whole. This training facilitates not only retentive vocabulary development, but the ability to read for contextual meaning in one's whole reading experience.
The writing assignments - for both sentence and paragraph - is to choose selected words from each vocabulary set to develop students' own sentences with contextual clues. This training prepares students for more advanced writing assignments.
The following example is chosen from the context-clues' section in the vocabulary studybook.
1. As you read each sentence, look for familiar clue words or phrases that will signal the definitional meaning of the given vocabulary word. In the sentence below,
An employer should not abuse an employee for making a mistake.
you would glean the meaning of “abuse” from the word “not” and the phrase “making a mistake.” Of course an employer would be angry if an employee made “a mistake”; but in that anger, he should “not” do something to the employee. What is that “do something?” So, from your reasoning, the definition you would choose from the list of ten definitions, would be to mistreat; call names.
_____________________________
VOCABULARY INSTRUCTIONS: (1) Pronounce each vocabulary word, (2) read each sentence carefully, and for the italicized vocabulary word, choose its correct meaning from the definition list and write the number in the blank next to the vocabulary word.
WRITING INSTRUCTIONS:
NOTE: Depending upon the particular student, or class dynamics, these writing exercises can be optional.
After completing 2 vocabulary sets, students are to turn to the back of their studybook, and complete the two following writing assignments: For the first 2 sets (SETS 1 & 2), students are to choose any three of the vocabulary words, write each one in its blank, then write an original sentence -- with the meaning of each word as part of their sentence idea. For the next 2 vocabulary sets (SETS 3 & 4), students are to choose any three of the vocabulary words, and write a short paragraph. This paragraph can be in the form of a story, a letter, a dialogue, a factual report, a description, a situation, or a poem. Have students write a title for their paragraph.
The FIFTH AND SIXTH sets, repeat this sentence-paragraph pattern, and so on, alternately.
SAMPLE VOCABULARY PAGE
INSTRUCTIONS: Students pronounce each vocabulary word, then read the sentence. From the context of the sentence, they will derive a general meaning of the word. Then, they will choose the correct definition from the boxed definitions below the set of sentences.
ANSWER KEY
SET 1: 10 3 2 9 8 5 4 7 1 6
SET 1: 10 3 2 9 8 5 4 7 1 6
SAMPLE SENTENCE & PARAGRAPH WRITING ASSIGNMENT
Optional
INSTRUCTIONS: After completing each set of vocabulary words in context, students are to turn to the back of their studybook, and complete the two following writing assignments: For the first set (SET 1), students are to choose any three of the vocabulary words, write each one in its blank, then write an original sentence - with the meaning of each word as part of their sentence idea. For the second set (SET 2), students are to choose any three of the vocabulary words, and write a short paragraph. This paragraph can be in the form of a story,a letter, a dialogue, a factual report, a description, a situation, or a poem. Have students write a title for their paragraph.
The third set, repeats the sentence writing pattern and the fourth set repeats the paragraph writing pattern, and so on alternately.
See BOOK CATALOG for ordering
LEVEL E
10th - 12th grades
[SAT / ACT / adults]
|
Level E of Olympic Vocabulary consists of 1600 vocabulary words in sentences formatted in 160 sets consisting of 10 words in each set.
LEVEL E vocabulary in context studies is designed for SAT/ACT students and secondarily for adults who want to improve their vocabulary. The 1600 words in sentences have been chosen from commonly used words on the SAT and ACT.
The purpose of these exercises is to train students to grasp the meaning of unfamiliar words through the context, or meaning, of the sentence as a whole. This training facilitates such test questions as the new SAT sentence completions, as well as the critical reading exercises (the more words a student is familar with, the the stronger is his reading comprehension ability). The writing assignments -- for both sentences and paragraphs -- is to choose selected words from each vocabulary set to develop students' own sentences with contextual clues. This training prepares students for the new SAT essay writing assignment.
The following example is chosen from the context-clues' section in the vocabulary studybook.
Methodology: The following study procedures will assist students in gleaning the meaning of a word through the context of its sentence.
1. As you read each sentence, look for familiar clue words or phrases that will signal the definitional meaning of the given vocabulary word. In the sentence below,
"The hospital board wanted to ameliorate the ER, so they hired a dozen more nurses,"
by "hiring a dozen more nurses," there certainly will be an improvement in that department; hence, that phrasal clue signals the meaning of "ameliorate". And so, from your reasoning, the definition you would choose for “ameliorate” from the list of ten definitions, would be: to make better, improve.
NOTE: The following 2 vocabulary sets are samples taken from the vocabulary studybook consisting of 160 sets (1600 words) sentence and paragraph writing.
INSTRUCTIONS
VOCABULARY INSTRUCTIONS: (1) Pronounce each vocabulary word using its pronunciation key, if needed, (2) read each sentence carefully, and for the meaning of the italicized vocabulary word, choose the correct meaning from the definition list and write the number in the blank preceding the sentence.
WRITING INSTRUCTIONS:
NOTE: Depending upon the particular student, or class dynamics, these writing exercises can be optional.
For the first set (SET 1), students are to choose any three of the vocabulary words, write each one in its blank, then write an original sentence -- with the meaning of each word as part of their sentence idea. For the second set (SET 2), students are to choose any three of the vocabulary words, and write a short paragraph.This paragraph can be in the form of a story, a letter, a dialogue, a factual report, a description, a situation, or a poem. Have students write a title for their paragraph.
The third set, repeats their sentence writing, the fourth set repeats their paragraph writing, and so on alternately.
SAMPLE (1) VOCABULARY PAGE
ANSWER KEY
10 3 2 9 8 5 4 7 1 6
SAMPLE (2) VOCABULARY PAGE
ANSWER KEY
5 1 10 7 8 3 4 9 6 2
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