GRADE 5 ENRICHMENT LANGUAGE ARTS UNIT: WORDMASTERS
Two of the major shifts encompassed by CCSS with regard to ELA are to read more challenging material and to increase vocabulary. Complex texts are those that rely on figurative, ironic, ambiguous, purposefully misleading, archaic or otherwise unfamiliar language or on general academic and domain‐specific vocabulary. The standards employ a model for conceptualizing categories of words as:
Tier One – everyday speech
Tier Two – general academic words
Tier Three – domain specific words
The vast majority of WordMasters words fall into Tier Two, vocabulary that is far more likely to appear in written texts than in speech. Tier Two words often represent subtle or precise ways to say relatively simple things‐‐saunter instead of walk, for example. Because Tier Two words are found across many types of texts, they are highly generalizable.
The grade 5 WordMasters unit is designed to improve students’ vocabulary skills using analogies. It will further develop students’ verbal reasoning abilities, address higher order thinking skills as well as emphasizing logical thinking and reading comprehension. Students learn to think both analytical and metaphorically. Through a variety of vocabulary building activities, students will increase their word power.
(Source: WordMasters Challenge)
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