Research studies have shown that students' vocabulary knowledge strongly correlates with their success in reading comprehension. Now teachers can give fourth, fifth, and sixth graders the crucial vocabulary practice they need with this three-volume curriculum -- proven equally effective for English-language learners (ELLs) and students whose first language is English. This program uses innovative approaches to help students build a "toolbox" of skills that let them decipher the meanings of unfamiliar words with confidence.

Ideal for use in classrooms that include both English-speaking and Spanish-speaking ELLs, this curriculum combines teacher-directed instruction with cooperative group learning (proven effective for teaching heterogeneous groups of students) and individual activities for reinforcement. For each grade, teachers get an age-appropriate, 18-week curriculum that takes just 30 minutes a day. Each curriculum consists of eight regular lessons that take two weeks each and are built around a section of a story or novel, and two review lessons that take one week each and use new activities to reinforce what students have learned. All readings are reproduced in the books, so there's no need to purchase additional material.

In the fourth-grade volume, teachers get

• a step-by-step Teacher's Guide to walk them through each lesson
• a range of fun and innovative activities, from peer interviews and "word webs" to old favorites like fill-in-the-blanks and sentence writing
• cooperative group work that pairs ELLs with native English speakers
• vocabulary words defined in English and Spanish to aid Spanish speakers
• activities that use a child's first language to bolster vocabulary and text comprehension
• "teacher tips" that give creative suggestions for engaging children with language
• photocopiable pages of in-class work, homework activities, and assessments

With this proven program, both English-language learners and native English speakers will expand their knowledge of vocabulary words -- and learn how to generalize the strategies they learn when they encounter new words outside the classroom.