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Just when you thought Wordly Wise couldn’t get any better, here comes a new edition. This series is similar to the Wordly Wise 3000 edition, with some notable changes. First of all, the new series has two new books for kindergarten and first grade. These books are colorful and provide a variety of vocabulary-building activities. Children look at colorful illustrations as the teacher reads a story out loud. Then students mark items in the pictures that are the featured vocabulary words. Concept and picture cards introduce key concepts and words, and the activities prepare students for the kind of content-area reading they will encounter in later grades. The unique, two-week lesson plans in these beginning books teach and reinforce words and concepts in 20-25 minutes a day. The rest of the series follows the same format as the original, though things have been reorganized a bit. The numbers of the books now correspond with grade levels (no more adding 3 to the book number to get the grade level as in the first edition) and the basic lessons are the same, with the same overall number of vocabulary words but with just a few word changes. Book 2 includes all the lessons in previous Book A and lessons 1-7 from Book B. It has 15 lessons and 150 vocabulary words. Book 3 includes lessons 8-10 from previous Book B and all lessons from Book C. It also has 15 lessons with 150 words and contains some Greek and Latin root exercises. Old Book 1 is now Book 4, old Book 2 is now Book 5, old Book 3 is now Book 6, and so on. Students learn 300 new words a year in Books 4-12. In these books the exercises are basically the same as the original edition with just a few changes. Word Study exercises with a Greek and Latin focus replace some of the “Completing the Thought” and “Word Relationship” exercises found in the earlier editions. Word lists now appear throughout each lesson, and the reading passage references have been updated. The books are also a bit more colorful, with colored boxes around vocabulary words and reading passages.

Another new addition to this edition is the Teacher Resource Packs/Books. For the kindergarten and first grade levels, the pack includes extensive lesson plans that tell the teacher exactly what to do and say and how to present the student book. Concept and Picture Cards are included with the Packs, which are clearly and colorfully illustrated to introduce key concepts and vocabulary words for each lesson. The lesson plans instruct on exactly how to use these cards, and the Teacher Book also includes a read-aloud story or poem for each lesson, extension and challenge activities, blackline masters, formal and informal assessments, assessment checklists, and more. The upper level Teacher Resource Books include teachers guides for the lessons, reproducible tests and reviews, vocabulary activities (including word webs and semantic maps), options for group or individual instruction, pacing options, and answer keys for the tests and workbooks. If you don’t think an intensive, thorough teacher guide is necessary, the test books and answer keys are available separately, though the concept and picture cards and the stories for the K-1 levels are only available in the Teacher Pack. Answer keys for the student books are sold separately.

Have an audio learner? By customer request, we also now offer audio CD sets that correlate to levels 2-12. These include recordings of each word list to aid pronunciation, along with definitions and comprehension questions, and all reading passages. There are three CDs each for Grades 2-3, and 5 CDs for each level for grades 4-12.

New test books with answers are available for this edition. Tests for the old edition, though similar, are not compatible with the new edition student books. For additional games and mp3 word lists, visit www.wordlywise3000.com.

Customer Review

 
Kristanna R. from Bluefield, WV wrote the following on 01/31/2009:
Wordly Wise 3000 K is a great product! It is actually my son's favorite activity! The student book and vocabulary cards are very colorful and exceptionally durable. Along with the stories, they really capture my kindergartener's attention. The vocabulary cards use pictures on one side and the word on the other. This program does not require that the child know how to read. The teacher's book is necessary, easy to use and does not require advanced preparation. The book is divided into 12 lessons which are each intended to be spread out over two weeks. Although the format allows for a lot of flexibility, we spend three to four days per week (as organized in the teacher's book). On most days, we finish in less than 10 minutes. When we first began the lessons, I was afraid that the concepts and word lists were too simple. However, I soon discovered that the depth of learning is far greater than I had anticipated--a great language foundation. The explanations are very thorough and yet worded well for kindergarteners. I have found it helpful that portions of the lesson plans are ed. The only part that I have not been impressed with is the "Share a Poem" section. Some of them are cute, but I have found many of them to be quite useless as they are exceptionally simple and do not often correlate with the vocabulary list and lesson concept as much as I would like. Perhaps they would be better received in a large group or classroom setting because they are often action-oriented. All that said, my son really loves Wordly Wise! He literally cheers just about every time I bring it out. And, I have noticed something very interesting: he seems to have changed his perspective on language acquisition. He understands more profoundly that words have specific meanings. Now he always seems to be asking what unfamiliar words mean. Before studying vocabulary in this way, he did not seem so curious. We have completed 11 out of the 12 lessons. When my son noticed that we were about to finish his book, he was sad and asked if we could do more. So, I just ordered the first grade materials and we will begin as soon as they arrive. He will be so excited! It may be a little expensive, but the quality and results are so great, that it is well worth the money!