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!) 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. A little upgrade to a popular series.

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.