Vocabu-Lit K Student Book (5th Edition)

This literature-based vocabulary program (copyright 2020) sports a few new “tweaks” from its much-appreciated forerunners. Based on passages from a variety of literature (classic and contemporary fiction, non-fiction, speeches, and primary sources), lessons include ten words per passage, and involve a wide range of exercises. Each lesson starts with a “First Read” activity (new with this edition); providing thought-provoking questions about the passage. Vocabulary exercises include using context clues, synonyms/antonyms, sentence completion, shades of meaning, and analogies. Each lesson concludes with a “Write About It” activity.

The 30 lessons are organized into six units. Each unit concludes with a Unit Word Study that includes classic roots and affixes, idioms and sayings. Unit Assessments provide experience and practice for standardized tests and feature passages followed by multiple-choice questions and a writing prompt based on topics/themes in the unit.

The selected passages and word lists are the same as those in the Common Core edition. Taken as a whole, these passages are interesting and informative; the accompanying exercises are challenging. The Teacher Edition contains the student pages with answers filled in. All instruction is written directly to the student in the Student Book. The addition of an accent color in the Student Book is a welcome change. ~ Janice

Combine vocabulary building with exposure to quality literature and what do you get? Vocabu-Lit! In each of the lessons, a short (half-page) segment of literature is provided. The 10 master words to be studied in the lesson are shown in bold print in the reading selection. Literature selections in the original edition includes classic and contemporary fiction while non-fiction, speeches, and primary source material was added to the Common Core and 5th editions. Vocabulary exercises include writing a definition of each word before and after looking it up in the dictionary, choosing synonyms and antonyms from a list provided, filling in the master words in analogies, and filling in the master words in a sentence.