Vocabulary Preparation

8th graders, a key element of your high school entrance exam and future academic success is vocabulary. One of the keys to achievement in this area is knowledge of root words, prefixes and suffixes. Our Literature books do an excellent job of presenting these "meanings" and providing solid vocabulary words from the stories and poems we read. In addition to these two provisions, we will also be adding a "word of the day" exercise to each class session. In order to make this a learning experience while maintaining enough class time for grammar, writing, and literary analysis, we will be creating vocabulary workbooks. Each workbook will consist of five sections: 1) vocabulary from our readings; 2) word of the day; 3) prefixes; 4) suffixes; 5) root words. It will be your responsibility to "study" these words and word parts; ask your parents to review them with you.

Each week you will be assigned a set of pages from the textbook that provides information on roots, prefixes, and/or suffixes. You will be required to write that information into the appropriate section of your workbook.

Each day at the start of class you will need to copy into your workbook the word of the day exercise and have them completed by the following Monday.

Depending on the stories read during the course of a week, you will receive a "spelling list" on a Monday that will include vocabulary words which you will be tested on the following Friday for spelling and vocabulary knowledge (like we have already been doing this year).

The vocabulary workbooks will be graded on a bi-weekly basis using a basic rubric similar to Mr. Ortega's interactive notebook. To check up on your progress/comprehension we will play some review games like "Cake Walk Comprehension," "Bingo," and "Jeopardy."

Please have your workbooks created no later than Monday, October 29th.