Reading/Vocabulary Development Created by George Pitlik Assessment Department Georgetown ISD Reading 5.9B for the Texas Center for Academic Excellence © 2002

What Does The Dictionary Say? Vocabulary: a list or collection of words or of words and phrases dog hospital volcano elusive decipher Prior to sponsor

What Is A Vocabulary?

As Kids Grow They Add To Their Vocabulary. More cereal Mommy!

Pre School And Kindergarten

Elementary School I love new vocabulary words

Teenagers

Types Of Vocabulary 1.Speaking Vocabulary 2.Reading Vocabulary 3.Writing Vocabulary

What Do You Do When You Hear Or See A new Word? 1.Ask a teacher. 2.Ask a parent or relative. 3.Look it up in the dictionary. 4.Try to figure it out from the rest of the story. 5.Skip it. It may not be necessary to know the word to understand the story.

A Neat Trick For Learning New Words Triangle- A three sided figure Pentagon- A five sided figure Hexagon- A six sided figure Octagon- An eight sided figure

The Elusive Raccoon My dog’s name is Patches. He lives outside. We keep his dog dish on the back porch and feed him every evening. Lately we noticed that Patches seemed hungry all the time. We also saw strange muddy footprints near his dog dish. They were too small to be his footprints. Some animal was eating Patches’ food! My Dad said that the footprints belonged to an elusive raccoon. They are nocturnal animals and sleep during the day. Everyone in the family watched the backyard to see the raccoon, but he was very clever. We never saw him. My Mom said that the raccoon would not be around during the day, so we needed to watch after dark. We tried for a long time, but we never saw the raccoon, only his tracks.

What Does Elusive Mean? My dog’s name is Patches. He lives outside. We keep his food dish on the back porch and feed him every evening. Lately we noticed that Patches seemed hungry all the time. We also saw strange muddy footprints near his food dish. They were too small to be his footprints. Some animal was eating Patches’ food! My Dad said that the footprints belonged to an elusive raccoon. They are nocturnal animals and sleep during the day. Everyone in the family watched the backyard to see the raccoon, but he was very clever. We never saw him. My Mom said that the raccoon would not be around during the day, so we needed to watch after dark. We tried for a long time, but we never saw the raccoon, only his tracks. In this passage, the word elusive means- A fastC hard to find B friendlyD brave

Here’s A Good Tip I’ll buy a tiny pocket dictionary and carry it with me to look up new vocabulary words!

The Secret Note Ms. Smith was the best math teacher at High Oaks School. Most of the kids really liked her class; except Ronald. He would spend most of the class writing notes and passing them to his friends. Sometimes, Ms. Smith would find a note and read it which got Ronald into trouble. Ronald decided to create a code so Ms. Smith would not be able to read the notes. He worked a long time designing the code. He thought he would be able to write notes that Ms. Smith could not read. The next day, Ronald sent a note written in his new code. Ms. Smith found it. Being a very smart math teacher, she was able to decipher it in less than ten minutes. Ronald was in deep trouble.

Decipher The Code. Ms. Smith was the best math teacher at High Oaks School. Most of the kids really liked her class; except Ronald. He would spend most of the class writing notes and passing them to his friends. Sometimes, Ms. Smith would find a note and read it which got Ronald into trouble. Ronald decided to create a code so Ms. Smith would not be able to read the notes. He worked a long time designing the code. He thought he would be able to write notes that Ms. Smith could not read. The next day, Ronald sent a note written in his new code. Ms. Smith found it. Being a very smart math teacher, she was able to decipher it in less than ten minutes. Ronald was in deep trouble. This code was easy to decipher.

Mini Quiz In the passage on the previous page, the word decipher means to --- F write with G sell H figure out J forget about

Time For A Break Middle Eastern Music Classical Music Caribbean Music

Here’s Another Story Our soccer team is in first place in our city. We are scheduled to play in the state finals in just three weeks. Our coach told us that our team did not have enough money to pay for the bus, hotel and food while we were at state playoffs. Coach told us we must find a sponsor for the trip. She asked each of us to visit two stores in our town and ask them to sponsor us. In this passage, the word sponsor means – A a passenger B an adult C a supporter D a president

Love A Librarian

Have You Ever Eaten A Quince? Quince: the fruit of a central Asiatic tree that resembles a hard-fleshed yellow apple and is used for marmalade, jelly and preserves

Story Time Our soccer coach told us that we did not have a lot of time to find a sponsor for our trip to state playoffs. Lots of other teams were already making hotel reservations. Coach told us that in order to be sure we could reserve hotel rooms, we must find a sponsor prior to next Sunday. In this passage, the words prior to mean – F through G after H before J around

A Sad Town When the shoe factory closed in Sneakerville, most of the residents moved to other towns to find a job. You could walk all over and not see another person. Most of the buildings needed painting and repair. There were not even any dogs or cats around. Sneakerville was desolate.

Desolate In the passage on the previous page, the word desolate means – A no inhabitants B happy C cold and windy D very humid

Practice, Practice Practice!

Congratulations, You Made It! My brain hurts!