Word Study Resources for Summer School

Do you have students in your summer school classes who need to work on their vocabulary skills? The EMC Word Study Resource is designed to offer teachers meaningful ways to incorporate word study into the language arts classroom. This resource includes Teaching Tips that can help you encourage curiosity about words, model word attack and spelling strategies, and make vocabulary study effective. Each resource for grades 6-12 contains thirty lessons, designed to be used weekly, that cover a broad range of topics from etymology to context clues to spelling patterns. By using these lessons in conjunction with The EMC Mirrors & Windows program or other language arts materials, you will help your students become better readers, writers, speakers, and spellers.

Here's a list of features that you will find in the Word Study Resource:

• Each lesson begins with a Word of the Week, a term that students may find particularly meaningful, interesting, or enjoyable to pronounce.
• As new concepts are introduced, students are given the chance to practice what they are learning in Try It Yourself activities.
• Just For Fun activities get students to play with words, reminding them that language can be fun and interesting.
• Tip boxes in the margins of each lesson clarify definitions, offer additional information, and provide helpful suggestions.
• A metacognitive What Did You Learn? activity closes each lesson, giving students the chance to monitor their understanding.
• At intervals throughout the program, Time Out for Test Practice sections ask students to use what they’ve learned to answer sample standardized test questions.
• An appendix with Word Parts Charts that list common prefixes, word roots, and suffixes, along with their meanings and examples of their use is included, as well as a chart of common combining forms.

Use of the strategies and lessons in this resource will help you actively engage students in working with words. As their curiosity about word exploration grows, your students will become increasingly confident in their ability to attack, learn, and experiment with new words.

Give your students the vocabulary skills they need

to be successful readers, writers, and speakers!

A Midsummer’s Day

Midsummer's Day, the middle of summer, falls on June 24, shortly after the longest day, the Summer Solstice (June 21 in the northern hemisphere). Funny that the Summer Solstice is considered the first day of summer, yet it falls just days before Midsummer’s Day. Summer is a short season, but not that short!

Undeniably the most famous literary work celebrating midsummer, is William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In this play, one of his finest and most imaginative comedies, Shakespeare explores the madness of love. The story is set in a wood outside Athens, where two young couples in romantic confusion encounter a band of mischievous fairies who can alter human affections (and shapes!) with potions and magic. The chaos, misunderstandings, and arguments that stem from this chance encounter reveal love’s comic side.

EMC Publishing offers William Shakespeare’s classic comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream in its complete form as an Access Edition. This study edition includes background on Shakespeare’s life and Renaissance theater, questions, wiring ideas, and projects—everything you need to join in the “midsummer madness.” For more information on EMC’s complete list of over 30 Access Editions novels and plays, go to http://www.emcp.com/product_catalog/index.php?GroupID=74.

All Summer in a Day

Today, June 21, 2010, is the Summer Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. This is the day of the year with the longest period of daylight. The summer solstice occurs exactly when the Earth's axial tilt is most inclined towards the sun, and is celebrated in this region as the first day of summer. The seasonal significance of the summer solstice is in the reversal of the gradual shortening of nights and lengthening of days.

In his science fiction short story "All Summer in a Day" which takes place on Venus where the sun only appears for one hour every seven years, Ray Bradbury describes the power of the sun:

"The sun came out.
It was the color of flaming bronze, and it was very large. And the sky around it was a blazing blue tile color. And the jungle burned with sunlight as the children, released from their spell, rushed out, yelling into the summertime."

"All Summer in a Day" appears in Mirrors and Windows, Level I.

Celebrate the Journey

Today is the birthday of the prolific contemporary writer Joyce Carol Oates, born June 16, 1938, whose works include novels, short-story collections, plays, children’s books, criticism, essays, and poetry collections. Of her work Oates states, “Writing and teaching have always been, for me, so richly rewarding that I don’t think of them as work in the usual sense of the word.”

In her short story, “Journey,” which appears in Mirrors & Windows, Level IV, Oates talks directly to the reader about the paths we take in life and the choices we make on our way to individuality. She shows that rarely do we follow a straight path to our future goals. Instead, life offers us many opportunities to take detours and make changes. The choices we make along the way are part of life's journey.

"If you had that day to begin again,

on that highway which was so wide and clear,

you would not have varied your journey in any way:

in this is your triumph."

--Joyce Carol Oates

Common State Academic Standards Launched

On June 2, 2010, the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) released a set of state-led education standards, the Common Core State Standards, at Peachtree Ridge High School in Suwanee, GA. The English-language arts and mathematics standards for grades K-12 were developed in collaboration with content experts, states, teachers, school administrators and parents. The standards seek to establish clear and consistent goals for learning that will prepare America’s children for success in college and work.

According to the Common Core State Standards Initiative, these standards define the knowledge and skills students should have within their K-12 education careers so that they will graduate high school fully prepared for college and careers. The standards are:
• Aligned with college and work expectations;
• Clear, understandable and consistent;
• Include rigorous content and application of knowledge through high-order skills;
• Build upon strengths and lessons of current state standards;
• Informed by other top performing countries, so that all students are prepared to succeed in our global economy and society; and
• Evidence- and research-based.

The mission statement of the Common Core Standards Initiative is as follows: The Common Core State Standards provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them. The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers. With American students fully prepared for the future, our communities will be best positioned to compete successfully in the global economy.

You can watch a video of the release of the common standards and download the complete set of standards at http://www.corestandards.org/.

Support for Summer Reading Classes

Looking for effective materials to use in your summer reading classes to help struggling readers and English language learners learn reading strategies and prepare for standardized tests? Take a look at the EMC Write-In Reader!
•Portable anthology of literary works! Selections, both classic and contemporary, offer a rich reading experience; margin spaces allow students to actively record their thoughts and notes.
•Embedded reading strategies! For each reading selection, learners receive explicit instruction on how to apply a specific reading strategy to each stage of the reading process and then practice applying the strategy.
•Multiple strategies to compound success! Students learn eight active reading strategies and how to combine and apply them to any reading task for greater understanding of the text.
•Standardized test practice! Students learn how to demonstrate essential reading skills and gain confidence in testing situations.
•Vocabulary builders! Student vocabulary is increased through Word Workshops and strategy instruction in deciphering difficult words.

The EMC Write-In Reader Teacher’s Resource includes:
•Reading Levels Guide and Readability Guide chart that provides the reading level for each selection.
•Teaching Tips that define eight reading strategies your students will learn and identify teaching techniques you can use to teach these reading strategies.
•Professional Resources that support the strategies and teaching techniques used in The EMC Write-In Reader.
•Lesson Plans and Answer Key that follow the organization of the ten instructional units in The EMC Write-In Reader, providing specific teaching strategies and activity answers for each unit.
•Appendix: Authentic Writing Prompts that provides additional leveled writing prompts for each selection to help students practice their writing skills. Prompt 1 is easy, prompt 2 is moderate, and prompt 3 is challenging.

The EMC Write-In Reader can be used as a stand-alone textbook or in conjunction with Mirrors & Windows: Connecting with Literature or the Literature and the Language Arts Masterpiece Series textbook programs for grades 6-12. Priced right, it's a small investment for a big return!

Give your students the tools they need to succeed

with The EMC Write-In Reader!