Vocabulary deficits are a major factor contributing to children's poor reading and comprehension skills. Children with poor vocabulary skills often find it hard to comprehend text and, as a result, they are less motivated to read. Limited time spent reading results in less practice with vocabulary words, which causes these students to fall behind their peers. These vocabulary limitations are an important factor in the achievement gap, particularly for children at risk. Based on their experience in the classroom and reviews of recent research, the authors have developed this book as a guide for elementary and middle school teachers who want to improve the vocabulary of their students. Traditional vocabulary instruction, such as instructing children to look up words in a dictionary, memorize word lists, or use words in sentences, is not effective for many students. Instead, the activities in the book are designed to improve students' independent word learning skills, rather than simply learning teacher-selected sets of vocabulary. The book is divided into six parts: introduction to the authors' model, teaching students word learning strategies, developing students' intentional word learning skills, building children's word knowledge, teaching vocabulary to young children and second language learners, and managing a classroom vocabulary development program. The book is full of anecdotal examples and vignettes and includes photocopiable worksheets to hand out to students.

This practical book is a guide for general and special educators who want to improve the vocabulary of their students. In addition to building children's word knowledge, the book emphasizes teaching students how to learn new vocabulary. The activities the authors describe are designed to improve students' independent word learning skills, rather than simply learning teacher-selected sets of vocabulary. The book includes examples, classroom vignettes, photocopiable worksheets for students, and graphic organizers.

Review
“Nothing short of a treasure. . . . allows the reader to experience deeper awareness . . . about cross cultural competence that can ultimately lead to trusted parternships with families. It is hard to imagine that any professional working in the field today would not want this priceless resource in their own personal library.”—Elizabeth J. Erwin, Ed.D.“Queens College of the City University of New York” (12/01/2004)

Shira Lubliner is the president of California Professors of Reading/Language Arts. She has been an educator for more than thirty years, working as a classroom teacher, a private school principal, and currently as an associate professor of teacher education at California State University, East Bay. She is the author of numerous articles and several books, including A Practical Guide to Reciprocal Teaching (Wright Group/McGraw-Hill, 2001), Getting Into Words: Vocabulary Instruction that Strengthens Comprehension (Brookes, 2005), and Nourishing Vocabulary (co-authored with Judith C. Scott, publis