Wordly Wise Question

[Tatt2mama]

I'm thinking of trying out Wordly Wise 3000 2nd edition, and I just wanted to know, from those who have used it-do you really need the teacher materials, or could you just use the student workbook? I'm thinking of trying out Book1/Grade 1 (which looks more involved, and more like you DO need the teacher materials, which are expensive for gr 1) and Book 2/Grade 2.

 

TIA for any help,

[fhjmom]

We used Book K last year and will be using book 1 this year. I am already pre-buying extra student books for my littlest. These 2 books are very different from the rest of the series and you *absolutely must have* the teachers materials. The stories and instructions are all included in the teacher's book. Yes, it is expensive, but I ***LOVE*** this program!

 

Wordly Wise 3000 K & 1 focuses on developing a child's ORAL vocabulary at a time when pretty much all the other LA components are focused on the child learning to read/write words they already know and use. The words have been selected based on research of vocabulary needed to be successful at upper elementary/middle school subject areas, like science and aocial studies. The stories and activities are fun. My DD begged for "story time" (our name for WW3000) and I used it as an incentive to finish her other work. :)

 

I will give the disclaimer that my daughters are both hard-of-hearing and have a harder time with what I call the nuances of language and incidental learning (things learned by overhearing conversation, which accounts for as much as 90% of what we learn). This program has been an answer to pray in that it is very intentional in teaching the subtleties of some words and has been very effective in identifying holes in my daughters language and filling them.** The fact that words are presented in different scenarios, reinforced visually in multiple ways and that things like idioms and multiple meaning words are addressed and explained is tailor made for a child with hearing loss and the accompaining language issues. I will say that I think a child does *not* have to have hearing loss to benefit from this approach.

 

**To give you just one example: one week one of the vocabulary words was "heavy". In talking with my daughter, it was apparent her understanding of the word "heavy" was more similar to "strong" - a related concept in that someone has to be "strong" to pick up something "heavy", but she did not get that "heavy" described the object being picked up. She was using the word to describe someone doing the lifting. Now, in a casual conversation, if she said, "That man is heavy," while not polite, I would conclude it was a true statement and she used the word to accurately describe a large, muscle-bound man; however, her intent was to say he was "strong", but I woudn't know that because "heavy" made sense. Without the discussion of the vocabulary that teased out and identified this misuse, my daughter may not have been able to correct her understanding of this word on her own. Yet when you get to older grades, when other vocabulary programs begin, "heavy" and "strong" tend to be pretty simple words that would be assumed to be understood.

 

This is just one example out of many. There was at least one in every lesson. Also, in spite of her hearing loss, my daughter does test at or above age level in all areas of language skills, so it isn't like she is behind and needs remediation. She just has random holes and this program helps identify the ones that are important to fill.

 

Sorry to write a book, but can you tell I love ths program?? :lol: It is one fo the few curriculum I get truly excited about because I can see how much my daughter has benefitted from it.