Isn't it frustrating when you're writing and you can't think of that just-right word to use to convey your thoughts? My students love to write, but they are working hard to use more descriptive words and expand their vocabulary.
My students are an amazing group of sixth graders and they deserve the best!
I teach in a very diverse, high-needs school (71% free/reduced lunch) with extraordinarily dedicated students, families, and staff. Many of my students are learning English as a second language. We teach to the whole child at our school and strongly emphasize building social and emotional skills with our students in addition to taking a rigorous academic approach to teaching.
My Project
My students love to read and write and are always striving to learn and use new vocabulary. However, the dictionaries and thesauruses we currently have in our classroom are not age appropriate and often do not even contain the words we are looking for. Not to mention that they are old and falling apart. It's frustrating for the students to be sent to the dictionary to look up a word and it's not even in the dictionary they are using. How can I expect my students to expand their vocabulary and use more descriptive words in their writing if the tools that they are given are out of date, falling apart and not expansive enough? Dictionary skills are a vital part of literacy and basic study skills and they need the appropriate materials to support that.
With new dictionaries and thesauruses, my students will be able to make their writing more colorful, descriptive and vivid to their reader.
As readers, they will be able to actually find a word such as 'vindicate' in the dictionary they are using, read it's meaning and better understand the content of the book they are reading. As students, current and sturdy dictionaries and thesauruses will allow them to practice and use their dictionary skills often and with success. Please help us!
More than three‑quarters of students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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