This vocabulary curriculum teaches strategies for determining the meaning of unknown words by applying Greek and Latin roots. Since close to 60% of the words in the English language are derived from Greek and Latin roots, understanding their meaning and use is a great way to expand a student’s vocabulary.

The lessons center around a theme, making it easier to remember the word parts. Each lesson is based on a word list that includes both familiar and challenging words. There are three parts to each lesson, which means you can introduce the words on the first day, do the three exercises across the next three days, and then do the test on the fifth day. The first exercise analyzes the words in terms of synonyms and antonyms. Exercise B uses the words in the context of a sentence; students determine whether or not the word is used correctly. In Exercise C, students fill in the blank with a word from the lesson. These activities give students a variety of practice from different perspectives.

The themes covered in the vocabulary lists are: thought and language (believing, thinking and knowing, reading and writing, and speaking) and components of the universe (earth and air, fire and water, order and disorder, and time).