toggle menu
menu
vocabulary
1000+ books

Pre-reading Lesson Plan to
Preview Book Vocabulary

Objectives:
  1. Improve college readiness by enhancing vocabulary.
  2. Improve comprehension of assigned reading.
  3. In a 15 minute homework assignment, familiarize students with 20 well-selected words they will soon see in a novel.
  4. Increase word awareness (to encourage life-long & immediate book-related increases in vocabulary).
  5. Familiarize students with the format of vocabulary questions on the SAT and ACT tests.
National Standards:
Without detracting from the other class objectives, this assignment helps to meet Common Core Vocabulary Acquisition and Use standards specifically and ELA Literacy standards in general. For a list of those standards, see Common Core ELA Standards (link last checked 5/31/24)
Time Required:
about 15 minutes
Materials:
Computer, tablet, or smart phone with Internet access. Email, printer, or other method of showing completion to teacher. (See Adaptations such as paper quiz below. A library computer can also be used.)
Student Procedures:
  1. Select a book at verbalworkout.com.
  2. Select Vocabulary List and look at the detail of words that are not known well.
  3. Return to book menu and select Take Quiz to answer the 20 questions.*
  4. Print, email, or show results to teacher.
  * Leave the default of Pre-Reading which uses sentences tailored for optimal learning.
Why This Lesson Plan Works
Adaptations:
  1. Teachers can print the quiz and have student's take it on paper.
  2. Assign the Extra Credit quiz for academically motivated students.
  3. Students can take quizzes from books previously read to earn extra credit.
  4. Students can be given extra points for using their words in writing assignments or finding printed examples of use.
  5. Teachers can assign either the pre-reading or post-reading assignment instead of both.
  6. Teachers can print word lists and let students write their own sample sentences.
    Details on writing sample sentences For this kind of assignment, the sentence would have to meaningful to the student. For example, of the following two sentences that use the word deride, only the second is credit worthy:
         She was derided.
         She derided him for liking the movie.

    Note that any form of the word can be used in the sample sentence. For deride, acceptable forms would be deride, derided, deriding, derides, derisive, derisively, or derision.