High Noon Vocabulary

High Noon Vocabulary is a unique instructional program aimed at students reading well below grade level. Based on the recommendations of the National Reading Panel, High Noon Vocabulary focuses on decoding, recalling word meaning, and deriving meaning from context - the skills most needed for students to comprehend the text they read. Requiring just ten minutes a day several times a week, the program complements whatever other reading materials you might be using. It can be used independently, in learning pairs, or in small groups.

An Interactive Approach to Learning

High Noon Vocabulary emphasizes oral interaction with a teacher, an aide, or a peer/cross-age tutor, and ensures that students

• hear the lesson words pronounced correctly
• learn the word's meanings in appropriate context
• make connections with prior knowledge

Each lesson contains the same pre- and post-tests, assessing all the words featured in the lesson. In the two-part assessment, students are asked to recognize the lesson words and then match each word with its definition. The assessments are conducted with oral support so teachers will have information that reflects student understanding of the target words.

Periodic progress monitoring assessments give teachers the opportunity to measure students' retention of what they have learned and determine if students are moving toward achievable goals.

To choose the correct level for your students, use the following guidelines. Do not rely upon a student's age or grade placement. Your estimate of a students' reading ability is a more useful basis on which to make the decision. If you have a question about the appropriate level, choose the lower level. Even older students may find the words in the lower levels of High Noon Vocabulary challenging. As an example, the words ban, gap, and nab appear in Lesson 1 of Level A. Although these words are easily decoded, they are considered to be fifth grade words or higher.

Choose Level A if the student:

• hesitates when decoding words like bin, site, drench
• is unsure of or does not know meaning of words like sag, plume, broth

Choose Level B if the student:

• hesitates when decoding words like quake, knead, hoisted
• is unsure of or does not know meaning of words like gourd, plight, bawled

Choose Level C if the student:

• hesitates when decoding words like clench, splendid, requirement
• is unsure of or does not know meaning of words like dreadful, immerse, scarlet

Choose Level D if the student:

• hesitates when decoding words like prior, emphasize, moisture
• is unsure of or does not know meaning of words like uncommon, salvage, legitimate

(176 pages each, 81 /2x11)