Welcome to the 4th Grade
National Reading Vocabulary List Introduction

The following 4th Grade Vocabulary List contains all the words a student should
have memorized by the end of Grade 4.  We believe this is the most unique and efficient
reading vocabulary list developed for guiding 4th Grade reading progress.

As research (and common sense) shows comprehension is basically an automatic process
when vocabulary and fluency are present,
it is imperative these words be memorized completely,
otherwise, comprehension of upper elementary reading material
and standardized test questions will be severely reduced.

There are a total of over 900 new words introduced in this 4th grade vocabulary list (including heading titles).
If a student can master this list (along with our 2000 Most Common Reading Words in the Grade 1-3 List)
all academic areas which require 4th grade level reading skills,
including standardized tests such as the FCAT, SAT and CTBS will improve substantially.

It is important to maintain the pace of at least 6 words per day - 24 words per week
(Friday is Review/Test  Day) to advance at a rate necessary to keep up with grade level progress.

All of the words in this list have been organized along this format of 6 words per day (24 per week).
This number of "6 per day" is used as it is about the maximum number of words
that we can expect an average 4th grade student to memorize on a daily basis.
To provide the organization needed by teachers and parents,
we have also divided the words into four "9 week" sections,
(typically the time for one report card grading period).
This will provide an excellent organized format if teachers wish to include this
as part of the student's 9 Week Reading Grade.

The entire set of approximately 900 words have been chosen for this list because they have been
"painstakingly" identified as commonly used words in average 4th grade level reading materials and tests.
Their "frequency of use" follows the words we've used in our 1st - 2nd - and 3rd Grade Vocabulary Lists.

A  POWERFUL   TEACHING  FORMAT
A special feature of the 4th Grade Vocabulary list is how the six "Daily Words" have been selected.
Rather than combine a mix of unrelated words, we have taken considerable effort in creating
daily categories which will not only introduce essential vocabulary,
but also teach valuable academic and social lessons.
For example, below are a few of the "Daily Word" categories we've developed:

Some of the other categories include,
Opinions others have about you - Advantages of learning to read -
and descriptive terms for - shape - size - intensity - attractiveness - emotions - frequency and much more.
As you can see, by organizing the words into categories such as these,
we greatly expand the learning potential from the basic vocabulary words and set up the environment
for excellent follow-up discussion in the classroom (or home) that will reinforce the words and concepts being taught.

ADDITIONAL   VOCABULARY  ACTIVITIES
Once the "teaching" and "discussion" phase of the 6 Daily Words is completed in the classroom,
it is important to provide follow-up activities throughout the day to
retain and reinforce the vocabulary terms in order to achieve maximum memorization.

To accomplish this, we are developing several support worksheets and activities
which can be completed at spaced intervals throughout the day,
These activities incorporate some the most advanced memorizing techniques
known to date and will include the following:

Recognition Memory Test - and Scrambled Letters - included in Worksheet #1
Synonyms - Antonyms - Definition Matching and Fill-in-the-Blank - included in Worksheet #2
Sentence Writing

These are explained below:

ACTIVITIES TO USE PRESENTLY WITH THE VOCABULARY

UNTIL OUR VOCABULARY BUILDING ACTIVITIES ARE COMPLETE -
IT IS SUGGESTED TO HAVE STUDENTS PLACE EACH OF THE DAY'S WORDS
INTO A SENTENCE FOR ADDITIONAL PRACTICE TO HELP WITH MEMORIZATION. 

SENTENCES MUST CONTAIN AT LEAST  7 WORDS
AND NOT BEGIN WITH THE WORD - I -
SENTENCES MUST ALSO BE WRITTEN USING PRINT (NOT CURSIVE)
THIS IS DONE TO INCREASE VISUAL MEMORIZATION
SINCE WORDS USED IN BOOKS AND TESTS ARE ALSO WRITTEN IN PRINT.
ALREADY ORGANIZED SENTENCE WRITING SHEETS ARE
AVAILABLE ABOVE EACH DAILY WORD LIST.

It is strongly suggested that students who are in higher grades,
(but functioning below 4th grade level) should be tested "one-on-one" to determine
specifically which words they do - and do not know.
Have a teacher, parent, volunteer or assistant sit down
next to the child with a copy of our Grade 1-3 Vocabulary List - start with Level 50.
If the child is not saying any words incorrectly and reading fluently after testing 5 levels,
then jump up to Level 100 and repeat the process.
Ask the child to say the words as you point to them.
When a word is said incorrectly - put a mark next to it (one the child can't erase...).
At the end of the testing give the child the list and tell him/her to write the first 10 words
which have a mark into a sentence.  The child might say -
"How can I write the word into a sentence if I don't know what it is?"

Good point,
The answer is to first go over the ten words with the child for about 10 seconds per word.
As short a time as this sounds, I've found it is often enough time to prime the child's memory
to at least remember it long enough to complete the sentence writing activity.
I then say if you still have any questions on a word - just raise your hand. 

Something very exciting coming to our web site soon is the
"TALKING TUTOR" Vocabulary Support,
When this becomes operational over the next several months,
the child simply comes back to this web site and clicks on the
number next to any word he/she said incorrectly.
Upon doing so, within about 10 seconds, the child will hear a TampaRead's staff member
teach the word's meaning and use it in several sentence examples.
(This is accomplished using the internet's latest RealAudio/Video technology)

How is that for efficient teaching?
Also, as you can see, this will be a tremendous benefit to schools (or parents)
who have students reading below grade level who need "to catch up" to grade level.

Our goal for this section is to have completed the majority of 4th grade
support worksheets and activities by January, 2000.

AUDIO AND VIDEO SUPPORT COMING SOON

Our next goal is to begin the addition of video support
to each vocabulary word and worksheet question.
When this is done, it will be like providing your school (or home)
with an unlimited (and tireless) supply of quality tutors.
Imagine the potential of this procedure when used on a wide scale
and set up on multiple computers in the school's classrooms or media center).
To us, this is extremely exciting as it will for the first time in educational history,
offer a way to provide the desperately needed help for teachers in special education classes
(who have students at extremely diverse levels) as well as provide a
way to help regular classroom teachers who have students reading below grade level
and who need the extra support to keep from falling further behind.
Also, even average students can get support for difficult words and above average
or "gifted" students can now have a way to advance at whatever pace they can muster.
- IMAGINE THE SUPPORT FROM "GIFTED" PARENTS ON THIS POTENTIAL -

We are very excited about our Year 2000 Vocabulary Project
and are sure you will be too, once you've seen it's educational potential.

The addition of audio support for this section has already begun.

To hear an example of what we will be providing in the future  -
click the number next to the vocabulary word in our first week's vocabulary words
linked at the bottom of this page, or, for a quick sample of this potential -
click one of the numbers in front of one of the vocabulary words directly below.
We will - say the word - teach its meaning - provide sentence examples -
and then encourage the student to write their own sentence.

To hear the audio you must have the free Real Player G2 player installed.
If you click the number next to the word our voice will begin within 20 seconds the first time
and within 10-15 seconds every time after that.  If the Real Player is not installed
it will provide you with a link for downloading the player which takes about 10 minutes
To go directly to the Real Player Download Site - click the link below
and look for the icon which says - "Download Free Real Player G2"

(this audio links are not yet operational but will be shortly)

Above is a "working" sample column from WEEK 1 of our Grade 4 Reading Vocabulary.
If you would like a copy of the sentence writing practice paper for any particular day -
click the link which says - "Sentence Practice" located below each set of Daily Words.

HOW TO USE THIS LIST WITH STUDENT'S WHO ARE
READING SLIGHTLY BELOW 4th GRADE LEVEL

SEE THE GRADE 4 VOCABULARY LIST