Have you been considering fun ways to incorporate more vocabulary into your late elementary or middle school student’s lessons? Vocabulary Riddles A to Z Catastrophes from Critical Thinking Co.  might be the answer. The 26-page workbook includes stories for each letter of the alphabet, and the simple style makes learning new words fun and engaging.

Each week we focus on one alphabet from Vocabulary Riddles Book 1. At the beginning of each week, I photocopy the workbook page for each of my daughters who are currently in fifth and seventh grade. Each workbook page follows the same format for each letter of the alphabet:

• Two sentences composed of four vocabulary words that begin with the alphabet for that page.
• Six questions for each sentence that focuses on antonyms, synonyms, parts of speech, and decoding.

When we first began using Vocabulary Riddles Book 1, I thought my daughters would be able to work through the sentences independently, but I soon learned that they were more successful when we were able to talk through the sentences since they were not familiar with words such as asperity or arrant. Although I intended for the worksheets to be independent work, I have found that studying the vocabulary words with my daughters also allows me to add new words to my vocabulary, and I can intentionally use the words they’ve been introduced to throughout the day, week, and month.

If one of your educational goals for your children is to teach context clues or vocabulary, I would recommend Vocabulary Riddles from Critical Thinking Co. because the lessons are simple, but truly effective.  Over the years, we have had the most success and long term understanding from short, but consistent lessons.

Vocabulary Riddles A to Z Catastrophes is available in paperback and e-book format from The Critical Thinking Co. The cost for each format is $7.99.

-Product review by Latonya Moore, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, June, 2018