November, 2007 

This year NCS is pleased to announce the adoption of the Houghton Mifflin Spelling and Vocabulary series, 2006, for grades 1-5. The student workbooks are colorful and visually appealing. They boast large bold print that is easy to read. The words in each unit are grouped by particular themes, such as short vowel sounds, long vowel sounds, etc. Every sixth unit is considered a review unit.

Each spelling unit focuses on multiple skills. These skills include, but are not limited to: spelling strategies, phonics, vocabulary and proofreading. Students utilize practice pages in each unit to review their spelling words for the week.

At the back of each student workbook is a resource section designed for student and parent use. Grammar resources, a thesaurus, and a spelling dictionary all assist students with their daily class-work and homework.

For additional practice, log on to www.eduplace.com. This is Houghton Mifflin's free website for teachers, students and parents. Click on Texas, spelling, Spelling and Vocabulary 2006, and your child's particular grade level. You will then see a menu of various activities and games that may be printed out or played on the computer. This is a good and fun way to help your child prepare for the weekly spelling test.

In addition to the spelling workbook, students have a Scientific Spelling binder that is kept at school. This binder lists all the spelling patterns in the English language. Students sort their spelling words according to the rules. This provides additional phonics instruction and helps the students to understand how words are classified into the different patterns. The goal is for these skills to then translate to other words in other subjects.