Friday, September 17, 2010

Review: Vocabulary Cartoons SAT Word Power!

Vocabulary Cartoons SAT Word Power
Revised and Updated Edition
Vocabulary Cartoons (dot) com
Type:paperback 
Age: Jr/Sr High School (possibly upper elementary)
Price: $12.95
My Take:  I like this book!

I was given a copy of Vocabulary Cartoons SAT Word Power with no monetary compensation.  My opinions are my own.

W o r d s.  They are the basis for most of our communication whether we speak or write.  Of course there are other forms of communication like the nonverbal stuff, but the written and spoken word have some of the strongest effect when they are carefully crafted.  At the base of this skill is having a good command of words, also known as vocabulary.  Without words, we'd never hear of love or other strong emotion.  Without words we'd never hear meaning...words are power!

If you're like me, you want your child to have a strong command of words.  Being able to write and speak are such essential skills to so much in our world today, and kids can come biologically and biochemically disadvantaged or just not exposed to words.  Despite challenges, learning words can be possible by various methods, and New Monic Books has provided a new modality of learning with a mnemonic or a visual "cartoon" to enhance the definition of the word making it easier to remember~connecting the visual to the word so that recall is enhanced.  We all want our children to be successful in this world, and having a strong vocabulary is essential to academic and otherwise success!

Vocabulary Cartoons has 29 chapters of 10 words each all in alphabetical order.  Each word has the word, a pronunciation guide, definition, "cartoon" or mnemonic AND sentences illustrating the use of the word in them.  We are systematically working through it, and find that the cartoons are aiding in recall for my children.  I have a challenged learner, and he's doing great with this method!  While there are several possible uses for Vocabulary Cartoons like just giving it to older children to read and study, we have incorporated it as our vocabulary course this year.  As a result, we are finding that my kids have greater recall and ability to remember than ever before as shown with other vocabulary books/word lists we have tried.  Of course it could be a refresher and not used as curriculum.  You can follow the suggested us outlined on page 11in the forward section of the book or you can adapt it for your own needs. Our combo approach is working well for us!  If you head over to Vocabulary Cartoons to check out the teacher strategies!  There are 20!   

Vocabulary Cartoons SAT Word Power prepares students for the SAT and life!

You can choose  Vocabulary Words (Elementary version) if you have a younger child!

For another SAT prep book, you can choose Vocabulary Cartoons SAT Word Power 2!

Vocabulary Cartoons also gives some stats about test scores improving by 72% than other students who did not use this method.  That's pretty hefty!



We like it, and it's very effective!

If you are interested in what The Old Schoolhouse Crew is saying head over HERE!

2 comments:

Lynn said...

Was this supposed to post already? I am reviewing the elementary book and I thought we were supposed to post on the 29th?

Anonymous said...

Nice review! Enjoyed reviewing something we were already using. Thanks for stopping by this morning!