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Michael Clay Thompson: Vocabulary, Elementary Program
Michael Clay Thompson’s Building Language, and the two Caesar's English volumes, can be used as stand-alones or as part of a vocabulary program for young students.
They also set the stage as preparatory complements to the more advanced Word Within The Word Vocabulary program.
Building Language and Caesar's English:
- reveal the age of the English language with its Roman beginnings
- teach students the most prevalent Latin stems, providing an intellectual key for young students to understand that big words aren't necessarily hard
- discard the specious confines of teaching age-graded vocabulary, on the observation that even little children can give the species names of dinosaurs-a clear proof that they can learn and understand bigger words than they are usually asked to learn
- aim to sow the seeds of intellectuality by introducing students to the drama and romance of ancient Rome, to the names of its thinkers, and to some of the fascinating facts of its history.
- show Latin-English-Spanish connections.
- develop a sense of anticipation about reading classic literature in the future. In all three volumes the authors have chosen examples of the use of words and their stems in the best sentences they could find--even if a sentence was from books to be more likely read in high school rather than in elementary school. Included are children's authors such as Sir Walter Scott, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Kenneth Grahame, and Robert Louis Stevenson, but also the Brontes, Jane Austen, Defoe, Milton, Morrison and Shelley.
For a complete overview, go to the Michael Clay Thompson Language Arts Curriculum page. See a video clip of a keynote presentation the author gave about teaching Vocabulary.
Support Groups for users of Michael Clay Thompson's Language Arts series
Homeschoolers teachers and parents are invited to join the Support Group: MCTLA
Michael Clay Thompson Course Packages
We have made available special packages of the curriculum to help make your ordering easier and to help you save money. Includes student book and teacher's manual for each stage of the curriculum: Homeschool Packages
Michael Clay Thompson’s Building Language, and the two Caesar's English volumes, can be used as stand-alones or as part of a vocabulary program for young students.
They also set the stage as preparatory complements to the more advanced Word Within The Word Vocabulary program that should come in middle or high school.
Building Language and Caesar's English:
- reveal the age of the English language with its Roman beginnings
- teach students the most prevalent Latin stems, providing an intellectual key for young students to understand that big words aren't necessarily hard
- discard the specious confines of teaching age-graded vocabulary, on the observation that even little children can give the species names of dinosaurs-a clear proof that they can learn and understand bigger words than they are usually asked to learn
- aim to sow the seeds of intellectuality by introducing students to the drama and romance of ancient Rome, to the names of its thinkers, and to some of the fascinating facts of its history.
- show Latin-English-Spanish connections.
- develop a sense of anticipation about reading classic literature in the future. In all three volumes the authors have chosen examples of the use of words and their stems in the best sentences they could find--even if a sentence was from books to be more likely read in high school rather than in elementary school. Included are children's authors such as Sir Walter Scott, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Kenneth Grahame, and Robert Louis Stevenson, but also the Brontes, Jane Austen, Defoe, Milton, Morrison and Shelley.
For a complete overview, go to the Michael Clay Thompson Language Arts Curriculum page. See a video clip of a keynote presentation the author gave about teaching Vocabulary.
Support Groups for users of Michael Clay Thompson's Language Arts series
Teachers and educators in schools are invited to join the Group: MCTteachers
Michael Clay Thompson Course Packages
We have made available special packages of the curriculum to help make your ordering easier and to help you save money. Includes student book and teacher's manual for each stage of the curriculum: School Examination Packages
Books in this series:
Building Language
- Author:
- Thompson, Michael Clay
- Subjects:
- English Language Arts; Vocabulary
- Age:
- 8, 9, 10
- Grade:
- 3, 4
- ISBN:
- 978-0-88092-584-6
- Latest edition:
- August 2011
- Order code:
- 5841
- Price:
- $25.00
- Online Price:
- $15.00
- Class sets:
- 25 or more: $14.00 each. (Order code: 5841S)
Building Language provides an introduction to Latin stems as the bases for much of the English and Spanish languages. Using the analogy of the arch in architecture, the book explores the Roman roots of our buildings and of our language. Ten lessons introduce important Latin stems, providing an intellectual key for young students to understand that big words aren't necessarily hard. It rejects the specious confines of teaching age-graded vocabulary.
This is the vocabulary precursor to Caesar's English I and II.
Building Language Sample Pages pdf file
Building Language provides an introduction to Latin stems as the bases for much of the English and Spanish languages. Using the analogy of the arch in architecture, the book explores the Roman roots of our buildings and of our language. Ten lessons introduce important Latin stems, providing an intellectual key for young students to understand that big words aren't necessarily hard. It rejects the specious confines of teaching age-graded vocabulary.
This is the vocabulary precursor to Caesar's English I and II.
Building Language Sample Pages pdf file
Building Language: Teacher Manual
- Author:
- Thompson, Michael Clay
- Grade:
- 3, 4
- ISBN:
- 978-0-88092-585-3
- Latest edition:
- June 2011
- Order code:
- 585X
- Price:
- $30.00
- Online Price:
- $20.00
Teacher manuals for the curriculum always contain the student book, plus extra pages for instruction, answers to questions where applicable and suggestions throughout the text for teachers to implement.
Teacher manuals for the curriculum always contain the student book, plus extra pages for instruction, answers to questions where applicable and suggestions throughout the text for teachers to implement.
Building Lang TM pages:
View online or
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Caesar's English I
- Author:
- Thompson, Michael Clay; Thompson, Myriam B.
- Subjects:
- English Language Arts; Vocabulary
- Age:
- 9, 10, 11
- Grade:
- 4, 5
- ISBN:
- 978-0-88092-208-1
- Latest edition:
- September 2011 2nd Edition
- Order code:
- 2087
- Price:
- $25.00
- Online Price:
- $15.00
- Class sets:
- 25 or more: $14.00 each. (Order code: 2087S)
Caesar's English I has twenty lessons, each introducing five new stems with an introductory Latin Stem List and the following learning activities:
Latin Stem Talk; Latin Stem Analogy; Advanced Words, Classic Words, Who's That Writer; Latin Stem: English and Spanish; A Roman Fact; and a Latin Stem Word Search game.
Caesar's English I has twenty lessons, each introducing five new stems with an introductory Latin Stem List and the following learning activities:
Latin Stem Talk; Latin Stem Analogy; Advanced Words, Classic Words, Who's That Writer; Latin Stem: English and Spanish; A Roman Fact; and a Latin Stem Word Search game.
CE1 pages 1-10:
View online or
Download PDF
Caesar's English I. Teacher Manual
- Author:
- Thompson, Michael Clay
- Age:
- 9, 10, 11
- Grade:
- 4, 5
- ISBN:
- 978-0-88092-209-8
- Latest edition:
- January 2011 2nd Edition
- Order code:
- 2095
- Price:
- $30.00
- Online Price:
- $20.00
Caesar's English II
- Author:
- Thompson, Michael Clay; Thompson, Myriam B.
- Subjects:
- Language Arts; Vocabulary
- Age:
- 10, 11, 12
- Grade:
- 5, 6
- ISBN:
- 978-0-88092-225-8
- Latest edition:
- August 2011
- Order code:
- 2257
- Price:
- $25.00
- Online Price:
- $15.00
- Class sets:
- 25 or more: $14.00 each. (Order code: 2257S)
Caesar's English II has - besides all the elements in the first volume - a heavier emphasis on the relationship between English and Spanish.
Each of the twenty lessons also includes five new stems and five review stems from volume I. Students are challenged to fill in the blank in a sentence by a famous author using stem words. Each lesson has a grammar example of the use of one stem word.
Caesar's English II Sample Pages pdf file
Caesar's English II has - besides all the elements in the first volume - a heavier emphasis on the relationship between English and Spanish.
Each of the twenty lessons also includes five new stems and five review stems from volume I. Students are challenged to fill in the blank in a sentence by a famous author using stem words. Each lesson has a grammar example of the use of one stem word.
Caesar's English II Sample Pages pdf file
Caesar's English II. Teacher Manual
- Author:
- Thompson, Michael Clay
- Age:
- 10, 11, 12
- Grade:
- 5, 6
- ISBN:
- 978-0-88092-226-5
- Latest edition:
- 2003
- Order code:
- 2265
- Price:
- $30.00
- Online Price:
- $20.00
CE2 Teacher pages sample:
View online or
Download PDF

















