Students at Poland Central School are involved in a new vocabulary building competition, and they're showing up other schools  three times their size.

Vocabulary.com is the catalyst for Poland Central School students excelling at vocabulary and spelling. The program allows students to review words, check their spelling and compete against other schools. This past March and April, Poland Central ranked in the top 10 for New York State.

Students’ vocabulary scores have been improving and that they have even been using the learned words in their writing. “It’s something that the kids have really latched onto,” Gagnon said. “I think some of the kids who are using it are definitely learning new words that they didn’t know before.”

Let's face it, no one likes to lose. I think we're all born with an innate competitive nature. Students at Poland Central are super excited about the opportunity to compete face to face with other students. Mike Gookins is one of the teachers who incorporated the vocabulary.com educational tool in his curriculum. He says that ever since the students started competing, he's seen some of the best test scores of his entire teaching career.

When I was in high school, I embarked on a journey to read the dictionary from front to back. I didn't make it too far. In fact, I stopped studying at the AB's. The last word I learned was "ablated." Apparently my interest in learning big words has ablated as well. Perhaps, if vocabulary.com existed when I was a student, I wouldn't have lost out on my opportunity to win over the heart of my school's valedictorian. One day she asked me out for some zabaglione.  Then I asked her what zabaglione was. She laughed in my face and walked away.

Just Jen talked about these exemplary students at Poland Central this morning.

 

 

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