Intended for use with grades three and four, this curriculum unit developed by the Oregon Elementary English Project attempts to (1) develop an interest in, respect for, and curiosity about words; (2) expose students to the concept that when we know a word we know its meaning, pronunciation, and relationship to other words; (3) build language confidence through word building; and (4) introduce the student to the dictionary. The first two lessons introduce the idea of the individual word bank and the concept of words as building blocks of the language; lessons 3 through 6 deal with the meanings of words; lessons 7 through 11 emphasize the use of the dictionary; and lessons 12 and 13 are primarily concerned with pronunciation of words. Each lesson is accompanied by a statement of its purpose, suggested procedures and materials, possible extensions, and student exercises. A supplementary packet of materials to be used in conjunction with some of the lessons is also provided. (See related documents CS 200 482-486 and CS 200 488-499.) (HS)