Supplemental vocabulary program for grades 3-12
95 Vocabulary Surge™
95 Vocabulary Surge is a supplemental vocabulary intervention program that teaches students to break down word parts and build stronger vocabulary across elementary and secondary grades. Short, focused lessons support improved reading fluency and clearer word comprehension.
Empower your students to enjoy more complex, intriguing texts
Unleash the power of this series of 15-minute daily supplemental vocabulary lessons. Show students how to break words into parts, hypothesize the meaning of word parts, and check the meaning in context.
Vocabulary skills every child needs to enjoy reading
Dramatically improve students’ reading fluency and word comprehension
Teach vocabulary lessons effectively, in just 15 minutes a day.
Embrace flexibility. Lessons may be taught whole class or in small groups.
Students learn the meaning of the most common Anglo-Saxon words, affixes, Latin roots, and Greek combining forms.
Instruction teaches not only the meaning of well-chosen words but also shows students to learn words on their own.
Teacher’s Guide: What’s included
Easy-to-use vocabulary instruction, with everything you need to support vocabulary development in grades 2-8. The Teacher’s Guide includes:
Manipulatives and downloadable student worksheets
Word lists and worksheets
CCSS alignment chart
5-day lessons, 20 weeks of instruction, 15 minutes per day
Parents have been coming to me and saying: ‘Reading this year has been very different for my child.’ And in the back of my head I am thinking: ‘It’s that Vocabulary Surge. That’s what’s making your child read like a rock star!’
Nicola Johnson
What’s Included in Level A?
95 Vocabulary Surge-Level A: Support vocabulary development for all students in grades 2-8
Lessons 1–3: compound Anglo-Saxon words and Anglo-Saxon words with inflected endings
Lessons 4–10: 68 most common affixes—200 Anglo-Saxon words with affixes
Lessons 11–16: 48 common Latin roots—200 Latin words
Lessons 17–20: 37 common Greek combining forms—225 Greek words
What’s Included in Level B?
95 Vocabulary Surge-Level B: Support vocabulary development for all students in grades 4-8
Review Lessons 1–3: 45 most common affixes used with Anglo-Saxon words
Lessons 1–4: 46 common affixes used with Anglo-Saxon words and Latin roots
Lessons 5–13: 108 Latin roots and 11 affixes
Lessons 14–17: 48 Greek combining forms
Vocabulary instruction in just 15 minutes a day
Even with advanced decoding skills, students with limited vocabulary will struggle to read fluently and comprehend complex text. Many students are affected by low oral language skills. For students to close the vocabulary gap, they need vocabulary instruction that not only teaches the meaning of well-chosen words, but also shows them how to learn words on their own.
Reading is not a natural skill, but it is the most important skill we can teach children. I believe a structured literacy approach, based in the current body of evidence known as the science of reading, is the best approach for all children.
Laura Stewart, Chief Academic Officer
How our program works
Lessons may be taught whole class or in small groups. As each new layer of the language is introduced, teachers demonstrate how words are constructed in that layer.
Teachers use manipulatives to demonstrate roots, affixes and meaningful word parts to deepen knowledge of Latin and Greek words.
Students use mats and cards to show understanding of compound words and inflected endings.
Students respond to questions, write sentences, and build words to apply what they have learned about word-part meanings and structure.
Level A contains 20 weeks of instruction taught in five-day lessons, and Level B includes 33 weeks of instruction taught in five- and 10-day lessons.
Why is 95 Vocabulary Surge so effective?
Research shows that knowledge of morphemes is a powerful predictor of reading success, giving students the tools to independently decode meaning through word parts.
Morpheme-based instruction
Teaches word parts in order of frequency and clusters them by related meanings for maximum impact
Independent word-solving process
Provides students with a systematic approach to figure out unfamiliar words in context, extending vocabulary naturally
Research-backed methodology
Rooted in Science of Reading principles that demonstrate morphological awareness as key to comprehension success
Flexible implementation
Lessons designed for multi-grade use, fitting seamlessly into your existing reading instruction
Frequently asked questions
Explore answers to common questions about implementation, instructional design, and how this supplemental program supports students in building vocabulary and deepening comprehension through structured literacy.
95 Vocabulary Surge is built for students in grades 3-12, supporting both elementary and secondary students who need structured literacy vocabulary instruction.
Yes, 95 Vocabulary Surge is a supplemental vocabulary intervention program created to strengthen word knowledge and morphological awareness alongside your core curriculum.
Our program includes a Teacher’s Guide with 20 weeks of instruction organized into 5-day lessons, taught for 15 minutes per day. Additional resources include printable student mats, manipulatives, and activities focused on word parts, prefixes, suffixes, roots, and contextual meaning to help instruction come alive.
Yes, 95 Vocabulary Surge is rooted in morphological instruction and supports key components of the Science of Reading by helping students analyze word structure to build comprehension.
We offer 3-hour orientation sessions, available virtually, that focus on the ‘what’ and ‘why’ behind key concepts and program design, preparingeducators to implement Vocabulary Surge with integrity and confidence right away. Within the curriculum itself, teachers love the support of the clear instructional guidance as they use it in their classrooms.
One powerful solution for multi-tier reading instruction
As educators, we understand the profound impact of effective literacy instruction. That’s why we designed the One95 literacy ecosystem to empower you with the best resources to develop the strongest readers possible. It begins with proven literacy instruction products — then the knowledge, resources, and support to make them work.
With One95, you’ll find:
- Explicit and systematic Tier 1, 2, and 3 instruction
- Professional learning and development resources
- Extensive science of reading research and
- Access to literacy experts.
300%
improvement for Kindergarteners using 95 Phonics Core Program after only 14 weeks.
95 Vocabulary Surge—Unleashing the Power of Word Parts: Levels A and B
Your students become better readers as their vocabulary improves. Discover why more teachers see dramatic improvements when they use our trusted vocabulary intervention program–experience it in your own classroom. Get in touch today.
