This study evaluated the effects of Adapted Reciprocal Teaching (ART) on the receptive and expressive flight-word vocabulary of 1st-grade students. During ART, classroom interactions produced narrative contexts within which students assumed responsibility for applying new flight words in personally meaningful ways. Students in the control group also received interactive storybook instruction, but classroom interactions were led primarily by the teacher and focused only on the meanings of unfamiliar flight words. Students were assessed using the Receptive Flight Word Vocabulary Test (RFVT) and the Expressive Flight Word Vocabulary Test (EFVT). The data demonstrated that after the instructional intervention, the students in the ART group acquired significantly more target words (as measured by performance on the RFVT and the EFVT) than students in the control group. Results are interpreted in light of generative learning theory, and practical implications for introducing vocabulary in the early school years are addressed.