Did you know that vocabulary knowledge is one of the strongest predictors of reading and writing success?
Between Grade 1 and Grade 9, children’s vocabulary’s are expected to grow from 5,000 words to 50, 000 words. That is a lot!
As Grade Three students, our goal is to expand our vocabulary, when both speaking and writing. We must learn how and when to replace “talk vocabulary” (eg. build, make) with “academic vocabulary” (construct, create). In class today, we discussed some very common verbs that tend to be overly used in narrative writing. In particular, we focussed on the words “got“, “went“, “saw” and “said“. This ties in with our previous lessons on using more specific adjectives in place of general ones such as “big“, “small“, “nice” or “pretty“. Children have been given a thesaurus of alternate words to use in place of these common verbs and adjectives. They will also be taking home a copy to keep at home. Many of them wanted to know if they could still use the “ordinary” words when they are speaking. I emphasized that we can choose whichever words we want, based on time and place, but the words we choose definitely impact the effectiveness of our communication.
What can parents do?
You can help enrich your child’s vocabulary through the every-day conversations you have with them, especially during conversations your child has initiated. Adults directly model vocabulary choices when they speak to a child, and a child is more likely to key in on word choices when the subject is something they’re keen to talk about (Lego, sports, Science, one of their friends, etc). When you listen to your child speak, listen to the words they select to articulate themselves: if you don’t understand what they are describing, ask them questions to help them add more detail (What did it look like? How did you do that? How did that make you feel?). Provide examples of words you think they might be searching for. Often times, children know there are better word choices to make, but might need some help coming up with it.
Listen carefully to the way your child speaks. Often the way they speak in daily conversation is a reflection of the way they write. Notice if your child uses repeated phrases (such as “And then…” or “I got..”) and offer them a different expression.
When reading, give your child sticky notes to stick on the pages where they’ve found interesting or unfamiliar words. Ask them to share the words with you and guess at their meaning. Together, you can look the words up in a dictionary or use context clues to figure them out.
Create a Word Wall in your own house and add a new vocabulary word each week to it.
These are just some ideas. Please feel free to share any others you may have!
Miss Fear's Grade 3 Class 