CL Parent Workshop — Vocabulary

As students progress through the grades, a key element of their growth as readers and writers is vocabulary development. – Thomas G. Gunning, 2010

Every Moment Has a Meaning Building Your Child’s Vocabulary

Parent Packet

Children learn new words by listening to the people around them. If they are surrounded by people who talk to them about many different things, their own language will reflect this experience.

In addition to conversations, children can develop a rich vocabulary by listening to a story. Be sure to choose stories that are motivating and filled with words that will engage your child and promote book talk. When riding in a car or walking in the neighborhood, talk about what you are seeing. Use new and interesting words to point out new as well as familiar sights.

Poetry Poems are a great place to learn new words. Poets carefully select each word in a poem. When you read a poem to your child, they hear new words. Following the reading with a discussion of these new words can help to build their vocabulary.

Fly and a Flea in a Flue

by Anonymous A Fly and a Flea in a Flue Were imprisoned, so what could they do?

Children who read more often have stronger vocabularies and perform better in school. Plan trips to the public library and don’t forget to give a book for a birthday surprise.

Said the fly, “Let us flee!”

“Let us fly!” said the flea, And they flew through a flaw in the flue.

Take a few minutes to read the poem. The following are the types of questions you could pose for your child:

Tips for Improving Your Child’s Vocabulary • Talk to your child • Read to your child • Play word games with your child.

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• How has the poet used common words in a variety of ways to create a fun poem?

• Can you find words that sound alike but have different spellings and meaning.

• Does the author use humor to hook the reader?

• Where were the animals being held captive?

•H ow did the flea plan to escape? Why were they able to escape?

• What word in the poem answers this question?

Strategies for Building Vocabulary Word Search When walking in the neighborhood or riding in the car, choose a letter of the alphabet, and have your child search for things that begin with that letter.

Word Chains Help children learn to categorize words by creating a word chain.

Select a topic such as community workers. Cut several sheets of paper into half inch strips. As children hear or see words that belong to this topic, write the word on a strip of paper and tape the ends together forming a link. When the child learns about

a new community worker, write the name on a strip of paper and connect it to the first link forming a chain. Continue to add links as new community workers are identified. Ongoing and completed chains can be suspended from a hanger so they are accessible and ready for review.

Action Words Select a topic and brainstorm a list of related words. Select one word and write it in a way that gives a clue to the word’s meaning. For example, the word charred might be written inside of a BBQ grill.

Growing Your Child’s Vocabulary • Go on a word hunt. Ask your children to search for new words. Every time they find one they can write it on a post-it or in a notebook. At least once a week, gather the new-found words, and talk about what they mean and how they’re used.

Practice finding ways to use the words in your conversations with each other.

• Create a letter graph. Using a sheet of graph paper (you can download just about any size grid) and two different colored pencils or pens, have your child write a word – one letter per box on the graph. The word can be written anywhere on the graph – horizontally or vertically. Using one of the letters in your child’s word, you build a new word. Continue taking turns until no other words can be added. Add up the number of letters each player wrote. – highest score wins.

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• Menu menace. When eating out, use the menu as a way to develop vocabulary. What’s the longest word on the menu? The shortest? What synonyms can you come up with for interesting words on the menu? How can you create your own menu using alliteration? What if you described some of the dishes using antonyms for the words found in the menu?

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1. Adapted from http://www.ftschool.org/Reading/Reading/Reading_Connections_files/October%202009.pdf 2. Adapted from http://www.ftschool.org/Reading/Reading/Reading_Connections_files/May2010_1.pdf

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Š2011 Catapult Learning

CL11193-E