Helping your child with their vocabulary!!

1. Helping your child with their vocabulary!! The White Rabbit put on his spectacles. “Where shall I begin, please your Majesty?” he asked. “Begin at the beginning,” the King said, very gravely, “and go on till you come to the end: then stop.” – Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, p. 106 By: Alexa Sklar

2. OVerview This Powerpoint is for parents who have children in a primary grade who are struggling with vocabulary or simply need to build their vocabulary. I have provided my E-mail at the end of the presentation. I love to hear from parents on whether or not they think that this powerpoint was helpful or if you have any unanswered questions. Feel free to contact me!!!

3. What do we mean by Vocabulary? • The first thing you probably think of are “words”. • There is not necessarily one meaning of a certain word. • Very often in the English language, there are multiple meanings to words. For example: It is cool in this room, I need a sweater! (temperature) Look at that it is so cool! (description)

4. Vocabulary? In addition, you have to look at individual words- Walk….. Walking….. Walked…..Walks Does that count as 1 word or 4? Remember!!!!! Vocabulary is not instantly acquired. It is gradually learned over a period of time from numerous exposures.

5. Don’t Panic!!! Vocabulary is confusing!!!!!!! In this power point I am going to give you some techniques to use at home with your children to overcome this hurtle!!

6. You are a “Language Model” for your child!! Vocabulary children use is based and modeled on what they hear from others. You need to create an environment that enriches what your child hears!!

7. How to do that!! TURN OFF THE TV!! Encourage family discussions! If your child has started formal spelling at school, post the list on the refrigerator door. Use those words with your child as discussions arise. Encourage him to use them as well. Talk with your child as you read together. Point to pictures and name what is in them. When he is ready, ask him to do the same. Ask him about his favorite parts of the story, and answer his questions about events or characters. Whatever you do together, talk about it with your child. When you eat meals, take walks, go to the store, or visit the library, talk with him. These and other activities give the two of you a chance to ask and answer questions such as, "Which flowers are red? Which are yellow?" "What else do you see in the garden?" Challenge your child by asking questions that need more than a "yes" or "no" answer.

8. Try these Strategies at home! • Word Of The Week • Make A Letter Tray • The Penny Game • Ten Questions • Cloze Procedure • Other Suggestions

9. Word of the week! This is a family game! Each person selects a word taking turns each week. For example, the first week it might be Mother who writes a word on a card and puts it on the refrigerator door. Everyone must use that word as much as possible that week. The next week it's Dad's turn, and then the children's turn, and so on until it is Mother's turn again. As the words are used, they are posted on a cabinet door to stimulate continued Usage. Back

10. Make a Letter Tray You simply need magnetic letters and a cookie sheet to teach word recognition, and to play with making words. Your child will love this hands on way of learning new words. A related idea is to make a sand tray for drawing letters and words. This kinesthetic learning experience is easy with a sturdy plastic box and a bag of sand. Back

11. The Penny Game This game can be played even if your child is having difficulty with reading. You might use a comic book, the comic strips or sports pages in your local newspaper, or a magazine article- To play the game, the child must know that some words start with a consonant followed by a vowel-for example, "say, look, go, pay," et etc. that other words begin with two consonants (called a blend) such as "grow, plate, tray, brush," etc. (Note: Some words do start with two or three consonants but are not true blends because one letter is silent, as in "white". gnat, pneumonia," etc.) Tell the child you'll give him a penny for every word he underlines that starts with a blend. Back

12. Ten Questions This is a game that promotes several teaming skills, chief of which is reasoning with words. One family member thinks of something, which the other players must guess with no more than ten questions. The first question always is "Is it animal, vegetable, or mineral?" This covers virtually every possible thing the child could think of. Then, question by question, the field is narrowed to likely possibilities. After the first questions, the following questions must be asked so that they can be answered by "yes" or "no." Back

13. CLOzE procedure This technique involves deleting words from a reading passage, usually every fifth word. The students read the passage inserting words as they read to complete and construct meaning from the passage. Back

14. Other Suggestions! ♦ Play Hangman or complete crossword puzzles ♦ Play Scrabble ♦ Describe characters in a story ♦ Make lists of alike words and different words ♦ Create a new ending to a story ♦ Keep a Journal of new words your child comes across in books ♦ Write letters to family members ♦ Write words with colored pens or crayons ♦ Write words on index cards ♦ Play Charades or Pictionary Back

15. What to do when your child is reading • When s/he comes to a word in a text that s/he is unfamiliar with, try these ideas: • Have him/her guess at what the word means by how it is used in the sentence and in the story. If s/he is not correct, help him/her see clues to the meaning in the sentence. This will help him/her determine the meanings of unfamiliar words on his/her own later. • Sometimes tell him/her what the word means, but relate the word to something s/he has experienced [EX: say, "A smirk is like a smile, but it shows... Like when your sister..."]. This will help him/her understand the word better because it is being related to his/her own life. • At times, but not often, have him/her look the word up in the dictionary, but be sure s/he chooses the definition that fits the way the word is used in the sentence.

16. Remember!!! Children listen, then use words, then read them, and, finally, write them. What they learn at home about words supports success in school. A great deal of the learning that takes place at home is effective because it isn't a repeat of school. Once it becomes too formal and too "school-like," it will lose its appeal. Parents who talk to their children, and who encourage interaction win lay a healthy platform for academic success. And children will quickly realize that words can be exciting and interesting.

17. I Want to hear from you!! Was this presentation helpful? Was there something you wanted to know about that wasn’t included in the presentation? Would you recommend this presentation to someone else? Email me at Asklar@mail.usf.edu!

18. References • Federal Way Public Schools (2007). Retrieved June 24th, from http://www.fwsd.wednet.edu/info/press/0708/071205connected.html • Curran, R (2003). Helping Your Child At Home: Reading Strategies Parents can Use. Retrieved June 18th, from http://sig.cls.utk.edu/Products/SIG_Reading_Strategies_Final.pdf • Children’s Literacy (2006). Retrieved June 18th, from http://www.makereadingfirst.com/struggle.html

19. Child Development Institute (1998-2007). Helping your child at home with Vocabulary Building. Retrieved June 13th, from http://www.childdevelopmentinfo.com/learning/vocabulary.shtml