Vocabulary Development  

One of the true joys of parenthood may be hearing your child begin to label things in his or her environment. First "da da," then "cat," and pretty soon your little one has words for everything. It seems almost a miracle!

By the age of eight or nine, children begin to appreciate the power of words. In their lives outside school, as they watch television or play on the computer, they acquire new vocabulary every day. In school, science, social studies, and literature constantly feed their expanding vocabularies. During these years, you are likely to see vocabulary lists of new words come home with your child.

The words that appear most frequently in reading materials and that children need to recognize quickly are known as high frequency words. They include words like the, then, could, have, and was. Often these words do not follow regular phonics rules, so they cannot be "sounded out." The best way to learn them is through practice and memorization.

One type of vocabulary your child will study is called homophones–pairs of words that sound alike but have different spellings and meanings. (You might remember learning them as homonyms.)

Sun and son are homophones.

Children are taught to use clues in the sentence to help them decide which one (or is it won?) of a pair (or is it pare?) of homophones to use (or yews?). They will also learn about homographs–words like wind that have more than one pronunciation and meaning.

Having an expanded vocabulary means greater choices for writing. Using a variety of words for writing almost always makes writing more interesting to read. Encourage your child to use both these types of words to enrich his or her writing:

• Synonyms–words that have the same meaning, such as quickly and speedily
• Antonyms–words that mean the opposite, such as full and empty

Think about the meaning of the word saved in this sentence: The fireman saved the kitten from falling out of the tree. Since the sentence describes falling out of a tree, you probably think of danger and so you know that saved in this sentence means rescued, not kept from wasting or spending. Second and third graders are expected to use context clues like these from the sentence or surrounding sentences to help them determine the definition of multiple-meaning words like saved.

Many events in the course of a day lend themselves to word play: new or unusual words you see on signs while driving to school, words you hear on television or radio, something you read in the newspaper. You can even make your own "word-a-day" calendar and post it on your refrigerator. Do what you can to contribute to your child's vocabulary and watch your child become a better reader, writer, speaker, and thinker!

 

Taken from www.kz.com