Yesterday at Wegmans I noticed that stock workers were breaking down the Halloween candy display to make more room for…you guessed it…Christmas decorations. The passing of the fall season was confirmed this morning with the first frost which means we have reached the end of our first quarter. Report cards will go home with students on November 8. This is a perfect time to set goals, adjust study habits and find ways to extend learning at home. When my own children were in middle school I happened upon a Word-A-Day calendar at a book store. Each morning “E” and Nate would take turns peeling back the calendar to find the next day’s word before heading out to the bus. (They still remember their all-time favorite word – bathetic.) Eventually they devised a game where points would be awarded if one of us could use a word in conversation over the course of the week. Nate still claims that he is the reigning champion (don’t tell his older sister). It was a simple thing but it really took on a life of its own. I still see those calendars in stores, but I’ve found a terrific online source for your daily dose of vocabulary at www.wordsmith.org. All you need to do is log on and enter your email address. Each morning you will get an email with a word, pronunciation, definition, etymology and usage. The best thing is that each week the words are arranged in a theme – so clever.
It’s hard to overstate the importance of a robust vocabulary for our students. Education theorist E.D. Hirsch recently wrote that, “There is strong evidence that increasing the general knowledge and vocabulary of a child before age 6 is the single highest correlate with later success.” We know that 11, 12 and 13 year olds also need to acquire as many words as possible and be able to use them orally and in writing. Another helpful strategy is for adults to read aloud to their children, especially text that they wouldn’t normally read independently. Almost every grade level uses current event articles for weekly assignments. Read the article aloud and ask your child to identify words that are new. Ask them to define the word if they can. You can also read aloud from the opinion page where many national columnists have articles. The vocabulary usage here is usually at a higher level.
Pulchritudinous…did that word get your attention? It did mine a few weeks ago when I saw it in the headline of an article on the OP-ED page of the newspaper. I got the meaning of that gorgeous word by reading the article and confirmed my definition with a quick look at Google. I suppose you can guess what I did next. I waited for just the right moment to use it in conversation with my children. Guess who the reigning champ is now?
We Celebrate Learning!
Beth
