VOCABULARY ISN’T CHICKEN FEED
Vocabulary isn’t chicken feed, I realised this fact over the holidays when I sat and listened to my youngest grand -daughter’s questions about word meanings. Do you know that over a period of half an hour she asked about the meaning of three words? I found this amazing. We were having afternoon tea at a restaurant, just relaxing and chatting. Why am I telling you this?
I want you to know that there are so many incidental learning opportunities throughout the day that will help your child achieve great comprehension results. BUT if you don’t pay attention you could miss these times and the benefits that they offer.
My grand-daughters are no different to any other children. They are inquisitive and love to learn. This love of learning has been developed in them from an early age, but it is never too late to encourage engagement in learning. Just begin NOW. Every experience is an opportunity to learn.
Over the last few weeks I have been concentrating on vocabulary and its relationship with comprehension. To get started let’s look at one word to improve comprehension this week. I am going to help you capture a moment in time. I really believe that parents create special moments to teach and don’t need any encouragement from me. My input is in the area of creating a foundation for comprehension by creating experiences and learning the vocabulary that will support improved results. There are so many words that we could investigate BUT for today, I am going to write about the word, BUT. In reading comprehension this little word causes a lot of problems. So, let’s look at it in a little more detail.
The word, BUT, changes the meaning of the first part of a sentence and places boundaries around the meaning of a sentence.
You will be allowed to go to the movies but before you go you must tidy your room. There is a condition attached to going to the pictures, the room must be tidied. This means that if the room isn’t tidied there will be no movie. I have demonstrated BUT as a conjunction, however, there are other meanings and parts of speech for BUT that aren’t referred to in this blog.
The word, BUT, can’t escape a child’s attention, it is too important. Here are some examples for you to talk about with your child. You could give the beginning of the sentence and the child would add an ending. Do this at the dinner table or in the car. It is so much fun and the kids can make up really funny endings to the sentence.
We wanted to play baseball, BUT it was raining.
Dad bought the hotdogs BUT he forgot the tomato sauce.
Your grandmother was depressed BUT she was cheered by the nice letter that you sent.
Mother was supposed to pick up Jane, BUT she decided to walk home.
She ate the corn BUT not the peas.
Ann Foster is a talented teacher who owns an online tutoring business. tutoring is provided in reading, writing and spelling. Ann and her team of teachers take children through to reaching their potential and eventually fulfilling their dreams. Our passion for teaching and making sure that each student has the best access to learning has made us a leader in tutoring. Get the best results by contacting Letter Box info@letterboxlearntoread.com
No comments yet.