Vocabulary

Reading Comprehension: You can't understand what you read if you don't know the words; vocabulary is the bridge between decoding and understanding text.

Communication: More words allow for more precise, nuanced, and confident expression of ideas, improving both verbal and written communication.

Academic Success: Strong vocabulary is a key predictor of overall school performance and achievement, even in later grades.

Cognitive Growth: Learning new words expands your understanding of the world, improves thinking, and makes learning new things easier.

Build a Word Conscious Home: Get your child excited about words, learning new words, and using new words in conversations. 

Use Big Words: Children are capable and competent. Don't shy away from using big words with children. 

Read Together: When you read together, take the opportunity to focus on new and exciting vocabulary you find in books. 

Play Audiobooks and Podcasts: Listening to stories allows children to hear words that might be above their current independent reading level. It builds their "auditory vocabulary," making it much easier for them to recognize those words later when they see them in a book. 

"What's Another Word For...": During car rides or walks, pick a simple word like happy or mad and see how many synonyms you can come up with as a team (E.g., Happy: Joyful, ecstatic, content, thrilled, etc.). 

Board Games: Traditional games such as Scrabble, Boggle, Pictionary, and Scategories all help students build vocabulary development.

Vocabulary Bookmarks: Make a vocabulary bookmark where your child makes a list of new and exciting words they encounter when reading at home.