Vocabulary is Key

Our first parent workshop was a success! Mary Masson was the gem that she is as she described how parents can nurture their child's language and literacy development. She explained that a child's vocabulary plays a primary role in his/her reading comprehension in elementary school. Exposing a child to a library of books reveals words and language a child simply does not hear in everyday conversation. Just listen to this passage from the children's book Come Along Daisy:

Something big stirred underneath her. Daisy shivered. She scrambled up onto the river bank. Then something screeched in the sky above!

Hearing and discussing such language now when children's vocabulary is growing at a rate higher than any other stage in their life, develops a "sophisticated" language that will aide in their reading and writing in elementary school and beyond.

The opportunities for discussion held within one picture book are amazing! Last week while reading The Little Red Hen, we talked about "wheat" as a plant and how it is ground up into flour that is an ingredient in many of our foods. The next day we talked about the word "snooze" and looked at the picture of the lazy animals sleeping the day away to figure out the meaning of the word. The next time you are reading with your child, take a moment to enrich their vocabulary.

Everyone Has a Story

Our study of authors is underway! When you read stories with your children, make sure to read the author's and illustrator's names. Every day in the story corner before we begin reading, I share the author's and illustrator's names. We discuss why Kevin Henkes wrote the book we read, or Dr. Seuss made his books extra silly. You will see this month that we are looking closer at who an author is and how we are authors and illustrators in our own right! Last week we watched a short clip of a video on Dr. Seuss. I shared the portion that highlighted Dr. Seuss as a boy, with pictures of him as a child in his Halloween costume, pictures of him when he was a baby, etc. It's important for our children to see that Dr. Seuss was just like them...a child with stories that he put to paper.

When I asked the children why people make books, their response was that "it's fun," "they like to," "people love books," and "they like to tell stories." Wow! This is a testament to how our children have a love for stories in their early years and are confident in 'making books' and storytelling. How then can we nurture this enthusiasm and confidence so that when they are in fourth and fifth grade they are still saying that writing stories "is fun" and have the self-esteem and capability to compose worthwhile stories? It starts by filling our homes and schools with a genuine love for reading, talking about what we read, and storytelling.

We need to inspire our children. Stories are what connect us; they are the fibers of our life. Whether it be around the kitchen table when your spouse asks, "How was your day?" and you respond with, "the funniest thing happened," to the passing of my grandma, which followed with days of storytelling. Stories of her childhood in a coal mining town in Pennsylvania were shared, through to our most recent memories that I will pass down to my children. There is much to learn through stories, yet for now, I just want you to think about how we are surrounded by stories, and if we just highlight and celebrate those moments with our children, how their enjoyment for telling stories, reading, writing and language will be richer for it.