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.
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