Picture Books that Build Vocabulary
My Kindergartener gets these words sent home and we are supposed to make an educational game around it by using these words during our conversations. I’m afraid we are not that together. Instead, I cut out the words and we ask him during dinner what he thinks each word means. If he gets it right, we move on to the next one. If he gets it wrong, we read the sentence, ask him again, and then explain it if he’s off. Then I throw the paper away — of course, this blog is my electronic filing system so it’s immortalized here. But we are not good at making it a game.
Ideas for how you use these words as a fun game are much appreciated! The only thing that makes this a game is trying to get his older sisters NOT to chime in with the meaning. That’s very hard for them!
A Little Bit of Winter by Paul Stewart
p.s. These words don’t come home weekly, but I will post all the lists we get.
p.p.s. I have a category of posts on SAT Vocabulary Words for Kindergarteners here.
remind: To remind yourself about something write it down.
prodded: I had to be prodded to walk onto the stage to receive my award.
grasped: My mother grasped my hand tightly when we walked across the busy intersection.
message: The class messenger took the message to the office.
companions: My cousin and I are companions because we love spending time together.
solution: Joey smiled when he found the solution to the problem.
p.s. I am a little slow. I just noticed that these words came from A Little Bit of Winter by Paul Stewart. Hooray for picture books!
To view either book more closely at Amazon, please click on image of book.
I am so glad you added that P.S. at the end! I was at first appalled that these were being sent home at kindergarten (still am, a little). But it made me feel better to know that they were used in context. That’s actually the best way to teach young children new words — expose them to lots and lots of children’s books and encourage them to figure out the words with context and picture clues from the book.
Gee — better get going — college is a mere 13 years away! 🙂
Elizabeth Bennett
tiger tales
To Elizabeth,
I can’t believe that I didn’t realize that all the SAT words for Kindergarteners were pulled from picture books. I WONDERED how they came up with the words. I think they also read the book in class that week. I LOVE picture books so another great reason to keep on reading them for kids of all ages including adults!!!
This concerns me a little – it seems so prescriptive. How about just reading suggestions and let you do the rest in conversation about the book? Hmmm…
To Melissa,
You have great ideas, as usual! Thanks for sharing!!!