Picture books for kids that build vocabulary.
Jeanette and I thought we’d search for gifts today that open young minds; gifts for kids who hate art, and books for kids who don’t like to read. What gifts have you had success in introducing your kids to something mind-expanding that they have resisted? p.s. More Art Gift Ideas for Kids here: Art Activity…
The words for Week 10 are from the picture book, New Shoes for Sylvia by Johanna Hurwitz, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney. To think that reading picture books will expose your child not only to a wonderful and gorgeously illustrated story, but to SAT building vocabulary. Jerry Pinkney is also a Caldecott winning illustrator and we are enjoying The Lion and the Mouse at home which is an amazing work that tells the story solely through watercolor illustrations with almost no words. This is not the case for New Shoes for Sylvia!
The words for Week 13 are from the picture book, Stellaluna by Janell Cannon, a beloved classic!
The words for Week 12 are from the picture book, Big Al by Andrew Clements, illustrated by Yoshi.
The vocabulary words for Week 12 are from the picture book, Gregory, the Terrible Eater.
The words for Week 11 are from the picture book, Annie and the Wild Animals by Jan Brett. I noticed that in my son’s Kindergarten room, the teacher or maybe literacy specialist, mounts a special poster with the cover of book and the list of vocabulary words from the book. They have a time called “Text Talk” where they read the story and talk about the big words. The words stay up all year so the children can look at them. Sometimes, the words come home via a handout to the parents in my child’s backpack, but times are tough and I think they are conserving on paper so I copied these words from the posters and made up the sentences myself. I find that this post is very popular so I will continue it on my own as my child is moving on first grade next year.
The words for Week 9 are from the picture book, The Gingerbread Man by Jim Aylesworth and Barbara McClintock. It turns out that my son has “Text Talk” at school and this is the source of all the SAT Vocabulary Words for Kindergarteners. They read a picture book and then talk about the “big words.” Picture books are great sources for not only gorgeous artwork, a complete story with a beginning, middle and end in about 36 pages, but rich language!! Did I mention that I LOVE picture books?!
The words for Week 8 are from the picture book, The Scarecrow’s Hat by Ken Brown. Lest you be alarmed that it’s freaky to be teaching SAT vocabulary words to Kindergarteners, I wanted to REITERATE that all the words in this series are from a picture book; however, I failed to notice which picture book on earlier posts. This brings me to another point: picture books often have richer language than easy chapter books, not to mention gorgeous art work. I am a HUGE fan of picture books for all ages. How else can one be transported to a different time and place and/or walk in the shoes of another in the short space of 24ish pages? I digress, onward for the words.
