Imagine walking into a room full of words …

Where do you get inspiration for writing?  How do you think of the words you want to use?Imagine a room with word lists hanging all around – not just one “word wall” but words everywhere all over the room.

When I teach writing, I encourage students to not use the same words over and over again (I call these “worn out” or “boring” words). I have very large lists of interesting synonyms for some “boring” words. Students enjoy finding new words to use. Sometimes a student will find one of the words in a book. They get to share that “treasure find” with the class by reading the sentence that contains the word along with a few of the sentences around it. If students use any of the “list words” when they write, they get to use a marker or colored pencil to draw a circle around the word. There are times when students find other words that can be added to the list of synonyms, so we add those words. I guess I try to create “word detectives” in my classroom.

When students find interesting words while reading, they can present those to the class by writing that word on a sentence strip or index card and decorating it. If that new interesting word belongs with a synonym list on the wall, we add it. If the new word doesn’t fit in any of the lists, then we add it to the “look what I found” category.

We also do various activities with these word lists. They are a great “time filler” to use when lining up or transitioning from one activity to another.We can do word sorts based on syllables, vowels, number of letters, plural, prefix/suffix, antonyms. We can also create word webs by brainstorming words that sound the same, have similar parts, start with the same prefix, end with the same suffix, have the same base or root.

At times I hang up all the lists all around the room (the fire marshal does not like that too much). Other times I post lists that are related to what we are reading or studying in other subjects. When words all around the room gets to be too much, we have folders full of synonym lists for students to use. We could also use table tents, pocket charts, or containers to post words, but the huge word lists hanging around the room really capture student attention.

Developing Your Preschooler’s Vocabulary Through Read Alouds

We’ve all heard that when children are young, their minds are like sponges.  We want to fill their brain with background knowledge and vocabulary so that they may easily use this knowledge when necessary.  Reading aloud is an excellent way to help build your child’s vocabulary.  Your child will certainly learn new words just by listening and through every day conversation, but here are a few tips to help build your child’s vocabulary explicitly through read alouds:

• Begin with high-frequency sight words when reading with preschoolers.  These are the words that appear frequently in writing, but are less common in every day conversation.  Children should be able to say the word on sight.  These words are essential to vocabulary development.
• Use the pictures to help your child make connections to word meanings.  Point to the picture in the text when reading an unknown word.
• If you come across a word when reading, and you aren’t sure if your child knows what it means, ask him.  This is a perfect opportunity to provide quick vocabulary instruction.  A one to two sentence explanation may be sufficient enough.
• If your child still has difficulty with vocabulary words, consider creating pictures (either drawing them or printing them online) to help make connections between words and their meanings.  Also consider labeling items in your house (banister, stairs, fireplace, chair, etc.)
• Word learning is enhanced through repeated readings of text, which provides opportunities to revise and refine word meanings (Kindle, 2009; Carey, 1978).  So, even though you may get tired of reading the same story over and over again, your child is actually morphing through several stages of word knowledge as you do: from never heard it, to sounds familiar, to it has something to do with, to well known (Kindle, 2009; Dale, 1965).

Most important of all: don’t be afraid to read books that have large words in them.  Fancy Nancy is a great series of books for girls that provide explicit vocabulary instruction through the story.  I know a few preschool girls who use words like “exquisite” and “furious” – and they use them correctly!

This post was inspired by: Vocabulary Development During Read Alouds: Primary Practices by Karen J. Kindle (The Reading Teacher, 2009).

Dawn Little (aka Links to Literacy) also blogs at www.teachingwithpicturebooks.wordpress.com where she provides educators with picture book lessons based on comprehension strategies and the Six Traits of Writing.  In addition, she blogs at www.literacytoolbox.wordpress.com where she provides educators and parents with tips and tools to enhance the literacy lives of children.  She is the founder and owner of Links to Literacy, a company dedicated to providing interactive literacy experiences for children and families.  Find out more at www.linkstoliteracy.com

10 Ways to Use Current Events in the Classroom

Current events provide a rich resource for building language skills and promote active learning. Vocabulary enrichment, reading comprehension, writing opportunities and improved critical thinking are just a few of the benefits of using a newspaper, magazine or other news source in the classroom. Social awareness and improved listening aptitude and verbal skills are added bonuses.

Here is a list of ideas to get you started.

10 Ways to Use Current Events in the Classroom

1. Take advantage of “Today in History” columns in newspapers and on news websites. Let children take turns reading the history snippets. They’ll love being “news anchor of the day.” Try the Associated Press history page or the BBC’s “On This Day” link.

2. Use news stories to develop reader comprehension. Remember the 5 W’s and the “H” question. Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? These six questions give children a simple way to start processing what they have read, heard or seen. Read an article together and have students answer the questions orally. Then give them article handouts and let them circle this core information with colored pencils.

3. Have students watch a TV weather story. They can draw a sun or clouds or a snowman and list the day’s highs and lows or write a paragraph about a weather event such as the recent tornadoes that hit the South.

 Pair this exercise with engaging children’s picture books about weather such as “Tornadoes,” “Sunny or Cloudy,” “Droughts,” “Weather,” “Hurricanes,” “Blizzards,” “Countdown to Fall,” “Ice Storms,” “Christmas Eve Blizzard,” “Snow” and “Ocean Seasons” – all available online at Big Universe and perfect for Smart Board application.

4. Ask students to clip a magazine or newspaper article or print a current event from a kid-friendly online news feed like DOGO News. Have them read their articles’ headlines to the class. Then let the class play 20 Questions about a particularly intriguing headline to encourage interaction and investigation into the news story.

5. Talk about big news events and discuss how they affect people locally and around the world. For example, Iceland’s volcanic eruption had widespread impact. Planes couldn’t fly because of the ash cloud over Europe. Tourists couldn’t get home. Delivery of supplies for manufacturing was delayed, so many companies had to shut down production temporarily.

6. Display a “Where in the World?” map on a bulletin board. Discuss a current event and then tack a miniature flag (office supply aisle), identifying the location of the story. Soon you will have a visual reminder of all the places your class “visited,” expanding your students’ global awareness.

7. Find colorful adjectives in news stories. Distribute news clippings and have students highlight the descriptive words. Then have them rewrite a few sentences, substituting their own adjectives and adverbs for each highlighted word.

8. Write a “BigWigs” book. Watch, listen to or read a news story. Identify the names of local or national leaders. Who is your mayor? Who is your governor? Who is the president? Who are the leaders of other countries? Use this to lead into lessons about elections, voting and government. Have your students write a “BigWigs” book using Big Universe’s kid-friendly Author Tool. Don’t forget to explain the term “bigwigs” (aka “the big enchilada” or “the big cheese.”)

9. Let kids create their class spelling list for the week. Split students into groups of five and have them read a news article. They should select five new or interesting words from the story. Have them rewrite their five words and then alphabetize them or use them in a new sentence. Finally, compile a master list. Being involved in the list construction will spark interest and help students take ownership of the learning process.

10. Teach children how to have civil debate. Read an age appropriate news story or editorial. Divide kids into separate groups and let them role play different sides of an issue. Supply hats or other fun physical props to help them identify with people in the news. Act out what happened. The teacher or an outgoing child can portray a news reporter to stimulate conversation and deeper thinking. Switch roles and do it again.

Remember socially aware children armed with a well-rounded education are the peacemakers of tomorrow!

February: Lanterns ‘n Tigers and Mandarin…Oh My!

Valentine’s Day is Feb. 14, but did you know it’s the first day of the Chinese New Year, too?  Yup – the  Year of the Tiger is upon us! Maybe your child or class would have fun with some global fusion  –  half hearts, half dragons.

 Kids like quirky, well, most of them anyway. Hang Chinese lanterns from the ceiling and cut and paste valentines. Mix in talk of tigers, dragons and firecrackers and you are sure to engage the boys, as well.

I figure most of you have the Valentine’s Day theme down pat, so I’ll give you a few hints on how to use the Chinese New Year celebration as a spring board for learning.

Get to Know and Appreciate China

• Make Chinese paper lanterns to string in a doorway or from the ceiling. Very festive.
• Read “China” by Gisela Lee, who writes about this influential country’s rich history and vibrant modern-day culture. The book posted online by Big Universe has a map, colorful pictures and a good vocabulary list aimed at sixth-graders. (Teacher Created Materials Publishing)
• Fly a kite, bring collapsible umbrellas to school or play dominoes. They were all invented by the Chinese.
• Use “Kingka,” an award-winning board game, as a class supplement. Created by New Jersey educator, mom and children’s book author Sholeen Lou-Hsaio, the Mandarin-language matching game resembles bingo and introduces the 54 basic Chinese characters. It uses “the spirited nature of a memory game to encourage effective learning. It takes away the fear students have of learning Chinese,” said Lou-Hsiao.
• Learn more about giant pandas by clicking on this link, or read “Pandas’ Earthquake Escape” at Big Universe. (Sylvan Dell)
• “Confucius, Chinese Philosopher”  is another Big Universe book by Gisela Lee, who collaborated with Wendy Conklin to write this biography. (Teacher Created Materials Publishing)
• Look at “Holidays”  by author Dona Herweck Rice. It’s aimed at younger children with simple text and great pictures. Keep an eye out for the Chinese New Year street parade picture. (Teacher Created Materials Publishing)
• Go to Page 33 in the book “Animal World,” published by Saddleback Educational Publishing.  It offers a little zoology on the tiger – with colorful photographs and a fun “factoscope” box. Or read “What Tigers Do,” a beginner book written by Kris Bonnell and published by Reading Reading Books, LLC.
• Print out this coloring page of a tiger, a boy in traditional holiday clothing, or one of men dressed to do the Chinese New Year lion dance.

A Simple Book for Catastrophic Times: The Moon Came Down on Milk Street

As much as we try to keep our children safe and warm, life happens: a grandparent dies, the car crashes, a city event like a strike or a riot disrupts our daily routines. Children look to us for stability when their world feels shaken.

The metaphor is put to good use on “Milk Street” as Jean Gralley directs the reader to follow the advice of Fred Rogers’ mother. She told him if he saw a car accident or terrifying scene, “Look for the helpers.”

As you read this silly primary bedtime book with your child you will enjoy the Maurice Sendak-like illustrations and the gentle way in which a potential tragedy is presented and then solved.

Children will love the childlike community helpers as they work together to put life back the way it was. They will enjoy naming the various helpers learning vocabulary as they see everyone helping.

As the book ends, all is right with the world, the moon is back in the sky, and sleepy children are asleep. A soft, imaginary tale to help children trust in the world as changes occur and we all work to put it back together.

Language is Vital

Children have to see, hear and write words in order to learn. Without language they lose the ability to learn and continue to learn. It’s sad to see children who are unable to answer questions because they don’t have the language to respond. “What is that?” we as teachers ask each other. The children simply don’t have the language to respond. Some children respond but they do so with limited words. What’s missing? How are we changing as a society and what should we do to help our children reach their potential?

Talking is the first way to help a child reach their potential. The more language a child hears the more they’ll eventually be able to read. Once a child has heard a word it’s far more likely they’ll be able to read it once they come upon it in writing. Read to children. Young children should be read to everyday. If books aren’t always available choose newspapers, websites, street signs, cereal boxes, anything. Language!

Have language readily available. Books, magazines, newspapers, paper, pencils, crayons, computers… Television isn’t bad. There, I said it. My own children, now very happy, good teenagers, learned so much from Barney! But, they also heard the spoken word, used the computer, played outside, drew pictures, talked to each other, and experienced life in many different forms. Television wasn’t their life.

Parents are working. In most cases both parents are working and sometimes one or both parents are working two jobs. Sometimes there is a second language involved. Sometimes a parent can’t read or write. Economic difficulties play a large part in language deficits. When both parents work hard just to pay the bills there’s nothing left of their energies or their funds to explore the world with their children.

Back ground knowledge of many children today is extremely limited. I stop frequently during my reading to clarify vocabulary that I never would have clarified ten years ago. Garage, buffalo, slugger, shipyard, dock, camel… the list goes on. Children don’t need to have been everywhere to be able to recognize vocabulary. It helps, but it’s not realistic in our society.

The Internet, Smartboard, picture books, television, videos, virtual field trips, all of these can help bring the world to our children. It’s the way we, as teachers, parents, and concerned adults in the twenty-first century are going to have to bring the world to our children if we want them to reach their potential.  Language is the most vital component of learning. Our kids need to see it, hear it, even play with it. Language!

Urban Literature for Children: A chance to share the city with all children

Black Cat by Christopher Myers is an invitation for suburbanites to leave their quiet, tree-lined streets and for children living in urban settings to see their environment reflected in a strikingly beautiful book about a day in the life of a feral cat. Myers is the artist who was awarded a Caldecott Honor for his illustrations in his previous book, Harlem, and he received the Coretta Scott King Award for Black Cat.

“Black cat, black cat, cousin to the concrete, creeping down our city streets, where do you live, where will we meet?”

Poetic language and extraordinary collage and painted illustrations collaborate to reveal the beauty, light, shapes, and images of city streets. The descriptions of the black cat’s antics are exciting, dramatic, and compelling.

In and of itself, this books is a great choice for modeling effective writing and illustration to young authors in writer’s workshop. Black Cat is also perfectly suited to bring language experience to students who speak English as a second language or who have other language challenges.

A “prereading” view of the book, looking at just the pictures, along with prompted discussion, would give an adult the opportunity to bring forth vocabulary that labels locations, verbs, and facts about the city or the cat that are suggested by the illustrations. Once the language-learner has discussed the pictures, the adult is able to share the elegant poetry with the learner, who now has the background with which to discuss the images created by the extraordinary poetic language.

Lastly, Black Cat is a book to be enjoyed by people of all ages, and to remind us that there is beauty and wonder everywhere!