WOW words - year 6

[Sonnet]

In an effort to improve my DD2's written English I have been looking for a list of WOW words suitable for use in year six. I have so far come up with nothing!

Can anyone point me in the right direction please?

TIA

[ripstheirthroatoutliveupstairs]

What is a WOW word? I may be able to suggest a few if I knew what it was.

[IndigoBell]

A wow word is just an adjective :(

You don't need a list of WOW words. If you're concerned, you need to improve her written and spoken vocab all the time. Every time you speak to her or read to her. Every time you go over stuff she's written......

(Although freerice.com/ is a cute site to improve vocab.)

[betterwhenthesunshines]

WOW words are just any words that are more expressive and make the writing more interesting. So instead of " I baked a nice cake" it might be "I baked a delicious chocolate cake."
said might be replace with whispered, exclaimed, answered....

I don't think you'll find the answer in a list. Maybe photocopy a page of a book she is reading so she cango through it with a coloured pen and underline all the interesting words?

[Sonnet]

Thank you - am currently writing my own!

Yes it is an adjective - don't know why they do not just call them that!

[IndigoBell]

Because they introduce the concept in the infants, when WOW words is easier to understand than adjectives

But I'm shocked that they still refer to them like that in Y6.

[Malcontentinthemiddle]

Last year my dd's class was encouraged to begin sentences with interesting adjectives - she still does it in her planner. Eg. 'astonishingly, today I finished my maths early' or 'amazingly, the rain stopped and we went outside' or 'disappointingly, it rained' or whatever. I think the idea might be that if you begin the sentence with the word, you'll chose one with more impact, as it would sound a bit lame to write 'nicely, I lined up in the playground'.

I know that's adverbs rather than adjectives, but obviously they could all be changed to adjectival form.

[Malcontentinthemiddle]

(sorry, should have said adverbs in the first sentence of above post)

[ativa]

Tell her they are adjectives or descriptive words and ask her to point out three on the first page of a book that she is reading?

[handsomeharry]

Some WOW words - <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=vcop+display&hl=en&sa=X&rlz=1C1CHIK_en-GBGB441GB441&biw=1366&bih=677&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=s1Z83zR-8jAIxM:&imgrefurl=www.qualityprimaryresources.co.uk/VCOP-WOW-word-help-mat&docid=Ct8ssvffX1SP5M&w=1667&h=1124&ei=Fg16TuC4IaKZ0QWV4eDMAQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=182&vpy=279&dur=6069&hovh=184&hovw=274&tx=194&ty=95&page=5&tbnh=134&tbnw=198&start=74&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:74" rel="nofollow noindex" target="_blank">link here

[Feenie]

I'm not sure those ones are age appropriate wow words, handsomeharry, they look a bit Y2-ey!

Other posters who have said get her to identify and collect excellent vocabulary from her own reading have got it right (not just adjectives, either) and encourage her to use them in her writing. My Y5s have got little sparkly notebooks for this very purpose! We collect extra-special ones from these every Friday and display them on our board which we keep for especially top-notch words.

[handsomeharry]

Just trying to help...

[Feenie]

Sorry - they will help someone!

[mrz]

To improve writing the criteria is Can use interesting and ambitious words sometimes, (should be words not usually used by a child of that age, and not a technical word used in a taught context only e.g. ?volcano? or ?evaporate?)

[pointydog]

Wow words are not just adjectives. They are any words which improve a piece of writing whether they be verbs, nouns, adverbs, whatever

[breadandbutterfly]

Am I the only one to really hate the whole concept of wow words?

My dd2 has taken to writing creative writing pieces littered with long, hard-to-spell but - crucially - often inappropriate words.

And these are commended!

Surely what matters in a piece of written work is that the correct word is used, not that it gets extra brownie points just for being long and 'diificult'?

Have they never heard of the campaign for plain English??

[Vicky2011]

Thank you for saying what I was thinking breadandbutterfly!

[Cortina]

Ah breadandbutterfly the 'flowery' stage I remember it well. At sixteen trying to impress my rather cute english teacher by sounding like I'd swallowed the thesaurus! 'The loquacious man smiled at his bejeweled and comely wife and decided he would cast his garrulous nature aside for her sake, he was veritably compelled to do so' etc. :)

[seeker]

The best way to improve vocabulary is to read- or to watch good quality tv.

We have a naughty family habit of shouting "level 5 vocabulary!!" whenever we hear anyone on the tv or radio using over blown or pretentious language!

[Cortina]

How would level 6 vocabulary differ out of interest? (Relates to another discussion. I assume no real difference but apparently I am wrong)?

[mrz]

Cortina the "measure" is that the child uses vocabulary not normally expected from someone that age in their writing.