Ideas to extend / build DD's vocabulary (yr6)

[sleepwouldbenice]

Hello all

my DD1 is in year 6. I could do with new and exciting ways to extend her vocabulary.

She is quite immature and gentle in her nature. This is of course lovely and I will miss it when its gone I know but it seems to be connected with her simple view of life and in turn the extent of her vocabulary. She simply doesn't seem to recognise the same level of vocab as her peers, so she cant read the words, never mind use them in her own writing or speech. She comes across as a couple of years younger in her speech and writing in this aspect

She has completed the school reading scheme, still reads lots herself (I wouldn't call it complicated text but say Jacqueline Wilson, Micheal Morpurgo etc). We read to her as well. Teacher is happy with her level of comprehension but agrees that its issue of recognising more complex words that's the issue

We ask her about the meaning of words, make her look some up in the dictionary etc but it just doesn't seem to sink in for her to recognise the same word next time

Any other ideas what we can do to help?

Thanks

How about having 2 or 3 'words of the week'? Each morning/afternoon she has to make up a sentence using each of the words. However, the sentences cannot repeat previous ones, so if she's had 'The boy wore a ridiculous onesie', she can't then have 'The girl wore a ridiculous onesie.Then at the end of the week she makes up a story using all the words. Then put the words up somewhere, and she could use previous weeks' words in her sentences too - and her story has to use ALL her words.

Perhaps have a 'star chart' type thing, one tick for sentences using each of the words. another tick if she uses previous words in her sentences, and maybe 2 or 3 ticks for her story at the end of the week.

So, say you have:
Week 1: Ridiculous, Mechanical, Aardvark
Each day, 3 sentences, 1 for each word - tick
End of week, story all 3 words then put up somewhere visible - 3 ticks

Week 2: Assorted, Fiery, Geranium
Each day, 3 sentences, 1 for each word - tick (If she uses Ridiculous, Mechanical or Aardvark she gets an extra tick)
End of week, story with all 6 words - 3 ticks

Etc.

I suggest that you read her bed time stories that are more challenging than she would read herself. A child needs to be exposed to a range of authors and genres to build vocabulary.

My son had an English tutor last year and she used to give him lists of words to look up in the dictionary and thesaurous. He had to write a sentence using the word. The other thing she did was to give him a simple sentence and then he had to make it more interesting.

ie.

I went shopping.

This sentence can be made more interesting w

I went late night shopping inspite of relentless crowds.

Other things you can do is get her to list as many joining words as possible. (Ie. and, between, because, inspite, although)

Alternative words for "said", "go", "walk"

Get her to use semi colons and colons in interesting sentences.

Finally BBC bitesize is an excellent resource for improving English

Watching with interest as my friends dd yr 6 also has limited vocabulary. It was recommended that she try talking books. In her case there is a strong family history of dyslexia.

Several ideas

1. Get her reading quality children's fiction. Now you have two options - have her read to you once a week and ask her what more she thinks more difficult words might mean. I do this with DD1(Y6) and more often than not she's just guessing meaning or skipping the word entirely. The other option which DD2 (Y4) really enjoys - is writing down 'tricky' words in a little notebook and then going on-line to find out or asking what they mean.

2. A great game in the car is the play think of another word for X. You just go round all the passengers, if you don't know a word you're out - last one left wins or you can play for points. So you could start off with the word 'red' and you might say 'scarlet' and your DH might say 'crimson' and your DC might say 'ruby' etc...

3. This how many words can you make game is good for building vocabulary: www.eastoftheweb.com/games/Eight1.html

4. Hangman is always great. Play it the old fashioned way or on-line here www.crickweb.co.uk/ks2literacy.html#alienhangman

5. There's a spelling game where you have the words scrambled and have to figure out what the letters actually spell: www.harcourtschool.com/menus/auto/18/54.html

6. Get her to watch countdown but play along.

7. Buy her Boggle for Christmas (it's a dice game with letters on the dice and you try to build the longest word you can from the letters you get).

8. Play scrabble (also great gift for Christmas).

HTH

I would try reading her some of the older books. We have recently been reading things like the Naughtiest girl in the school to our girls (younger) and we have come across words like 'deftly' which I would never have used myself let alone in conversation with 2 children under the age of 7! Lots of the older story books use language like this but they don't just use the word once so it gets forgotten, they use it throughout the story so you eventually get used to it.

If she is Yr6 then try things like Anne of Green Gables, House of Greene Knowe, A Traveller through Time, Moondial, Charlotte Sometimes, Just William - those kind of things, they are all older so probably (don't know, can't remember myself) use older language and more varied vocabulary. I think there is some great children's fiction around nowadays but I do think the language used is, in general, much simpler. As is the language we all speak day to day. It is one of the ways life has changed but the older books could introduce lots of new words for her which over time might seep into her mind so she will be familiar with them.

Scrabble would also be good as suggested, especially if you play it using a dictionary.

also my 6yr old loves her thesaurus. she finds it quite fascinating that you can use so many different words for the same thing.

My ExMIL was a primary school teacher for many years. She introduced myself and DD to the parson's cat. In this game you take turns working your way through the alphabet using adjectives to describe the parson's cat.
For example The Parson's cat is an adventurous cat. The Parson's cat is a cautious cat.
It is really great at extending vocabulary and great for car journeys too.

Thanks to you all so much! These are great ideas (stupendous, immense, fabulous...)

I will use a mix of these ideas - should work best I hope

Dd1 is enjoying articulate which is challenging her. I have also given her memo notes to put on books when she encounters a word she doesn't know and then we discuss them together after. It is easier doing this when she is reading to herself than her stopping and asking every five minutes.