Vocabulary improvement

[Meme2019]

I am feeling like I have let me son down, he is in year 3 and struggling with reading comprehension, the school have assessed him and told us, the reason he is struggling is because his vocabulary is not good. He reads fluently but has no understanding of what he is reading. I don’t really know what to do, he doesn’t like doing anything challenging, friend told me to do little and often but even that seems like a challenge for him. How can I help him?

CGP books are only a couple of pounds and are geared to the year group your child is in- the comprehension ones might be a good shout so that you can practise at home and spot where he needs more support.

Vocabulary is massively built up during conversation, so clarifying words as you're talking- especially in new situations- might help. Even better if they words are linked to real life situations that they can then remember during reading.

Is he still on the book bands?
Do you read more complicated books to him or only now listen to him?
Is he maybe not remembering what is going on because of reading aloud.
Maybe read something like Harry Potter to him or audio books then go over the meanings

Read aloud to him daily, but with him following the written words as well. Stop fairly frequently to check that he understands the meaning. I'd say Harry Potter is probably too hard if his vocabulary is not good, you need to build up to that.
Go to the library and try a selection to see what he likes. Treat it as a fun thing, not a chore. Make sure you include non-fiction books inn topics which interest him, and check the book has a glossary, which will explain technical words properly; make sure you use the glossary too.
In recent analyses of SATS papers, it was thought that many children did worse than expected because they weren't familiar with more specialised vocabulary relating to geography, history and science. So it's important to develop subject specific vocab, which can deepen understanding across the board.

Read to him
Buy him joke books - brilliant for understanding how language works, when the dc just think they are funny, and it doesn't cross their mind they are anything to do with work
Junior crosswords also - all about the meaning of words (or other puzzle books just as arrow-words)
Follow his interests - books don't just have to be fiction
What about Children's Newspapers - something like First News.
Get Annuals about his interest - football or superheroes or dance or whatever
Get encyclopedias
Get Funny fact books - 'How to Avoid a Wombat's Bum' is just one example

But vocab, and understanding language doesn't only come from reading - it comes from talking. Watch Newsround with him, and/ or any of the amazing nature programmes. In truth, some of the drama programmes (I'm a bit out of touch now with that age, but there used to be a few on you could talk about the story line with him - why they did that / how they felt / what else they might have done / how did they know that was going on / etc / etc.
The key thing is to start from things he is interested in, and expand his knowledge from there.

Remove “reading” from the equation completely. Take him places - the zoo, inner-city farm, museums, local festivals anything. See what captures his fancy and work from there. Talk to him about what you see, get him to read the descriptions on exhibitions. If you don’t know the answer to a question look it up with him.

The other day my daughter wanted to know where saliva was made, so we looked it up.

Make sure you are using a wide variety of vocabulary with him. Don’t just use “worried”, are you concerned, anxious, fearful?

Is the cake yummy or delicious or ...