Day 6 Find One Vocabulary Word that your Child does not know the Meaning of

By now you are very much into a great book with your child.  The bonding time is priceless and I hope that you are enjoying that.  Today’s strategy is going to increase your child’s comprehension.

You many be wondering how increasing vocabulary can aid in comprehension.  Here’s the thing, if your child only understands 97% of the meanings of words that he or she is reading, the more likely it is going to decrease his/her understanding of the passage.  That is amazing if you think about it.  If a child struggles with 3% of the words meanings they come across, then the entire meaning of the text will be lost and the purpose of reading disappears.

However, the solution is really simple and I want you to see the amazing benefits.  So, if when your child is reading or when you are reading when it is your time to read and you take a second to talk about that word, you will drastically increase their vocabulary each year.  For example, if each day for one week you pick out a word to talk about, then you will increase your child’s vocabulary by 7 words.  If you committed to do this for an entire month, you would increase your child’s vocabulary by 31 words, and if you did for an entire year you would increase his/her vocabulary by 365 words each year.  This will automatically be putting your child at the top of the class compared to the other students, because there are not many parents that are taking the time to do this.

So now that we know the importance of picking out one word during our readings, let’s take a look at how to do that.  If you were reading the book Hello, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald and you ran across the word glanced, then you can simply ask your child if he/she has ever heard of the word glanced.  If your child says no, then you can say, “Glanced is when you quickly look at something.”  Then you want to keep reading.  Throughout the rest of the day see how many times you and your child can use the word.  With this particular word you could look quickly at your child and say, “I glanced at you,” and then quickly look away.  I guarantee that both of you will be rolling with laughter with all of the great ways you can use these words.

A child needs to use a word 7 times before they can actually own it, so get him/her to use it in fun ways and you will increase their vocabulary in no time.  Remember to have fun with this and you will have great results.