How Can I Expand My Child's Vocabulary?

According to "The Mom Book Goes To School", the best readers are often the best spellers and have the most extensive vocabulary. The more words a child hears and makes their own will help in their reading, writing, and overall academic performance. Below are some suggestions on how to expand your child's vocabulary:

1. Keep a list of words you and your child encounter as you read.

2. Ask your child to share any new words learned.


3. Give your child age-appropriate crossword puzzles.

4. Read newspaper articles together to find new words.

5. Keep poetry magnets on the refrigerator.

6. Review spelling and vocabulary list with your child and use the words in conversations.

7. Help your child analyze words by showing how to break them down into syllables.

8. Teach your child the meaning of common roots, prefixes, and suffixes.

9. Teach your child about context clues the will help your child guess the meaning of words.

10. If your child gets stuck on a word tell your child to move skip, move on, and then reread the sentence.

11. When your child what a word means or how to spell a word, find it together in a dictionary.

12. Many libraries offer books on audiotapes, which your child can use to track words on the page as he/she hears the words.

13. Play the Dictionary Game: One family member opens the dictionary and points to a word. Each of the other write down what he thinks is the definition. and then everyone reads his guess aloud. The person with the closest definition wins points. A variation on this game can teach your child spelling skills.