My Experience
About a month ago, I was reading an article about cats. Yes, I do consider my cats as my grand babies. As I was reading, I ran across the word curmudgeon. I was standing in my kitchen at the refrigerator at that moment. I wrote the word and the definition on the white board that is located on the fridge.
The teacher in me applied curmudgeon in a sentence. At first, my family laughed at me for putting the word up there with a sentence, but then we started making it into a game. We tried to use the word as many times as we could in different sentences.
Concrete Ideas
You, too, can do the same thing at home.
Make learning vocabulary into a fun game. One of the reasons children have difficulties with reading in school is because they lack the background knowledge that comes with having a strong vocabulary base. Fortunately, part of this problem can be rectified at home.
Follow these easy steps:
- Ask your child for some of their school work especially the ones where they are required to learn vocabulary words.
- Choose one or two words to display around the house
- Display the word(s) in high traffic areas such as the refrigerator, bathroom, coat area, etc
- Turn it into a game to use the words
- Every time someone in the household is able to use the word, that person gets a point. If they can use both words in the same sentence, then they get three points.
- If a guest comes over, tell them about the game, and if they are able to use the word(s) in a sentence, then everyone gets a point
- At the end of the week, the person with the most points gets some type of reward.
- Here are some suggestions for rewards:
- Choose a movie for the family to watch
- Go to a favorite place
- Give a chore to another sibling
- The list is endless
