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- Vocabulary is, “a list or collection of words or of words and phrases usually alphabetically arranged and explained or defined”
- “Vocabulary refers to the words we must understand to communicate effectively. Educators often consider four types of vocabulary: listening, speaking, reading, and writing.”

- “Listening vocabulary refers to the words we need to know to understand what we hear. Speaking vocabulary consists of the words we use when we speak. Reading vocabulary refers to the words we need to know to understand what we read. Writing vocabulary consists of the words we use in writing.”

All types of vocabulary are important for a child to gain the knowledge they need, and be successful in their learning as well.

https://www.readingrockets.org/teaching/reading-basics/vocabulary

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“Vocabulary Headbandz is a fun game that students love.  Simply print off your vocabulary words onto these free editable vocabulary cards.  Each student attaches a vocabulary word card to their headband.  The youngest participant takes the first turn.  Then play passes to the left. When it’s your turn, just flip over the timer and ask each of the players a question that will help you figure out what the picture is on your head.   Once you’ve asked each player a question, simply begin another round and then another. If you guess the vocabulary word before the timer runs out, simply take another card and put it behind your headband.”

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Vocabulary-Activities-use-with-any-list-Printable-Digital-Included-4099854

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Phonics is a method of teaching people to read by correlating sounds with letters or groups of letters in an alphabetic writing system. Phonics works by breaking up words into individual sounds and then blending them together for proper pronunciation and understanding.

"Decoding" is a term used for when children are finding understanding and identifying these broken-down words by the letters and sounds individually. This is a great tool so that children don't need to memorize thousands of words but can rather sound out words and can decode them using phonics.

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For this activity students will be given laminated work sheets with bubbled upper case and lower case letters. Below that are objects that begin with that letter or do not begin with that letter. Students will be asked to identify the letter and sound and will then mold a piece of play dough onto the bubble letter. After the student is done molding the play dough they can them identify the object that begin with the letter they identified.

This is a great hands-on activity for student to practice letter and sound identification as well as identify beginning sounds in the objects they needed to identify.

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This a fun activity that students can do at home with the guidance of their caregiver. The caregiver can give the child either a sound or present them with a letter so then the child can either go into the pantry or fridge to find a corresponding food or item that correlates to the letter or sound. If the child is struggling with just a letter or sound the caregiver can present them with both the letter AND sound for extra guidance.

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For a student who may have a difficult housing dynamic or don’t have a stable home, there are plenty of phonics games that can be played outdoors. One way to practice phonics outdoors is to play “Nature Letters”, this games only requires you and your child to be outdoors in an area where they can find leaves, sticks, or rocks to practice their letters. Creating an outline for them would be ideal if they’re in the beginning stages of learning their letters. Creating outings can be used with either chalk or other natural materials found in that area.

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Fluency is the ability to read a text accurately, quickly, and with expression.

Fluency is such an important skill to acquire because it directly correlates with reading comprehension. If a student is using all their energy decoding words, then they wouldn’t have the mental capacity to comprehend the text. When this is compared to a student who can automatically decode words and are fluent, they’ll be able to comprehend the reading.

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Students can either read aloud together in groups or combined as a whole class. Having an adult fluent reader leading the class in unison reading is a great way to guide them. Having students read aloud is a great way to get them out of their comfort zone and asses to see how they’re doing fluently.

To see if they're comprehending the information, after the unison reading teachers can ask questions based on the story they read to assess what information they obtained.

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The simplest way to practice fluency at home is to have your child read aloud to you and have you as a guide if they get stuck on a word. After reading the story you can ask your child questions about it to test their comprehension and expand their mind. This is a great tool to get them more comfortable with fluency and practice comprehension.

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Splash Learn is a great website for families who may need extra assistance with teaching their children about fluency and the English language. For some families, English isn't their first language so they may struggle with helping their child learn fluency. Splash Learn offers books that children can read along with to develop fluency skills and they can even earn prizes through games!
Reading Games for Kids Online - SplashLearn

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Search printable phonic worksheets. Browse Printable Phonic Worksheets | Education.com. (n.d.). Retrieved October 17, 2022, from https://www.education.com/worksheets/phonics/?msclkid=fa9e054d277d10fe70ac66031ed23be2&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Search+-+General+-+Exact&utm_term=phonics&utm_content=Phonics

What is phonics?: Readwithphonics - learn to read with phonics. ReadwithPhonics. (n.d.). Retrieved October 17, 2022, from https://www.readwithphonics.com/what-is-phonics

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- Phonemic awareness is “The ability to hear and manipulate the sounds in spoken. Words and the understanding of spoken words and syllables are made up of sentences of speech sounds.”
- “essential to learning to read in an alphabetic writing system, because letters represent sounds or phonemes, without phonemic awareness, phonics makes little sense.”

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Fluency. Read Naturally, Inc. (n.d.). Retrieved October 17, 2022, from https://www.readnaturally.com/research/5-components-of-reading/fluency

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- University of Oregon Center on Teaching and Learning. (n.d.). Big ideas in beginning reading. Phonemic Awareness: Concepts and Research. Retrieved October 17, 2022, from http://reading.uoregon.edu/big_ideas/pa/pa_what.php

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Beginning sounds is a classroom activity to help teach phonemic awareness.
- You keep 5 different file folders and there are 5 cards that clip to each of the files that correspond with the letters chosen. “First, when you teach the beginning sounds, start with one sound at a time. Introduce the letter and sounds that the letters make. I like to use a pocket chart system for this packet. This is a portable one, but you can use any size pocket chart you have.”
- “When students become more proficient in mastering the letter sounds, they increase the difficulty of the activity by having them sort two or more sets at the same time. For example, you might have individually taught the beginning sounds for b and d. You can up-level the activity by having all the pictures for these two sounds out and have the student sort the picture cards next to the correct letter.”
- “Put  5-6 letters out that correspond with the specific beginning sound the students are working on. Students say the beginning sound for each picture and then cover it with their marker. For example…/d/../d/…dog. Just like the traditional Tic-Tac-Toe game, 3 in a Row wins the round. If a student wins the round, they take the letter d. Whoever wins the most letters, wins the game!”

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- says, G. F., Says, K., Says, S. R., says, N., says, M. G., says, P., Says, A., says, A. J., says, D. B., says, T. R., says, L. M. P., says, S., says, K. klein, says, D., says, M. C., says, L. H., says, L. S., says, J., says, M., … says, E. (2019, September 3). What is phonemic awareness and why teach it? Moffatt Girls. Retrieved October 17, 2022, from https://themoffattgirls.com/what-is-phonemic-awareness-and-why/?epik=dj0yJnU9cFlIRzI0ZVRCYVNseDFFUDN4bmZLRkk0TnpmQ2U1VTkmcD0wJm49NHlmTlNKNlNBQm9hQnJuUVNtbmlfZyZ0PUFBQUFBR05PTzNB

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Nursery rhymes is a great way to practice phonemic awareness at home, this can be a way for parents to connect with their child and also teach them something at the same time. If a parent or guardian of the child is trying to get them to learn more about phonemic awareness this is a great option !

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Websites: there are 8 different websites that can help a child who is struggling with phonemic awareness. If a child is struggling at home, their parents or guardians can be a guide by getting them to get connected to a helpful website, and they can work together.
- reasons why to use websites:

“A rich repertoire of words to practice”

“Short and long reading lessons”

“Story collection to give reading practice”

“Games to build phonemic awareness proficiency”

“Reviews of various other websites offering phonemic awareness help”

“Offer the right environment for community learning through discussion forums”

“Interactive lessons to help children”

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- Singh, M. (2022, October 3). 8 websites that help in building phonemic awareness. Number Dyslexia. Retrieved October 17, 2022, from https://numberdyslexia.com/phonemic-awareness-websites/

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Doing a word scavenger hunt can be useful at home. All you have to do is either pick out a magazine, or a book and then pick out some specific words. Place the words around the house with their specific item, and make cards and clues to have the child find them around the house. This is a fun way to teach, or help connect the words with an item, and if a child is struggling, it may be useful to model for them what to do so that way they can connect the dots.

https://vocabularyluau.com/vocabulary-scavenger-hunts/

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https://pridereadingprogram.com/methods-for-teaching-vocabulary-to-students-with-learning-disabilities/

This website describes a few different resources for a child who has a learning disability, and may need extra help with learning his or her vocabulary. Completing fun activities at home is a great way to get a child engaged, which will make them want to learn more as well!

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Structured Literacy | Pride Reading Program

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Children typically start Kindergarten knowing around 5000 words. During the next three grades they learn at least one thousand more new vocabulary words per year and by Grade 4, they are learning on average from one thousand to three thousand new vocabulary words per year!

According to research, only some words are learned through direct vocabulary instruction in the classrooms or home study programs and all the rest is learned through reading itself! Now you understand why reading a lot is so important in the development of vocabulary. Here is the research - if you want to dig in to it a little deeper.

Reading a lot is the very best way for kids to learn vocabulary, but today I am going to focus on the other part of learning vocabulary. The methods and teaching of it. Although many strategies are effective for students with varying abilities, the following methods always work best for my kids with learning disabilities to help make those vocabulary words really "stick":

Reading and learning words that are unknown to your student should not only help your student comprehend the text that is being read but also lead to a greater understanding of the world itself. The strategies for teaching unfamiliar words is as follows:

1. Tell the student the word.

2. Talk about the word, giving as much background as possible - a science or history lesson when appropriate.

3. Demonstrate how the word is used in a sentence.

4. Discuss multiple meanings of the word with the student.

5. Practice visualization. For example - to teach the word ' avid' ask the student to visualize a person that they might know who is an avid reader or a vid bowler and then trace the word avid while they imagine the person.

6. Together with the student, compose a simple definition and have the student write it on the whiteboard.

Now... Drill those words!

After your student understands the meaning of the vocabulary word it is time to write down that word and practice it. This is where you pull out those index cards and markers.

Have your student write the word on one side and write the definition on the back side. You will want to review the flashcards with your student constantly (I'm talking all year)! It is really encouraging and motivating for your student to see their vocabulary bundle grow bigger and bigger.

Because you won't want to just drill drill drill, here are some really fun vocabulary activities that you can try out in your vocabulary lessons as well:

Draw the Word:

Have your student draw an image of each vocabulary word. Make the images funny and memorable so that they really stick into your student's mind. You can also use this drawing on their flashcards.

Vocabulary Word of the Day:

This is a really great way to practice vocabulary and use the entire classroom or family in the process. Post one of the flashcards up on the front door. Every time your student walks in and out of the door they have to give you the word in a sentence. Make the whole classroom or the whole family participate in it if you are homeschooling - so much fun! You can also make it Vocabulary Word of the Week - if your student (or anyone else in the family) needs extra practice time.

Play Charades

Make a game out of learning the vocabulary words - like playing charades. Take turns where your student has to act out the word and you have to guess it, and then the other way around.

Write a Story

You can have your student use the vocabulary words into a fun and creative story. This will really help your student spell and practice using the words in sentences.

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Teaching Vocabulary to Students with Learning Disabilities

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Here are some teaching strategies you can use at home or in the classroom for teaching vocabulary to students with learning disabilitites.

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https://www.readingrockets.org/reading-101-guide-parents/prek/vocabulary-activities-your-pre-k-child

This website gives great ideas on how an educator or parents/ guardians can help a child improve their vocabulary skills.

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Talking to and reading with your pre-K child are two terrific ways to help them hear new words. Conversations and questions about interesting words are easy ways to get new words into everyday talk.

Even very young children love to hear and learn new words! Help your child expand their word bank and knowledge of the world by using interesting and vivid words instead of simpler language in your everyday conversations. For example, instead of saying, "this pizza is good" you might say, "this pepperoni pizza tastes spicy."

Reading aloud exposes your child to lots of vivid language that is not found in books for beginning readers. When you come upon a new and interesting word, take the time to stop and ask your child what they think that word might mean in the context of the story. Then offer a kid-friendly definition of the word and connect it to a similar word and a shared experience.

Word learning and vocabulary growth takes time and patience. Don't expect your child to learn a new word after one conversation or one read aloud. True word learning happens after being exposed to words several times. We all learn about words throughout our lifetime. You're getting your child off to a great start by developing an early interest in words.

Try these vocabulary activities at home!

Read aloud every day

Reading aloud to your child and having your child read books on their own is the best way to increase their vocabulary. Books provide words they won't encounter in everyday conversations as the language of books is more complete and formal than talking. A great story also provides context and illustrations for learning a new word.

Bring in the nonfiction

Nonfiction and informational books (such as the picture books by Gail Gibbons and Sneed Collard) offer young children a treasure chest of new and interesting words about our world. If the book has a glossary, spend some time discussing the words with your child, and as you read aloud stop as often as needed to think about new words and how they connect to what your child already knows about.

Grocery store vocabulary

Use the items on the grocery shelf to give your child practice finding something above their belly button, below their nose, on the bottom shelf, and between other items on a shelf. Opportunities to use superlatives, those little endings that help describe size, are all around the grocery store. Have your child find a big fruit, a bigger fruit and the biggest fruit in the produce section. What's the smallest item in the cart? The largest item?

Explore your world

Visits to a museum, the zoo, the botanical garden, historical sites, and even your neighborhood park are terrific opportunities to introduce your child to new words. Spend some time looking at the signage and identifying new words, then connecting them to what you see right there.

Talk about new words during read alouds

Talking to and reading with your child are two terrific ways to help them hear and read new words. Conversations and questions about interesting words ("The book says, 'The boy tumbled down the hill,' and look at the picture! How do you think he went down the hill?") are easy ways to get new words into everyday talk.

Sharing a new word with your child doesn't have to take a long time: just a few minutes to talk about the word and then focus back on the book or conversation. Choose which words to talk about carefully - choosing every new word might make reading seem like a chore. The best words to explore with your child are ones that are common among adult speakers but are less common to see in the books your child might read.

When introducing new words to your young learner, keep the following four helpful hints in mind:

First, provide a simple, kid-friendly definition for the new word:

Enormous means that something is really, really big.

Second, provide a simple, kid-friendly example that makes sense within their daily life:

Remember that really big watermelon we got at the grocery store? That was an enormous watermelon!

Third, encourage your child to develop their own example:

What enormous thing can you think of? Can you think of something really big that you saw today? That's right! The bulldozer near the park was enormous! Those tires were huge.

Lastly, keep your new words active within your house.

Over the next few days and weeks, take advantage of opportunities to use each new vocabulary word in conversation. Kids often need to hear a new word in context ten times or more before they "know" that word.

Vocabulary apps

Reviews provided by Common Sense Media.

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Vocabulary: Activities for Your Pre-K Child

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Talking to and reading with your pre-K child are two terrific ways to help them hear new words. Conversations and questions about interesting words are easy ways to get new words into everyday talk. Even very young children love to hear and learn new words!

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http://www.hanen.org/Helpful-Info/Articles/Using-Early-Childhood-Classroom-Activities.aspx

These are some specific activities that can be used in the classroom to help with vocabulary !

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Using Early Childhood Classroom Activities to Build Vocabulary

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Studies show a strong connection between vocabulary development and academic success. Here are some tips to make the most of your preschool day to ensure that children have as many opportunities as possible to learn new words.

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Reading Development and Difficulties is a book that can help students with comprehension. This book can better help parents understand how they can help their child if they are d struggling, or even if they want to get stronger in their comprehension as well.

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This is a great podcast to learn more about both vocabulary and comprehension. throughout the podcast it talks about how to further help a child with improving their skills as well.

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https://www.weareteachers.com/vocabulary-activities/

These are a list of different activities that can be useful for all different ages, and with all different learning abilities as well. If a child is struggling in a certain aspect these activities can be altered to help that.

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30 Meaningful Vocabulary Activities for Every Grade

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Learning new words is like adding to your writing toolbox.

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- Comprehension is the act of gaining knowledge through understanding. This is vital for young children who are learning to decode in phonics and are starting to read. Children start to learn how to comprehend information in stories through real aloud sessions as well as independent reading sessions.

- Giving background knowledge before the story and drawing relationships to the “real world” allows the students understanding to grow and create meaning-making experiences with texts.

- Questioning and having discussions about the text and background knowledge allows the students to be exposed to new vocabulary terms and children are known to benefit from in-depth discussions.

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Prior to the story, the teacher will get a beach ball and on each color with write a comprehensive question (ex. “Who, What, When, Where, and Why?”). After reading the story, the teacher will have the class circle up and take turns passing the ball around and answering the questions through their own interpretation. This is a great way to make discussion with the class and find a deeper meaning through the story by listening to each other’s answers. This is also an opportunity for the teacher to ask questions and encourage students to think on a deeper level while drawing similarities to the “real world”.

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After reading a story either individually or as a family, you can then encourage either your child or multiple children to put on a puppet show to re-enact the story. This is a great way to challenge a child to remember the beginning, middle, and end of the story as well as the characters involved and the overall plot.

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For a family who may have a language barrier with the English language, having you child independently read a short story out loud and then encouraging them to draw the story and then explain the drawing to you is a great way to have them retell the story and use the background knowledge to draw similarities to their own life.