21st April Big Word Day

Big Word Day was founded to pay honour and respect to the ever-evolving beauty that comes from words, language, and vocabulary today and throughout human history.

Even with access to such a huge number of words, most people only use just a fraction of this vocabulary on a regular basis. Most native speakers know about 20,000 to 35,000 words, but still only use maybe 5,000 – 10,0000 on a daily basis.

Forget those miniscule words that are ordinary and get used every day and trade them out for something brighter and more remarkable sometimes. How?

Vocabulary teaching has become much more focussed than it used to be, probably because the students we teach read and talk less than we probably did. I often read to a class and a child pipes up with 'what does that word mean?' I'm always happy to stop and discuss the meaning because I know that that student won't be the only one who does not know. I teach an enrichment group of eight year olds and I have finally got them to the point where they are very interested in words, their meanings and their origins and the discussions are now memorable.

Our library has a large number of books that encourage students to value words, collect words, use different words, and to just revel in words. Even the Fancy Nancy  series has lots to offer vocabulary-wise.Try these:

Reading is Magic: 7. Vocabulary

“Once upon a time”, “long time ago”, “far, far away”… From the moment these phrases are spoken, something magical happens and our inner child awakens. 

Fairytales exist in every culture and language.  They are an integral part of children’s literature. They brighten imagination, introduce us to literature, and give life lessons. They are warnings learned from a safe distance.

They also include language and vocabulary that is not used in everyday speech. This Book Week theme is such a good opportunity to introduce some new vocabulary, that only exists in stories and  fairytales. 

Words such as enchanted; potion; spell; spindle; leagues; slippers; spellbinding; cauldron; kingdom; villain; hero; damsel; carriage; castle; prick; thorns; cloak; quest; wicked; evil; elixir; bewitch. 

Most of these words are Tier 3 words  low-frequency words that occur in specific domains. In this case the domain is fairytales or traditional literature. We usually learn these words when a specific need arises, so this is the ideal time to take more notice of the words that are appearing in books connected with 'magic' and the world of imaginative play.

The book Word Wizard  by Cathryn Falwell is a good starting point for starting a collection of words.

Blurb: At breakfast one morning, Anna discovers magic in her bowl of alphabet cereal.The letters in her spoon can be arranged to form several different words.She's a word wizard! Wielding her magic spoon, Anna helps a lost little boy named Zack find his way home-turning a wave-tossed ocean into a canoe and producing a horse once they reach the shore. Accompanied by Cathryn Falwell's ingenious collage pictures, this lively adventure is an enticing introduction to a creative form of wordplay. A concluding note encourages children to become word wizards by collecting letters and words from newspapers and magazines to form their own anagrams. 

Or, The Magic of Letters by Tony Johnston and Wendell Minor

Letters are everywhere in this delightful book that embraces the power of words and what they can do, how they can make you feel, and what they can help you say. Each letter has a name, and letters have power . . . power to make words. Words can make you hungry, make you laugh, or enchant you. And you can enchant others with magic of your own, by using them to write anything you please.

While on the subject of 'magic words' what about all the words magicians use:

abracadabra; shazam; hocus pocus; open sesame; alakazam; jokeri pokeri, hey presto

Read Grow Inspire Book Week Slogan 2023 (Part 7) VOCABULARY

"Here is a fun tidbit that blows my mind every time I think about it. Research suggests that humans use the same three to 5 000 words in everyday conversation. Sound like a lot? Not when you consider there’s nearly 200 000 words in the English language. Books are like our gateway to this massive amount of words, and the more we understand their meanings and nuances, the more likely we are to speak or write them." 

Joanne Henderson-Klabe 

Broadening our vocabulary and thus the range of what we understand comes through repetition of seeing or hearing a word in context.

The Book Week slogan  allows for teaching wonderful vocabulary that children may not know through everyday speech. They are words associated with books, reading, science, procedure...Tier 2 and 3 words if we use English K -12  jargon. As teachers we are supposed to ask ourselves 

• How generally useful is the word?

• How does the word relate to other words, to the ideas that students know or have been learning?    

• What does the word bring to a text or situation?

Can't we just read quality literature and explain any word that students might ask or wonder about? How else do they come across new words, words to use in their own writing, words that just sound good and they want to use to impress? I want children and words to flourish hand in hand.

When the preschool classes grow seeds or seedlings, they borrow masses of books from the library and they don't just borrow the very simple ones. The teachers use vocabulary such as sprout; bloom; flower; stem; petals; roots; even germinate. They borrow the nonfiction books about parts of plants. They get very excited about watching sunflower or bean seeds grow. They look closely at Tilda's Seeds, an oversized book by Melanie Eclare which uses large photos to document the process involved in growing sunflowers. Yes, it is out of print and the clothing is dated but the planting and instructions are so vivid. It uses the word 'sprout'! They borrow Because of an Acorn  by Lola M Shafer and they  wander down the forest path to learn how every tree, flower, plant, and animal connect to one another in spiralling circles of life. An acorn is just the beginning. They are not limited by a 'published' unit that tells the teachers and students what to learn and how to learn it.

Year 1 used to do an author study of Eric Carle when they studied minibeasts. They became invested in his illustration process, his themes, especially change and how exciting and inspiring it can be. Using words like metamorphisis, chrysalis, cacoon, phosphorescence encourage students to explore new words, practise saying them and add them to their vocabulary.

This year while doing a See Think Wonder routine with a year two using a series of photos of hollows in trees, I was surprised how few of them used or knew the word 'hollow'. They knew the photos depicted 'holes in trees', but when we went on to explore A Hollow is a Home by Abbie Mitchell they took great pride in using the word 'hollow' appropriately. Next time I will also be able to use Life in a Hollow by David Gullan as well. When Year 2 look at trees and how large their role is in ecosystems there's a new set of words they need. Some haven't heard of seedlings or saplings, but if they had read stories such as Little Sap by Jan Hughes,  A Tree is a Home by Pamela Hickman or All About Trees  by Polly Cheeseman then when it comes to reading factual books such as A Hollow is a Home their background knowledge and vocabulary is already to use.

A new picture book, The Garden at the End of the World by Cassy Polimeni and Briony Stewart has just arrived in bookshops. It is about the  Global Seed Vault in Svalbard in Norway. 'Deep in the bowels of an icy mountain on an island above the Arctic Circle between Norway and the North Pole lies a resource of vital importance for the future of human­kind.' What a wonderful concept? But, we have a seed bank right here in Sydney too. It is at the Botanical Gardens at Mt Annan and is known as the Australian Plant Bank. It is well worth a visit, but even if you never go there, isn't it wonderful that our students can know that we are doing things to ensure all plants and seeds survive. 

Of course READ GROW INSPIRE hasn't been exhausted. There are so many 'rabbit holes' to go down, but this is probably enough for me, because just as I say a published unit and its chosen resources are only as good as the author's knowledge and experience, and that you need to 'own something' or 'have made it your own' to teach it well, it is time to do some planning of your own. Hopefully you will have access to some of these books. I realise the library I work in is not your average school library. The staff and students here are very well resourced. Sadly with the new more prescriptive syllabus, the library has become under utilised.

READ as many picture books as you can

GROW your reading skills, your vocabulary and your knowledge 

INSPIRE yourself to read more, grow more and do things a little differently!

19th June Gerald Rose (1935 -2023)

The English illustrator, Gerald Rose has three books that have played a huge role in my teaching career and  parenting life. I wrote about "Ahh!" Said Stork  yesterday and while looking for an image of the cover I read an obituary for Gerald Rose. He died on 5th May 2023. 

In his obituary I read that he was the youngest winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal which he won in 1960 when he was in his twenties and barely out of art school.

Back to his books:

The Tiger Skin Rug  seems to be his only picture book still in print. This is a good thing because it is such a good story. No class or child I have read it to has ever commented on its implausibility, but instead revels in the fact that the tiger is triumphant. 

Trouble in the Ark is the best book for teaching vocabulary, especially verbs. The cumulative plot where one act is the catalyst for the next introduces students to how many different actions there are words for. All the animals cooped up in the ark with Noah begin making loud noises at each other, and the result is chaos.

"Ahh!" Said Stork  is also a deceptively simple cumulative story but it is a great beginning reader because once a child reader knows the pattern they can use the pictures to work out what the words say.

In the library we also has copies of How St Francis Tamed the Wolf and Horrible Hair.  The first simply tells the story of St Francis and his love of animals, the second a bad hair day story but the expression Rose is able to add to his characters whether they are people or animals shines through here too.

Perhaps at some point in the future a publisher will deign to feel that many of his books are worthy of republishing!

9th January Word Nerd Day

My siblings think I'm a word nerd! The teachers at school think I'm a word nerd! So I guess I am. I prefer to say that words really interest me, their origins, purpose and power. I love picking up a picture book and reading sections to my colleague in the library. We both revel in great vocabulary and lyrical text. At the end of last year Britta Teckentrup's new book When I See Red  was being catalogued and we stopped to chat about it. I buy Britta's books because they never seem to disappoint. The illustrations are always stunning and we marvel at her output, but this book has an accompanying text which is also outstanding.

The heroine of this beautifully illustrated story feels her anger like a storm in a dark forest. It sweeps her away, and she thunders and howls. She pours down her emotions like sheets of rain; rage surges like a wind whipping angry waves. Her anger takes her on a wild ride.

The size of the font changes as her anger grows and abates. It is just so powerful. The words themselves tumble down the page, and their placement and size, as well as their meaning, effectively at generates the girl's spirit of rage and anger.

So many picture books have words that paint pictures just as much as the illustrations. I should make a bigger effort to record books that do this for me. I remember reading Ed and Rebecca Emberley's The Ant and the Grasshopper  and being astounded by the opening word image.

Somewhere on the boulevard of backyards an ant was struggling with the remnants of a picnic.

I doubt that many of my early readers would fully understand the meaning of the words 'boulevard' and 'remnants' within this context, but would I therefore not read the book to them, or worse still stop to explain what it means. Of course not. I would read the story and allow them to hear amazing vocabulary and maybe unpack it much later when we have enjoyed the story and the illustrations as a whole.

I have a box of 'word' books in the library for teachers and students to borrow for their reading and writing mentor lessons, but many of these books are more about collecting words and varying words than the beauty of them. See what is in the box here. This Pinterest page is obviously about more than just sharing picture book titles, but in amongst other things there are plenty of books to hunt out.

Among my favourites:

Phileas's Fortune  by Agnes de Lestrade and Valeria Docampo

The Word Wizard by Cathryn Falwell

The Word Collector  by Peter Reynolds 

One Word Pearl by Nicole Groeneweg and Hazel Mitchell

It is such a shame we are on holidays and I cannot do a display or plan a lesson. I would read 

One Word From Sophia  by Jim Averbeck and Yasmeen Ismail.

What is the 'one word'?

29th January 2019 Curmudgeon's Day

I love the word 'curmudgeon'. I 'm not so happy about what it implies, especially the references to 'old', but many definitions also say 'male' so maybe it is okay. Nevertheless I like the fact that there is a day for them. I have written about this day before here, but there is a new book about to arrive that has a title with more great words to discuss...The Unbudgeable Curmudgeon. It is about young siblings, not cantankerous oldies so it has more to discuss than just the wonderful vocabulary. Can't wait to buy it.

29th January Curmudgeon's Day

It is Curmudgeon Day? Why do we need a day for curmudgeons? You may well ask what is a curmudgeon anyway? Well a curmudgeon is someone who is bad-tempered, difficult or cantankerous.

To celebrate this day you don't need to be grumpy or make others grumpy, just read this clever story, C.R. Mudgeon and have a good discussion about what can be done to help any curmudgeonly people the children know, and hope that the word 'curmudgeon' is added to their rich vocabulary.

Here is a synopsis of the story:
"A set-in-his-ways hedgehog gets a new worldview--and a new friend along the way. C.R. Mudgeon, a sensible hedgehog, likes knowing just what to expect. Always. No surprises, no excitement. So when a noisy new neighbour, Paprika the squirrel, arrives, C.R. Mudgeon is even less cheerful than normal. The sights! The sounds! The peppery, fiery smells! Everything about Paprika is just too much to handle, and C.R. is aching, sneezing, and seeing spots. But everyone needs quiet "sometimes," and when that time comes, C.R. Mudgeon will have just the thing for a new friend in need. And as for himself, he may even discover that a little spice is just what the doctor ordered! Nuanced, joyful humour permeates the pages of this heartwarming picture book that will make even the littlest, grumpiest curmudgeons want to jump up and dance!"

30th December Jane O'Connor 1947

While the American author Jane O'Connor has written many books she is best known for Fancy Nancy, a feisty young heroine who has a penchant for words and she is certainly doing her bit to increase children's vocabulary. There are whole units of work on the net designed to get teachers teaching vocabulary using her 'fancy' words. See this and this. Just 'spectacular' to use a Nancy word. The first fancy Nancy book was published in 2005 and now there is a whole marketing phenomenon. This year Nancy got her own chapter book, afterall she has grown up somewhat and is now fancying herself as a super sleuth. Obviously she appeals more to boys than girls, but she has proved popular in my library and she certainly gives the Pinkalicious, Princess Poppy and Eloise aficionados somewhere else to look.