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:

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.

14th July Pandemonium Day

I love the word 'pandemonium' and so do young children. They feel a great sense of achievement when they say it. Therefore I really enjoy reading books to my preschool classes that use that word. Some of my favourites are:

My year 2 readers get quite engrossed in Jeanne Willis' Penguin Pandemonium series too.

I also love the origin of the word, not that I would be teaching Kindergarten about Milton.

 1660-70; after Pandaemonium, Milton's name in Paradise Lost for the capital of hell; see pan-, demon, -ium

Given how many times it is spelled to feature 'panda' in the title though perhaps it should have been spelled with the 'a' not the 'e'.