Oral Language: Expanding Your Child’s Vocabulary

Good readers have a diverse vocabulary. They ask questions when they are unclear about what a word means, they use the context of a conversation or the happenings in a book to decipher the meaning of unfamiliar words and they use varied vocabulary in referring to familiar objects (this bird is big, but this elephant is gigantic).

1. Create or learn songs to expand your child’s vocabulary. Use songs to describe your daily routines, periodically adding new verses that include new vocabulary words.
2. Read stories such as The Three Bears or Three Billy Goats Gruff. Act out the stories using small, medium and large stuffed animals. Find other items in your home that are large, medium and small. Ask your child to classify the items according to size.
3. Play “I Spy” with your child using words that describe an object’s position. (“I spy something on the carpet, in front of the couch, next to the dog.”) Expand this activity by playing “Simon Says” using directional words. (“Simon says put your hand above your head.”)
4. Keep a journal. Spend some time every night discussing your activities from the day. Introduce new vocabulary words by elaborating on the day’s activities. Write down your child’s impressions of the day.

1. “The Picky Puppet”
   Using a favorite puppet, explain that the puppet is picky – he only likes things that start with a certain letter. For example, “he only likes things that start with the letter T.” Give your child some examples of things that begin with the letter. Then have your child look around the house (or around the neighborhood during a walk) and tell you things that begin with that letter. Introduce a new letter for the puppet to be picky about each day.
2. When learning about writing letters of the alphabet, give your child many opportunities to write or trace letters in a variety of media. Use a sand table to trace letters, write letters in shaving cream or finger paint, make letters out of play dough and pipe cleaners.
3. Create a “spinning wheel” using two cardboard circles of different sizes and a brass fastener. On the outer wheel write uppercase letters; on the inner wheel write lower case letters. Punch holes in the center of each circle and fasten them together. Have your child spin the wheel to practice matching upper and lower case letters.
4. Make an alphabet caterpillar by writing each letter of the alphabet on a circle and having your child put the caterpillar together in alphabetical order. Attach two pipe cleaners to the “A” circle to make the caterpillar’s head.

Alphabet books are useful because they:

• Support oral language development
• Help children learn letter sequence
• Help children associate a sound with a letter
• Can help children build vocabulary

(from Phonics from A to Z: a practical guide, Blevins, 1998)

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• Matthew ABC (opens in a new window) by Peter Catalanotto
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• Dog’s ABC: A Silly Story About the Alphabet (opens in a new window) by Emma Dodd
• Alphabears: An ABC Book (opens in a new window) by Kathleen Hague
• Toot & Puddle: Puddle’s ABC (opens in a new window) by Holly Hobbie
• Kipper’s A to Z: An Alphabet Adventure (opens in a new window) by Mick Inkpen
• What Pete Ate from A to Z (opens in a new window) by Maira Kalman
• Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (opens in a new window) by Bill Martin, Jr.
• ABC T-Rex (opens in a new window) by Bernard Most
• Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten (opens in a new window) by Joseph Slate
• So Many Bunnies: A Bedtime ABC and Counting Book (opens in a new window) by Rick Walter