Wow Up Your Words!

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Wow Up Your Words!
Strategies for improving and developing vocabulary

• Presented by
• Lancashire Leading Literacy Teachers

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Words are fun!

• Lots of jokes are based upon word play
• The man who recently fell into an upholstery
  machine is now fully recovered.

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Aim

• To provide practical strategies for improving
  and developing vocabulary throughout Foundation
  Stage, Key Stage One and Key Stage Two.

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Framework Objectives

• See Handout page 1

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Vocabulary Knowledge

• Listening comprehension depends on knowledge of
  words.
• The meanings of individual words contribute to
  the meanings of sentences and therefore to
  understanding.
• Females tend to master language more quickly than
  males.
• Women use around 7,000 words a day, whereas men
  use about 2,000.

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The Development of Language

• During the early years, vocabulary extends at a
  rapid rate of 50-70 words per week, through oral
  conversation
• By the time the child is five he/she will have an
  oral vocabulary of about 14,000 words
• Research shows that some of our five year old
  pupils have an oral vocabulary of less than 9,000
  words often pupils from poorer homes
• How would this impact on learning?
• What could we do about this?

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Developing Vocabulary

• After the age of five, oral conversation is a
  much less effective way of developing vocabulary
  knowledge.
• Reading and teaching of words, phrases, metaphor
  and idiom takes over at this point.
• These are key elements in developing written
  language.
• We need to ensure that we provide opportunities
  for this.

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Importance of reading
slim bandy munching
buckle prance elegant
bold
See handout page 2
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Word of the week
awfully
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The Foundation Stage Classroom

• Display vocabulary within each area of provision
  or resource, e.g.
• Water Tray
• pour, splash, drip, wet, full, empty,
  overflowing
• Playdough
• stretch, break, squash, mould, join, cut,
  press
• See handout pages 4 and 5

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Words are fun!

• I couldn't quite remember how to throw a
  boomerang, but I knew eventually it would come
  back to me.

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Its a cracker!
Children love to collect or make up jokes.
Encourage their understanding of words by asking
them to explain why its funny. See handout page 6
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Articulate

• Take a noun from the pile on the table.
• Describe it to your partner without naming it.
  Use descriptive language to help your partner
  visualise what you are describing.
• Can your partner guess what it is?

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Synonym Race

• You have thirty seconds.
• Think of as many alternative words as you can for

look
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Talking verbs

• Working in pairs, make a list of alternative
  words for said.
• Write your words onto the grid on page 8.
• Think of a simple sentence that someone might
  say, e.g. Where have I put my glasses?
• Take it in turns to choose a word from the list
  and say the sentence accordingly. Can the other
  person guess which word was chosen?
• From Jumpstart! Literacy by Pie Corbett

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The POWER of words!

• Quite often, synonyms can be ordered by how
  powerful they are, e.g.
• big huge colossal
• Order the cards according to how powerful you
  think the words are.

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Shades of meaning

1. Start with a feelings word from the list.
2. Choose a colour card.
3. Brainstorm synonyms for your feelings word.
4. Write the synonyms onto the colour card in order
   of strength.

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Words are fun!

• He didn't tell his mother that he had eaten the
  glue.
• His lips were sealed.

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Compound Words

• Compound words are words made up of two or more
  other words, e.g. bedroom, downstairs, football
• Use the list of compound words on handout page
  10. Make a new words by taking the beginning of
  one word and end of another.
• Can you think up a definition for your new word?
• jellyfish playground jellyground
• jellyground a boggy area where the ground
  wobbles when you walk on it.

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Crazy Definitions
Lots of dancing cakes

• Abundance
• Armies
• Earwig
• Elastic band
• Fish Fingers
• Gladiator
• Hippies
• Labrador
• Microwave

• The things you have up your sleevies
• A piece of false hair worn over the ears
• A group who play rubber instruments
• What fish have 5 of on each hand
• How the monster felt after lunch
• The things you hang your leggies on
• Large cat-flap for dogs
• Very small greeting

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Words are fun!

• Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the
  hallway. One hat said to the other, 'You stay
  here, I'll go on a head.'

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Sensory scenes
hear
smell
see
feel/touch
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Super settings
As fresh as a mountain stream
fresh
rocky
lush
cool
clear
The sea was a shimmering plate of glass.
lapping
smooth
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Descriptive words
similes
metaphors
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Genre related words

• See handout for a
• Fantasy Story Word Chart taken from The Usbourne
  Illustrated Thesaurus.
• A fantastic resource, full of words and phrases
  to help children make their writing more exciting.

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Words are fun!

• What did the triangle say
• to the circle?

You're so pointless!
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Fast poem

1. One noun
2. Two adjectives
3. Three adverbs
4. Four verbs

• Spaghetti
• Thin and soft,
• Silently, slowly, easily,
• Slipping, sliding, slithering, disappearing.

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Words are fun!

• Are Santa's helpers
• subordinate clauses?

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Talking Homework

• Dear Parents and Carers,
• This weeks Talk Homework is to talk about the
  following
• Who was naughtier, Goldilocks or
• Jack of the Beanstalk?
• What do you think? Discuss.
• Remember, no television on during Talk
  Homework!
• We shall all share our ideas and thoughts at
  assembly next Monday.

Ros Wilson
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Resources

• Primary Framework for literacy www.standards.dfes.
  gov.uk/primaryframeworks/
• Jokes found at www.kidsjokes.co.uk
• Jumpstart! Literacy by Pie Corbett
• ISBN 1-84312-102-6
• The Usbourne Illustrated Thesaurus
• ISBN 0-7460-23529

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Questions and Close