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Using a dictionary
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At what age do you begin teaching a child to use a dictionary? How do you go about this?
I learned to use a dictionary in third or fourth grade, I think. My experience involved my teachers handing out a list of 20 vocabulary words, looking up each word in the dictionary, and copying the definition. This is not the experience I want my children to have.
I’m interested because my ds6 has taken an interest lately in Beatrix Potter’s books, and many of her stories have difficult words for such a young guy (ie. obliged, indigestible, persuaded, shrill). He has to ask me how to pronounce many of these words, and so I know he probably isn’t grasping the meaning of each one. If he is going to continue to read books above his level, I want him to have the tools to know how to find the meaning of a word on his own. Is 6 too young for this? How do you gently acquaint your children with the use and purpose of a dictionary?
Thanks,
Lindsey
Hi Lindsey, The curriculum we just came from before switching over to all CM was a CM/classical mix. My 8yo 3rd grader looked up 3 vocabulary words a week which were words usually taken from her history selection that week. She was supposed to write them on index cards and keep them in a card file alphabetically. Need I say that she hated vocabulary day! I have decided to let her look up a few words a week still, but no writing, and no card file. I think she needs the practice of the dictionary, but the writing is totally unnecessary at this age. If your 6yo is reading well, maybe you could show him how to look up words, i.e. how words are listed alphabetically, what guide words are, but as far as formal instruction and definition writing, I think it is unnecessary at this age.
Although I haven’t done anything towards my kids looking up words in the dictionary (my oldest is 7) – we do have a “first” dictionary – a picture one… (it is “The Cat in the Hat Beginner Book Dictionary”) that they enjoy looking over. They are getting the basic feel of the layout of a dictionary (alphabetical), and have learned some new words too.
I imagine that soon I will show my oldest a dictionary meant for older kids and how it works… probably an illustrated one.
Possibly something like this…
Oh, wanted to add….
I had a grade 6 teacher, that if you forgot your running shoes (needed running shoes / indoor shoes at school to keep the clothes clean…) or was caught running in the hall – he made you write the definition of the word “run” from the dictionary. (I believe there was 26 definitions in our classroom dictionary.) If you got the “run” assignement too often… you had to copy the definitions from the unabridged dictionary in the school library. (maybe 52 definitions???)
He found the punishment SO effective, that apparently a couple of years later, he was using it for a lot of infractions.
I only had the “run” assignment once…. but I certainly don’t plan to have my kids write out any definitions for school! (although if I ever need a good punishment…… lol)
A better way to teach skills with reference materials is with a “scavenger hunt” type activity. Blow up on the printer a dictionary entry. Discuss how entries are organized (good time to have some fun alphabetizing games!) Discuss the different parts of the entry, depending on the age of your child. (i.e., if they don’t know the parts of speech yet, skip that for now) Show them different sections in the dictionary (does yours have a separate section for famous people or geographical names?) Then call out clues they need to use the dictionary to solve. “Who can tell me what “rabid” means? What do you do if you can’t remember how to spell “rhythm”? What language does “Church” come from? Who can find a word that has entries as both a noun AND a verb? What if I needed to know how to pronounce “Ougadougou”? etc. You can also do this with thesauruses and other things as appropriate. Also this is fun when you are learning another language to make up games in the bilingual dictionary. It’ll be much more memorable if it’s fun as opposed to dreary.
Bookworm,
That’s exactly the kind of suggestion I have been looking for! I don’t want my children to have the dreary, mundane experience of copying definitions just to give them something to do. I just wonder if 6 is a little young to begin all this.
suzukimom,
I’ll definitely have to check out the link you posted. The dictionary we own is my old college dictionary; I’m sure we need an updated one!
I just looked on amazon for children’s dictionary…. or illustrated dictionary…. there were a few, I just linked the one that let us see inside…
The one we own that the kids love is this one… It certainly doesn’t have all the words you will need for the readings your child is doing, but as I said it is a fun one, a good intro to dictionaries, and my kids sit and read it. http://www.amazon.ca/Cat-Hat-Beginner-Book-Dictionary/dp/0394810090/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1294956134&sr=8-3#_
Love those ideas, Bookworm!
We have and use:
- American Heritage Student Science Dictionary
- American Heritage College Dictionary
- Scholastic Dictionary of Idioms (dd9 loves this and has an assignment to learn 2 new ones ea. week, her choice)
- American Heritage Student Thesaurus
- American Heritage Children’s Dictionary (dd9 uses when learning about homophones or needs to look up a word, it’s illustrated somewhat and has good explanations in the beginning)
We also have some Math dictionary type books, but dd avoids them like the plague unless I make her look up something.
Christie
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