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