Vocabulary….please help/evaluate!

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  • momto2blessings
    Participant

    Can you please help me evaluate my dd’s vocab., and give tips on improving?  She’s a 12yo 6th grader.  My 9yo seems to pick up a lot of voc. just from reading good books.  However, I’ve been concerned that dd needs to improve her vocabulary and today had her strart looking up any word she doesn’t know. She is struggling with Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm.  She didn’t know these words: biddable, conscientous, economical, industrious, inestimable, hitherto, conterfeit, spinsters, timorous, presages, bureau, circumspection, commodity, acidly, equivalent, eloquent, dimity, uncomprehended, precipitated, refinement, tempestous, counterpane, billow, intrinsic, cordially, coincided. These were from just ONE chapter. I admit, I don’t know them all myself:)

    Should a 6th grader know most of these?  I know that’s a bit vague.  She’s reading Seargent York and understood all the words in there.  She reads from the Bible, is reading Age of Fable, Story of Inventions…and can narrate decently (except forgetting names). Her dad is teaching them Greek, and we’re doing English from the Roots Up. Any thoughts/suggestions?  Thanks, this is becoming concerning for me!  Blessings, Gina

    crazy4boys
    Participant

    I am not an expert, but I think most ADULTS in our modern world would not know those words.  Perhaps someone with older children can tell you if this is “okay” or not.  I can’t tell you how to fix it either.  We’re just entering the world of formal language lessons.

    Not much help, but my initial thoughts are that it’s not a problem and you don’t need to freak out quite yet.  It’s impressive that she can read the books you listed and she’ll learn as she goes.

    momto2blessings
    Participant

    Thanks for the reassurance!  As I look at the list again, I do think it’s a bit difficult.  But there have been other words that have come up that I think she should know by now….but not sure if I’m needing to be concerned or not.  And her pronounciation of of the words she doesn’t know is often wrong, too. I wonder if I quit having her read aloud to me too early.  She hasn’t wanted to buddy read, but I think I may need to start?

    I admit I’m not sure how CM handled vocabulary.  I don’t want a workbook…want them to learn from their readings.  But how to go about this? I just started having them each find a word a day in their readings and writing it on a white board, w/definition.  Is that enough? Any thoughts/ideas? Thanks so much!  Gina

    Bookworm
    Participant

    Did a family quiz.  I knew all the words, so did my 18yo, my 16yo knew all but one, and my 12yo knew 16 of them. 

    This is just an idea.  Is she reading this book on her own?  Are you reading it out loud?  What do you/she do when you encounter a word she does not know?  Do you try to figure it out by context?  Have you shown her examples of this?  I always begin here–“Can you guess what it means by the rest of the sentence?”  If it doesn’t seem important, I skip over it for now.  If it seems an important word, I jot it down.  We revisit them at the end of the reading, and again try context.  If that doesn’t work we look them up.  Then we read the sentence again and put in another word. 

    You probably just need to be a bit more explicit with her in teaching her what to do.  She needs the contextual skills and then the encouragement to look a word up.  Also, when you again encounter a word (for example, the next time you read “dimity” then remind her of the previous experience.)  A lot of these words are old-fashioned and not common today–but a number of these she will encounter again and again.  I HATE vocabulary programs.  I HATE making kids write down definitions.  But it’s also good to have a big vocabulary–it’s the most reliable predictor of student success.  She’s old enough to start working to increase her vocabulary.  Some thoughts–you don’t want to interrupt readings more than necessary.  Save some work to do AFTER the reading is done, and just provide a little help when needed.  And help her know an older word like “dimity” or “hitherto” but really emphasize words she’ll see often, like “economical” or “industrious” or “equivalent”  (Surprised she hasn’t run into that one in math!)  We often play games like trying to use words we just learned over the course of the day.  So I used to tape up the index cards we would jot the words down on, on the wall over the table so we could see them and remind ourselves to use them.   This should be FUN and not a drag.  Words are MAGIC.  Just a few sounds, a few letters and we can communicate amazing shades of meaning.  A good vocabulary is like a treasure trove of wonderful ideas and ways to communicate.  Not to mention the different pictures we can see in our minds as we read, if we picture a girl in “dimity” instead of “muslin” or “cambric”.  She’ll enjoy her increasingly-difficult readings more if you teach her the skills now to use context, look up when necessary, and review and practice the words she meets. 

    momto2blessings
    Participant

    Bookworm, I’m very impressed that you and some your boys know what dimity and presages mean:)  I haven’t done much with vocab.  My youngest seems to have a decent vocab., but he’s a much more curious, read-for-fun kid.  My eldest is more of a ‘get it done’ type of kid.  I stop and ask what words mean when I’m reading aloud, but will have to try letting them figure it out…good idea.  With her independent readings, I haven’t done much…but am seeing I need to. 

    So, I see how I can do this with read alouds.  Do you suggest the same things for independent reading?  I don’t want to turn reading into a chore…but I guess waiting until the end might help that.  I’m not quite sure how to keep up on this, since she reads quite a bit herself.  Do you make your boys look up all words they don’t know when they do independent reading, and then go back and find it again in at the end if they can’t figure out what it means?  Or do you focus more on doing this when reading aloud?  She’s not fond of buddy reading, but I think I need to incorporate some.  Thanks for the tips:)  Blessings, Gina

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