Be a Word Wizard . . . Read!

This year our elementary school is launching a vocabulary Word of the Day initiative.  Beginning this week (the first full week of school) we started announcing a Word of the Day on the morning announcements.  In addition to increasing student vocabulary, the program will feature some activities that will focus on parental involvement.  When I think about words and ways in which to increase student vocabulary, the following comes to mind:

- books

- magazines

- websites 

- nursery rhymes

- poems

- songs 

- storytelling 

- reader's theater

- story dramatization/retelling 

- authors 

- conversations about authors & their books 

- author visits 

- writing of all kinds 

- reading aloud

- and pretty much anything & everything to do with any type of reading material

I will be featuring various books and an interesting word or two (or more) from those books as part of a hallway display at school.  Some of those books will also be part of my Book Breaks.  Since there are so many more wonderful books than there are times for Book Breaks (during school hours), I will also dedicate Wednesday as Word Wizard Book Break Day!  

A great place to begin introducing students to the concept of Word Wizards is to share Cathryn Falwell's Word Wizard . 

Praise for Word Wizard . . .

“This lively introduction to anagrams uses words and concepts that new readers can easily understand and conveys the way language and imagination can brighten up a child's day.”  —School Library Journal

A Junior Library Guild Feature Book

Named a Notable Children’s Book in the Language Arts by the National Council of Teachers of English(1999).

 

This Weeks Words:

journey

chockablock 

embark

hubbub 

gusto 

 

Please leave a comment with any great book recommendations where any of these words may be featured!