Most of us know there are student factors outside of school, such as home life and childhood experiences, that have a big influence on student success in school. Some studies have shown that one factor in particular, “academic vocabulary,” is one of the strongest indicators of how well students will learn subject area content when they come to school. The studies also show that children and their families who have taken advantage of fun educational activities involving vocabulary during their early years generally do better in school.
The more students are supported at home to understand the words that relate to any topic the child may encounter, the easier it is for them to understand information they may read or hear about. Our teachers build on this support from the student’s home and teach specific terms in a consistently effective way to all students which is one of the strongest actions our teachers can take to ensure that their students have the academic background knowledge they need to understand the content they encounter in school.
I’d like to re-state again how important it is if family time is used with fun activities involving educational games. The children associate it with having a good time with a word, then actually the processing of that word is something they tend to gravitate to. These fun activities or playing with words, expose the child to a word a multiple of times. The more the child can loop through a word, the better the chance that it will be remembered. These activities are not pencil and paper drill but activities with family members that they will enjoy and remember as fun times.
With the home and school involving the student with these activities, the learning expands their understanding and improves their mental muscles. Every new word our child learns entices their mind to stretch into new areas.
When a student draws on a larger bank of words, they improve their ability to think and express themselves. The larger vocabulary gives their thinking more fluency with a better understanding of the world around them.
Once the child has learned to enjoy words and learning their meanings, it becomes easier for them to increase their vocabulary on their own. Reading books or articles become an enjoyable activity. The child starts to see that their world opens wide with thoughts, ideas and new horizons because fun activity time was taken with on word at a time.
Once the child becomes familiar with the challenge of taking on new words, they realize that language is always evolving and new words are being created every day. They will understand and recognize the challenge of new words that can come from technology, science, pop culture, the streets and from other languages.
The efforts and time given by a number of people can bring the child into a whole new world of knowledge when we emphasize the importance of words in their early years.
The International Falls teachers and principals really appreciate the time given by parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters, in helping the pre-schooler recognize the benefit of knowing the meaning of words.
If you have any comments or questions on this topic please give us a call at school.
Source: Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development
