Building Vocabulary At Home
I’m Merriam Webster! Dictionaries: Work with your child to create their own dictionaries with words they invent. Have your child use his or her knowledge of bases, prefixes and suffixes to make up words. You can organize their dictionaries to look like a regular dictionary: alphabetical order, definitions, pronunciation guides etc. A sample entry could read: hydrohorse-a horse that gallops on water. This can be an ongoing project that you could work on as your child learns new roots.
Roots Cubes: Wrap tissue boxes in plain paper so that they can be used as large dice. On the faces of the dice, write different roots. On one cube write bases, on another write prefixes and/or suffixes. You and your child could work in pairs, taking turns rolling the dice to create words. One person rolls; the other person gives the meaning of the word or uses it in a sentence.
Root or Not?: Select a prefix of suffix, such as in- or un-. Brainstorm lists of words that have those letters and discuss which words use those letters as a prefix and which do not. For instance, "unlock" and "uncovered" vs. "until" and "uncle".
Word Pyramids: Work with your child to create pyramid posters for words. On the bottom of the pyramid, write the word, working their way up with the definition, correct usage in a sentence, where the word would occur, synonym, and/or antonym. For example:
Roots Cubes: Wrap tissue boxes in plain paper so that they can be used as large dice. On the faces of the dice, write different roots. On one cube write bases, on another write prefixes and/or suffixes. You and your child could work in pairs, taking turns rolling the dice to create words. One person rolls; the other person gives the meaning of the word or uses it in a sentence.
Root or Not?: Select a prefix of suffix, such as in- or un-. Brainstorm lists of words that have those letters and discuss which words use those letters as a prefix and which do not. For instance, "unlock" and "uncovered" vs. "until" and "uncle".
Word Pyramids: Work with your child to create pyramid posters for words. On the bottom of the pyramid, write the word, working their way up with the definition, correct usage in a sentence, where the word would occur, synonym, and/or antonym. For example:
Root Wheels: Write a root in the middle of a circle. Divide the circle into 4, 6 or 8 parts. In each part have your child write a word with the root, use the word in a sentence and draw a picture. For example: