Asking children to find the meaning of words using a dictionary and then using those words in their own written sentences is a useful way to learn more about words. But if we’re to ensure children maintain interest in word learning, it is worth considering other approaches to vocabulary building. With this in mind we’ve listed some techniques you may want to add to your vocabulary focussed reading lessons

Activities to support spoken language in the primary classroom.

This article introduces the Primary English Progression in Spoken Language document. The resource takes each of the spoken language objectives from the national curriculum and breaks them down into steps for each year from 1 - 6. This article explains more.

Explicit, planned, and strategic strategies for teaching vocabulary are at the core of the Primary English approach to teaching vocabulary. However, we also love to have fun and in this article we exemplify some of our vocabulary resources and how they can help you and your class play with words.

In this article I share some of the children’s books I take to schools when training teachers and TAs about vocabulary. To know a word well requires: “Rich, decontextualised knowledge of a word’s meaning, its relationship to other words, and its extension to metaphorical uses.” Beck, McKeown, & Omanson (1987). The quotation above finds its way into all the vocabulary training that I do. To me it sums up what word learning is all about.

I’m currently big on graphic organisers. It’s the way that graphic organisers make it easier for children to articulate their understanding that I particularly like. But also, it’s the way that a really good graphic organiser lends itself to a multitude of educational requirements. The Frayer model (sometimes called the Frayer diagram) is one such graphic organiser.

The first in a series of posts about putting the playfulness into vocabulary learning.

In this post I consider the place of wordplay in building children’s vocabularies.