I have a second grader and kindergartener, and I just LOVE when they come home from school using these big words that I wouldn't ever THINK to teach them... and even more-I love when they think they know what a word means and use it incorrectly.. A.D.O.R.A.B.L.E! (insert word document that wouldn't upload correctly HERE)
I started thinking more about it today, and I came up with a list for each of them... I (googled) vocabulary words for their grade levels, and chose words that they don't normally use. I WAS going to make a "Word of the Day Calendar", but since we have to share the kids with their mom every other week, I decided to leave the list as-is, and they could add a star each time they use the word correctly! Once they have used the same word 5 times, they can choose a big sticker from my sticker drawer, to do whatever they want with it... I didn't add definitions, because I think half of the fun is looking it up :)
I'm excited about this idea, but the kids haven't seen it yet, so we will see how they like it! I think this will be a good way to improve their vocabulary, and I can actually feel like they are learning something from ME!!
If anyone would like a copy of my list, leave your email address and I would be happy to forward it to you!! But, you can make your own almost as easily...
That's awesome! Yay you!
ReplyDeleteMy mom did something similar - we had home "spelling tests" every week. She gave us the list of 20 words on Monday, and we were tested on Saturday. We got 5 cents if we could spell the word correctly, and 5 cents if we could use it in a sentence correctly. If we got it wrong, it went on the list for the next week. This is how we earned money instead of an allowance. I plan on doing the same with my kids when they're old enough.
Be sure to post what your kids think of your idea!