Literacy 

BUILDING VOCABULARY 

Vocabulary refers to the words that we know.  The depth and breadth of a child’s vocabulary supports them to achieve academic success, think and learn about the world that they live in and express their ideas and feelings.  For this reason, vocabulary instruction is an important part of our teaching practices here at BNWPS.  Thinking about words and their meanings is not limited to just Reading and Writing, but instead is explored through all subject areas including Maths, Art and Playful Inquiry.  For instance, if a group of Foundation students are playing ‘shops’ in Guided Play, there is a whole range of vocabulary that they need to successfully interact.  Or if the Middle students are learning about multiplication in Maths, then they need to know the meaning of words such as ‘times’, ‘multiply’ and ‘groups of’. 

When planning for vocabulary instruction, there are different types of words that teachers consider.  These types of words can be categorised into three tiers (see diagram below).  Generally, most of our time is spent teaching students tier 2 and tier 3 vocabulary.  Students are provided a range of opportunities to explore, consolidate and generalise the meaning of words, with the hope being that they will then apply them both at school and in their everyday lives.

There are many ways that you too can support your child’s vocabulary development at home.  Reading with them and tuning in to new and interesting words is one way.  Modelling the use of a range of vocabulary is also very effective.  For example, instead of describing your dinner as ‘nice’, you could use the words ‘delightful’ or ‘scrumptious’ instead.  Other strategies include choosing a word of the week  and playing word games.