Dictionary Use

[TXMary2]

At what point do you start teaching your child how to use a dictionary? What beginning dictionary do you suggest?

[TwinMominTX]

I taught my twins to use a dictionary in first grade - approximately 6 years old.

 

I have used the Scholastic Children's Dictionary http://www.amazon.com/Scholastic-Childrens-Dictionary/dp/0439702585/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1250609442&sr=8-1 as well as the Webster's New World Children's Dictionary http://www.amazon.com/Websters-New-World-Childrens-Dictionary/dp/0471786888/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1250609516&sr=8-1.

 

Both are good.

 

I recently purchased electronic dictionaries for my girls (who are 8) after watching an IEW writing DVD where the author Andrew Pudewa suggested them as a way to encourage the use of synonyms in writing. He describes the painful way children go about looking up words in a dictionary or thesaurus and it fit my twins to a T. They can certainly look up words and they know the procedures, but it really slows us down and seems to dry up the creative juices. We've had great fun with the electronic dictionaries. I purchased two of these http://www.amazon.com/Franklin-MWD-460-Merriam-Webster-Dictionary-Thesaurus/dp/B000FCP1RU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1250609728&sr=8-2.

[eternalknot]

It's been a gradual process, beginning in Kindergarten. I have a strong reader, else I'd probably hold off until whatever age he was reading comfortably.

 

K

learn alphabetizing to first letter

discuss syllables

 

1st

learn alphabetizing to second through fourth letters

discuss guide words, dictionary abbreviations, (basic) parts of speech

together, look up words from readalouds that are unfamiliar in meaning

 

2nd

learn the breakdown of a dictionary entry

discuss root words, suffixes, prefixes

review dictionary abbreviations, (basic) parts of speech

independently look up unfamiliar words, some assigned from history and science readings

 

3rd (this 2009-10 schoolyear)

* at this point he can use the dictionary fluently

* we will continue to use it weekly via a handful of assigned words taken from other studies

 

ETA: I didn't use a child's dictionary, just (two) regular adult dictionaries. One is 50 million years old (was my dad's) and is a heavy hardback that we keep on my desk. The other is a paperback we bought just for my son to carry around, and it features Garfield (and random Garfield comics scattered throughout). We use the old one for our dictionary-specific studies, and the paperback one for his own dictionary needs.

Edited August 18, 2009 by eternalknot