Kids' goal: Learn big words! LOL. Ideas?

[Wee Pip]

Conversation with kids today:

me:"We're going to start math next week"

them: "can we start something easy, like spelling?"

me: "I don't know what we're doing for spelling. We might learn spelling rules this year."

7yo: "I'd like to learn big words."

9yo: "yeah, me too! And then I can use those big words and people will be impressed!"

So it's unanimous. The kids want to learn "big words". Any suggestions? The more independent this venture can be, the better (I'll be chasing a toddler this year - independent is the name of the game).

[yslek]

I haven't used it, but Megawords came to mind.

[kalanamak]

I have asked my son to nab a word I use. We look it up, and discuss its spelling.

 

I also am pointing out roots. Tri is great. I started with trident....three teeth. Tri is everywhere! Dent...dentist, etc. I love to browse through etymology, and that helps, keep the roots on the tip of my tongue.

 

Kiddo seems to love medical terminology (be still my heart), and on very, very special anatomy words, we get out my GM 1899 Grey's Anatomy. It makes them special.

 

Another game we have is "Greek or Latin root?". I use and word and come back to it, write it out and we both make a secret ballot on whether it is a Greek or Latin root, close our votes, and look it up.

HTH

[ElizabethB]

M.K. Henry's Words. It has some spelling rules and plenty of big Latin and Greek words. The new book is a bit more than her old one, but comes with a CD that allows you to print out as many copies of the worksheets as you want, you can use it with multiple children.

 

It is really designed for at least a 3rd grader, but you can use it lightly with your 7 year old. It has a lot of great info, you can use it for years.

 

My remedial students all love being able to tell their parents about all the "hard (big) Latin and Greek words they can read" after using this book.

 

http://www.proedinc.com/customer/ProductView.aspx?ID=989&sSearchWord=

[tarana]

For vocabulary, we do better with Levelled Readers. Find a word in the book & ask them what it means. One child has to find out the meaning, pronunciation & explain to everyone in the family. Once everyone understands the meaning, I let them read the Reader.

While we are snacking, I ask the meaning again & let them use in sentences.

[KAR120C]

Very very big words. :) It's a little silly - things like drawing pictures or doing a little mime to convey the definitions, or trying to fake out your opponents with made up definitions. I think a 7 and 9 year old could probably handle it on their own if they're reading well. It comes with a little dictionary for all the words involved, and it's fun even just to read through that.

[NanceXToo]

Do they both read independently? Tell them to find a word they don't know/understand in their reading each day and look it up (maybe on yahoo kids online dictionary for fun and ease) and learn what it means, try to memorize how to spell it, and try to use it in conversation at least once that day. A "word of the day" kind of thing, maybe?

[Sahamamama]

7 and 9, you say? Hmm..... could you start them on Prima Latina? Get the DVDs and let those do the teaching for you. Lots of fun words in there. :D

[JudoMom]

 

Dynamic Literacy. It does require some teaching, but the worksheets can be done independently (though we do them together on the whiteboard---it's fun!).

[Country Mouse]

We are using MCT Caesar's English I and II this year to learn some new, big words. MCT studied the classics and pulled out the words most frequently used. It's fun for us because as we read or listen to classics ds encounters big words that he has learned through CE. He gets excited :D.