Help....low vocab scores

[Lised]

I just got my girls IOWA test scores back and they both scored high on reading comprehension but low on vocabulary. I know how important the vocabulary is for SATs....can any of you recommend what you are using to improve vocabulary. This past year I had them going through the Vocabulary Cartoons book but feel we might need something with a little more work to it to help them retain the words. Thanks for any advice.

[Jane in NC]

How old are your girls and do they study Latin?

 

And welcome to the board!

 

Jane in NC

[Gwen in VA]

read....Read...READ...READ...

Seriously, reading is the BEST way to improve vocabulary.

 

Do lots of read aloud with them, even if they are of high school age. Have them read books (both fiction and nonfiction), leave magazines around, discuss the op/ed page of the dily paper.

 

If they claim that the books are boring, ask for recommendations of interesting books. If that fails, require them to read the books anyway!

 

read....Read...READ...READ...

[choirfarm]

Well, my children read, read, read and read more. They read all of the dialectic and upper grammar books in TOG as well as their own for fun books. I haven't gotten this year's scores back but last year my oldest scored in the 44 percentile in vocab bu the 88 percentile in reading comprehension. To me, this makes no sense at all. If you don't understand vocab, then how do you understand the passage??? His other scores were in the 97, 99 percentile and he took the ACT this year as part of the Duke program and got a 23 on the Reading/English section. So I guess he is doing ok. But I still don't understand that score. And believe me, we read.

 

Christine

[angela in ohio]

Study Latin

Read old literature

Talk in big words and teach them to ask to have words they don't understand defined

Give them vocabulary words and require them to use them in a writing passage

[Michelle in MO]

First of all, my older two girls do read a lot, and I think that helps. I think that excellent vocabulary is built up over a lifetime of reading, though. So---don't give up on the reading end of things! :)

 

Secondly, I've had my older two girls work through two vocabulary books per year---in the fall they've done the Vocabulary from the Classical Roots series; in the spring they've done Wordly Wise 3000 (which is supposed to work through the top 3000 SAT words). Both resources are excellent in that there are a number of exercises that help your student really work with the words in different contexts. With my youngest, I've had her just do Wordly Wise.

 

Third, there's another book out there called Vocabulary for the College Student. Here's the link:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Vocabulary-College-Student-Harold-Levine/dp/1567651046/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1211894350&sr=8-1

 

Also, my oldest daughter (for some odd reason) has turned into a word hound. I honestly don't know why, but she loves having a thesaurus by her bed and oftentimes insists on bringing it on vacation. Anyway, I think it helps to make pocket dictionaries and thesauri (that must be the plural of thesaurus, right, Latin moms??? :D ) available for your kids. Encourage them to look up words when they encounter one they don't know. We bought my oldest an electronic thesaurus.

 

I think a combination of these factors may help.

[Lised]

Hi, I am actually not new to this board but it has been awhile since I posted and the site didn't recognize me! :(

Anyway....my twin girls are finishing 9th grade....we have used a lot of Sonlight and WTM for reading and they both absolutely LOVE, LOVE to read and still love for me to read aloud to them......on their IOWA's they scored in the 90th percentile on reading comprehension but in the 60th for vocabulary. This just concerned me that I needed to do a little more then just have them read! I feel like we need a "plan" to work through.

 

We have not done Latin for many years and that is a good suggestion.....we will not have time to do a full Latin course but I think I remember seeing some workbooks that will take you through the Latin roots?? I will also look at the Wordly Wise and Voc. for College students. Any other things you all like?

[FloridaLisa]

To me, this makes no sense at all. If you don't understand vocab, then how do you understand the passage??? ... So I guess he is doing ok. But I still don't understand that score. And believe me, we read. Christine

 

....on their IOWA's they scored in the 90th percentile on reading comprehension but in the 60th for vocabulary.

 

Just a guess, ladies, as I'm not a test-maker or giver. Perhaps the students can pick up enough contextual clues to score well on comprehension, but don't really know the words on the vocab sections when asking for definitions, synonyms and antonyms.

 

My dc have done Latin and workbooks such as the AMSCO series (Joy of Vocabulary, Vocabulary for the High School Student, Vocabulary for the College-Bound Student). Actually, though, if I had a student who I thought needed a vocabulary boost, I would add in vocabulary awareness activities. I had a Word Power class in high school that did this. Either you or your dc could choose 5-10 words per week (from a list, from independent reading) and define them, talk about them, use them in sentences, post them on the fridge, award points for every time they were used in conversation or detected in print or radio, put the words in a notebook with a small drawing about the word to help remember. Begin to talk about words in your lunch and dinner conversation as it comes up, stop in the read-alouds and talk about new words, etc. In other words, make a rich and varied vocabulary a priority this year.

 

Perhaps by making them vocabulary aware, they will *catch* the fun and begin being more perceptive of words and word choice as they read and talk and listen.

 

HTH!

Lisa

 

P.S. Do they have a thesaurus? Not the on-line tool, but the flip-through-me-because-you-can-find-some-neat-new-words kind? One of my favorite resources growing up. :)

[Michelle in MO]

We have not done Latin for many years and that is a good suggestion.....we will not have time to do a full Latin course but I think I remember seeing some workbooks that will take you through the Latin roots?? I will also look at the Wordly Wise and Voc. for College students. Any other things you all like?

 

may be the workbooks you're thinking of. They will give your girls a very good study through many Latin and Greek word roots.

 

There are a couple of other resources I've thought of along these lines. One of them is Vocabulary Vine, published by Paula of Paula's Archives. Here's a link to that page on her website:

 

http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/latin.htm

 

BTW, she also has a lot of other really cool stuff on her website, much of which is free!

 

Also, I think Memoria Press has a resource called Book of Roots. Here's a link to that page on their website:

 

http://www.memoriapress.com/descriptions/Book-of-Roots.html

 

I have not used the latter two resources, but I do know that they're out there.

 

Don't be too discouraged about low test scores in certain areas, though! My youngest does not test well on reading comprehension, and I've worked quite a bit with her this year on the topic. I may have her tested again this year to see if she's improved. Overall, though, I just don't think she tests as well as her siblings. In her case, I've both had someone else test her and have tested her myself. In most situations I prefer the neutrality of having someone else perform the testing. In her situation, I've wanted to personally observe what she was doing during the test. I found that she was literally racing through certain portions of the test, filling in answers without really thinking! By saying that, though, I'm not suggesting that your daughters are doing that.

 

For myself, I've found that I can have a good recognition of certain difficult words when I read, but I don't always take the time to look them up. So, I have a "sense" of what a word means. When I studied for my GRE, which I took at the end of March, the test prep. book did say that there was no better preparation for the verbal portion of the GRE than a lifetime of reading. However, the prep. book also said that the GRE tests specific usages of the vocabulary words, which are very difficult. Although it's been years since I've taken college entrance exams or tests like the Iowa or Stanford, it wouldn't surprise me if kids encounter the same thing, although on a different level. In other words, kids may have a good reading vocabulary and have an essential understanding of a particular word in context, but when they encounter the word in a test situation it may be a whole different ballgame. For example, the vocabulary word may be given as an antonym. Here's one from my GRE prep. book:

 

maladroit:

 

* ill-willed

* dexterous (correct answer)

* cowardly

* enduring

* sluggish

 

So, in context the word may make perfect sense to your child. In a test situation, they may need to know the specific, exact meaning of the word and successfully locate its antonym.

 

This may answer choirfarm's question, too, to some extent. However, I think a combination of a lot of reading plus specific word study will help many kids in this area.

[Niebski]

My dd (12) read a LOT, and has a nice vocab naturally, but this semester we've tried something new. She spends 5-10 min per day on http://www.number2.com/ which is a free SAT prep program. We also have SAT vocab picture flashcards; she reviews them daily, and we both make up sentences using the words. It's the sentences that count, as advanced words are nuanced. Then I enter some of the harder words to spell into her Spell Doctor lessons, and she has to write sentences using them (and IEW techniques, too!). So far, the combo of the picture mnemonics, sentence creation, and writing seem to be working. The words are sticking

so far, but we'll see!

 

Sue

[tnmomofboys]

My ds, almost 14, has a summer reading list (from our co-op). I don't know that he would be labeled a reluctant reader, but...the book needs to be pretty good for him to finish it in a reasonable time. Our 3 choices are By Right of the Conquest- Henty, The King's Fifth- O'Dell, and Mary Bloody Mary - Meyer. I need to pick 2. I really need some help here. We need to start one of these really soon in order to finish them.

[tnmomofboys]

Sorry I meant to create a new thread and somehow replied to the last post. Sorry...

[Langhaven]

I don't think it has to be terribly complicated or costly. We have been careful to have our kids read quality books typically written before 1900, have used a vocabulary curriculum (in our case Wordly Wise), studied some form of Latin, took a language (Spanish for us), and I drill vocabulary. I give them 5 words per week. They are to know how to spell, define and use them in a sentence. I give weekly quizzes and semester tests.

 

Also, the SAT website offers an SAT word a day that can be sent to your email address. Good practice with little effort.

 

Hope that helps!