LLATL and vocabulary

[sweetpea3829]

Another LLATL question, lol.

 

I'm planning on starting red with my 7 and 6 year olds.  This after reviewing blue and being sorely disappointed at how lite it was.  Folks here have told me to stick it out and that it gets better, especially by yellow...so that's what we're doing.  Besides, I think my husband will flip his lid if I buy another piece of curriculum this year.

 

So I'm going through red, preparing for the start of the school year and so far, I'm noticing very little in the way of vocabulary instruction.  Like...none.  Maybe a word here or there.  Does it improve in this regard in later levels?  I think vocabulary is a pretty important part of language arts and I'd like to see a bit more of it than what I'm seeing now.

[Flowergirl159]

Yellow has just arrived a couple of days ago. I haven't used it yet but looking through it, it appears to be good. I had heard the same, that blue and red are more teaching to read, but yellow through to the later levels are a lot more meatier!! I decided to just get yellow for my oldest and not bother with blue and red for my younger ones (they can start yellow when they are ready). Although I had also read that blue and red are a lot of fun with crafts and such. If you feel like it is not quite enough, you might be able to supplement with something else, if funds allow.

[garddwr]

I haven't seen those levels of LLATL so I  can't speak to that program, but I believe the very best way to learn vocabulary is through lots of reading and listening (to read alouds or recorded books)--personally I would take whatever time you want to devote to vocabulary and designate it as reading time. In a few years I would look into a good vocabulary program, especially one that teaches word roots. I wouldn't worry about specifically teaching vocabulary though at your children's ages.