Semantic DEVELOPMENT: Strategies for Parents

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Labeling and elaborating throughout the day: These types of conversations do not need to happen just during joint book reading, but can also occur when you and your child are in the car together, watching television, or looking at a billboard. 


In fact, these types of conversations can happen almost any time. Part of the reason that talking about new words during book reading is a simple and structured way to build your child's vocabulary is that the new words are already included there for you, and storybooks provide helpful visual support so that children can begin to pair words and the object s those words represent. 


But while you are out in your neighborhood everyday, you can also find new objects to label and discuss.

What to do

  • Label and Elaborate on New Words During Shared Reading

how to do it

  • Make comments and ask questions to draw your child's attention to new vocabulary words and new ideas during shared reading

  • For example, when reading a book about a schooner, first label this boat by pointing at its picture and saying, 

  •         "This kind of boat is called a                        schooner." 

  • Then elaborate by saying things like, 

  •         "Look hot tall the schooner is                        compared to those other boats!"

what to do

  • Label and Elaborate on New Words Throughout the Day

how to do it

  • Make comments and ask questions about the things you see or people and situations you encounter during shared activities such as driving in the car, watching television, or looking at a billboard. 


  • Word association games are another good way to introduce new vocabulary.

what to do

  • Select Themed Books

how to do it

  • Choose a book with a theme (for example, a day at the beach, or a visit to the zoo), which will help your child learn many words that fall into a particular category. A great resource for selecting themed books is 

http://www.readingrockets.org/books/booksbytheme

What to do

  • Play a Synonym ID Game

how to do it

  • Make a game out of identifying synonyms by asking your child, 

  •         "What's another word for big?" 

  • Take turns, so that your child needs to pick the word, as well as identify the synonym. 

  • Your child may choose words for which he or she can't identify a synonym, in which case you get a chance to teach her a new word. 

  • You can play the same game using antonyms (words that mean the opposite) and asking your child to pick words that are the opposite of the word you stated. 

what to do

Make a Word Web

how to do it

  • Help your child make a word web, using a large piece of paper to create a graphic showing the connections between related words.
     
  • For example

  •         Things you do in summer 
  •         Things you see on a farm 
  •         Things that you make a superhero              powerful

  • Your child can draw pictures, find photos from a magazine, or select stickers depicting each word your child thinks of. 

  • Once items are pasted, taped, or stuck to the web, you can label the objects. 

  • Save the word webs you create so you can add to them over time or review them together!

what to do

Play Prepositional Simon Says

how to do it

  • Play a game of Simon Says with your child. 

  • Give increasingly complex directions that require him to make sense of prepositional phrases. 

  • For example, 
  •         "Simon says, 'Put the ball under the             chair behind the table.'"