Vocabulary in Kindergarten--Asking and Answering Questions

One of the Common Core Standards focuses on teaching children new vocabulary through narrative and informational texts.   For Kindergartners, this standard is "students can ask and answer questions about unknown words in texts". Vocabulary learning is crucial to comprehension and the ability to read more complex, or difficult, texts.

As a team, we have introduced this standard through the study of Fairy Tales. Teachers have been highlighting difficult words in these stories, and studying them with students.  For example, after reading The Three Billy Goats Gruff, teachers reread the following words in context, wondering aloud with students about what they could mean:  rushing, trampled, valley, meadow.  Later, we used pictures to help illustrate the words, partner work to talk about and discuss these words, and finally an "alphabox" activity in which students  draw a picture of the word in order to represent it in a way that they will remember.  Doing these kinds of activities throughout the year with students, using a variety of genres, will support them as they read more complex texts.

You can do this work at home with your child as well; noting and wondering about words in the books you are reading together, talking about the words, and using those words in future conversations.