Expanded Children's Vocabulary

Current Children's Expanded Vocabulary Teaching a child to read is one of the most wonderful and challenging things to do. Learning the alphabet is the important first step. Pronunciation of groups of letters is a close second. Everything from phonetics to classic 'repeat after me' techniques have been used. Research shows that children have heard thousands of words by the time they begin learning the alphabet. Recognizing the sound of letters, combinations of letters and being able to combine syllables are all important steps to learning to read. In the 1950's, it was believed that a child's vocabulary is very small. Books for children mainly included the 'Dick and Jane' series. This style used a very limited number of words, none more than two syllables long. The books used the same words over and over expecting the repetition to implant the words in their brains. According to Wikipedia, "In May 1954, Life magazine published a report on illiteracy among school children which concluded that children were not learning to read because their books were boring. William Ellsworth Spaulding was the director of the education division at Houghton Mifflin (he later became its chairman), and he compiled a list of 348 words that he felt were important for first-graders to recognize. He asked a man named Geisel to cut the list to 250 words and to write a book using only those words.[47] Theodor Seuss Geisel was a German-American author, political cartoonist, poet, animator, book publisher, and artist, best known for authoring children's books. Spaulding challenged Geisel to "bring back a book children can't put down".[48] Nine months later, Geisel completed The Cat in the Hat, using 236 of the words given to him. It retained the drawing style, verse rhythms, and all the imaginative power of Geisel's earlier works but, because of its simplified vocabulary, it could be read by beginning readers. " Later, Geisel would publish more than 60 children's books under the pen name Dr. Seuss. Unfortunately, this has not changed much in the last 60 years, even though the education and learning pace of children today is far exceeding these general rules. With children using computers , laptops, tablets and phones, they have a much greater knowledge of words by the time they get to first grade. It is time we updated our children's book vocabularies. We see grammar and punctuation falling apart, or should we say, being 'redesigned,' through social media channels. Spelling is taking a major hit. But the fact is, this younger generation of children is exposed to so much text that they have an understanding of words far exceeding their equals from 40, 30 or even 20 years ago. They seem to know the words, have an idea of the definitions and can associate the sounds with the spelling in their text messages, which may not be correct but still is recognizable. Even abbreviations can be understood without spelling out the full words. It is a new world for children learning to read a language in transition. OMG! Therefore, I have started a movement to upgrade our children's vocabulary. I believe we need to challenge their intellect with more words, more syllables and watch how they advance beyond our expectations. It is time to stop limiting an early reader's vocabulary and see how much they can absorb. I believe we will all be surprised, as I was the other day. I was sitting in a restaurant next to a family with a boy no more than 4 years old. Over my shoulder I heard him say, "Mom, I saw that man leaving with headphones in his ears. Was he listening to his mp4 player or just internet stuff?." As clear as day, this 4 year old knew enough about technology to recognize and pronounce headphones, mp4 and internet. We need to get out of the way and observe how much they can pick up through reading, texting and listening to 21st century vocabulary!