Many of you will have been asked by your children to help them to find some ‘wow’ words. One of the targets we want the children to aim for is to use a range of interesting and ambitious vocabulary in their writing. By ambitious we mean a word not usually used by a child at their age or stage of development.
For example: At the age of 5/6 words like ‘exciting’ ‘interesting’ ‘afraid’; at the age of 6/7 words like ‘adventure’ ‘accident’ ‘magic’; at the age of 7/8 ‘gigantic’ ‘silently’ ‘sadness’ ‘baggage’ ‘companion’; at age 8/9 ‘attractive’ patiently’ ‘courage’ ‘furnishings’
In each classroom we have a ‘Vocabulary’ area. Children are encouraged to contribute ‘wow’ words to this space. They must be able to explain what the word means. The words are displayed for all to see and children are encouraged to ‘steal’ these words to use in their writing. Children who use these words in the correct context are praised by the teacher, and sometimes get a mention in our Friday assembly.