'Early Literacy in Action: Vocabulary' A Workshop presented by the Children's Department of the Abilene Public Library in Abilene, Texas on February 12, 2015. This presentation details the early literacy skill Vocabulary and how to incorporate it into library programs.

1. Early Literacy in Action:
Vocabulary
Presenter: Darla Casella, Children’s Librarian
Mockingbird Branch Library
A Workshop Presented By
The Children’s Department
Of The Abilene Public Library
February 12, 2015
Abilene, Texas

2. What Is It?
Vocabulary is:
• knowing the names
of things
• feelings
• concepts
• ideas

3. Vocabulary helps with every aspect
of a child’s development
• Children need a wide vocabulary to express
their selves and describe emotions and actions.
• Larger vocabularies enable children to think
more deeply.
• The larger vocabulary children have the easier it
will be for them to understand what they are
reading.

4. The Facts
• Most two-year-olds have vocabularies of 300-
500 words.
• Most five-year-olds enter school knowing
between 3,000 – 5,000 words.
• The closer to knowing 5,000 words a child is,
the better off he or she will be.

5. Talking and reading with children are two of
the easiest and most effective ways to build
your child’s vocabulary.
TALKING READING

6. • Are able to decode (sound out) unfamiliar words
easier.
• Are able to express themselves more accurately.
• Have an easier time comprehending what they
are reading.
• Are able to recognize more words in print
because they have heard and learned more
words verbally.
Children who have strong
vocabulary skills…

7. • Talk, talk, talk
• Read, read, read
Simple ways that you can build
children’s vocabularies

8. More Ideas
• Call items by more than one name: i.e. Cat,
Kitten, Kitty
• Incorporate rhyming.
• Say words slowly enough so that children can
hear the individual sounds.
• Play games.

9. Activities
• The bag game
• Spider on the Floor
• Teddy Bear Song http://youtu.be/f-6_697iL24
• Little Mouse
• Where is the Green Sheep?

10. Books To Encourage vocabulary building:
Using fun, descriptive words
• For Babies and Toddlers
– Barnyard Banter by Denise Fleming
– Where is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox
– Peekaboo Morning by Rachel Isadora
– Blue Sea by Robert Kalan
– Counting Kisses by Karen Katz
– Baby Loves Visiting by Michael Lawrence
– A Truck Goes Rattley-Bumpa by Jonathon London
– Lemons Are Not Red by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

11. • For Preschoolers
– Elephants Can Paint, Too! by Katya Arnold
– The Bus For Us by Suzanne Bloom
– Wet Dog by Elise Broach
– Red-Eyed Tree Frog by Joy Cowley
– Warthogs Paint by Pamela Duncan Edwards
– Fancy Nancy by Jane O’Connor
– Rattletrap Car by Phyllis Root
– Wild About Books by Judy Sierra
– The Napping House by Audrey Wood
Books To Encourage vocabulary building:
Using fun, descriptive words

12. Bibliography
http://suffolf.lib.va.us/kids-teens/parents-
corner/vocabulary.html
http://www.k12reader.com/effective-strategies-
for-teaching-vocabulary/