Using a dictionary

Amy knows the alphabet and can order loose letters in alphabetical order. She learned this through the alphabet song, a child computer she used before that taught the ABC, and by matching the loose letters to a printed alphabet.

I recently got her to look up words in the dictionary. She is used to look up the date in her homework book (a small diary in which I jot down reminders for her), as well as Bible verses, so "looking up" something, i.e. paging forwards and backwards, is not new to her.

At first I had to help her a lot to look up certain words, but she soon caught on and needs little help. We started with s combinations e.g. sc (scatter), sh (ship, shop etc.),sk (skin) sl, sm, sn (snorted). Later she looked up new sight words that she did not understand (English is her second language!) e.g. concern and suspicious. Quite difficult words, but because they appear in her storybook, she has to recognize them. I found that by looking up the different phonics as well as the sight words, her memory of these words has improved much!

She enjoys looking up the words, but the best part is that this activity has really improved her reading and spelling. We use The Oxford School Dictionary. More often than not, Amy is able to read the meaning of the word. And to think, my aim originally was only to get her to know the alphabet, so that she could file things and look up telephone numbers! She is showing me, that she will be much capable to do much more one day! In the meantime, we will continue to regularly look up words - it is a fun way to learn phonics!