Vocabulary knowledge has been long connected with reading comprehension, and this is why vocabulary lessons are oh so important with new readers. Since we use vocabulary in almost everything we do it enables us to actively participate in society. We need vocabulary and we need to teach it well. Vocabulary, for me, has always been an indicator of education. You seem to think you know how well educated a person is by the words choices they use. For the most part this is true, but you always run into those people who just choose to use the 'easy' words and not strive to show their literacy through their speech. This is very common around Southern Appalachia. People will often use the word seen instead of saw, this drives me inherently NUTS. Most of the people I come into contact with that speak this way know better they just do not see anything wrong with saying the same word in a tense that does not relate to the sentence. I think vocabulary is a vital part of elementary students' education, and it is also something you can make VERY fun!
Do you think some cultures have their own language and vocabulary? Like the South and the word Y'all, or Northern states that have their own sayings? I think it is so interesting that vocabulary changes by region in almost every country in the world.
This vocabulary activity I saw on Pinterest looked very fun, and you use it with Read Aloud's!
As the teacher read her students Read Aloud's, students would listen for words they were not familiar with. When they came across unfamiliar words, there would be a couple designated students that were in charge of making a gum ball for that word. On each gum ball there was the unknown word and the definition they looked up in the dictionary. This could also work for individual readers, as they come across words they do not know they can make their own ball and fill it out and stick it on the gum ball machine.
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