When Moira Rose from Schitt’s Creek referred to teachers as scholastic skippers, I was reminded of how much I have a wonder for words and how important it is to make sure we’re helping our students develop deeper vocabularies.
This is not an exhaustive list by any means, but these are some of my favorite picture books for getting young kids curious about noticing and collecting new words. They’re the kinds of books that suggest language and vocabulary are interesting. When we have established a wonder for words, we start noticing cool words in many of the books we read and the kids feel pretty accomplished whenever they manage to use a new word in a conversation or in a story they’re writing.
THESAURUS REX
Written by Laya Steinberg, THESAURUS REX is my favorite book for teaching children there is often more than one way to say something. I use this text during writing workshop a lot. Afterward, we spend several days making charts of synonyms for common or overused words. These charts often start off like: Other Ways to Say Happy, Different Words for Mad, and Specific Ways to Say Went. If your goal is to develop a wonder for words, this book deserves a spot on the shelf.
BIG WORDS FOR LITTLE PEOPLE
My students love Jamie Lee Curtis’ books. In BIG WORDS FOR LITTLE PEOPLE, she uses humor and relatable life moments to introduce children to big words. Because her examples are so age-appropriate, the kids are easily able to start trying out the big words in their own lives!
MY FATHER KNOWS THE NAMES OF THINGS
What I love about this book (pictured at the top) is that it’s not obviously about vocabulary. Instead, Jane Yolen introduces us to a man who is so curious about the world and the things in it, he has become a walking encyclopedia. It’s about being so interested in a particular topic, you start to learn and use the technical terms associated with it. For example, I’ve had my fair share of first graders who were so passionate about sharks, they could not only name more than a dozen of them, but also knew specific key words like dorsal, cartilage, and ambush.
MORE BOOKS FOR DEVELOPING A WONDER FOR WORDS
It was hard to stick with just three books. Here are a few more titles I think you might like that help build rich vocabularies.
- The Boy Who Loved Words by Roni Schotter
- Max’s Words by Kate Banks
- Dear Deer by Gene Barretta
- Pig Pigger Piggest by Rick Walton
- Why the Banana Split by Rick Walton
- Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish
- Fancy Nancy’s Favorite Fancy Words by Jane O’Connor and Robin Preiss Glasser
Happy teaching!
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