One of the areas our staff is focussing on this year is developing vocabulary in our children. 

A robust vocabulary improves all areas of communication — listening, speaking, reading and writing.

Vocabulary is critical to a child’s success for these reasons:

• Vocabulary growth is directly related to school achievement
• The size of a child’s vocabulary in kindergarten predicts the ability to learn to read
• Vocabulary helps children to think and learn about the world
• Expanding a child’s knowledge of words provides unlimited access to new information

How can you help your child? Play games.

Word games that challenge you and help you discover new meanings and new words are a great tool for expanding your vocabulary. Examples include 

• crossword puzzles
• anagrams 
• word jumble
• Scrabble
• Boggle
• I Spy, 
• twenty questions.
• create a vocab vine in your child's bedroom - each leaf is a new word