• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • About
  • Shop
  • Press
  • Media Kit
  • Contact
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram
  • YouTube

teach mama logo

teach mama

helps families connect & build bridges between home & school, by amy mascott

  • early literacy
    • alphabet
    • beginning sounds
    • phonics
    • phonological awareness
    • read-aloud learning
    • rhyming
    • sight words
  • reading
    • books
    • comprehension
      • activating schema
      • connecting
      • inferring
      • predicting
      • questioning
      • retelling / summarizing
      • visualizing
    • concepts of print
    • environmental print
    • fluency
    • non-fiction
    • spelling
    • word building
    • word consciousness
    • vocabulary
  • writing
    • creative writing
    • grammar
    • informative writing
    • tripod grip
  • math
    • computation
    • counting
    • numbers
  • science
    • animals
    • plants
    • science experiments for kids
  • Activities
    • birthdays
    • cooking
      • new for us foods
    • crafts
    • foundations
      • colors
      • critical thinking
      • fine arts
      • listening
      • pretend play
      • sorting
      • speaking
    • holidays
      • new year’s
      • valentine’s day
      • president’s day
      • st. patrick’s day
      • april fool’s day
      • easter
      • mother’s day
      • teacher appreciation
      • father’s day
      • july 4th
      • halloween
      • thanksgiving
      • christmas
    • family life
      • family fun
      • giving back
      • lunchbox love notes
      • school
    • indoor activities
    • outdoor activities
  • digital literacy
    • computer time
    • iPad for learning
  • early literacy
    • alphabet
    • beginning sounds
    • phonics
    • phonological awareness
    • read-aloud learning
    • rhyming
    • sight words
  • reading
    • books
    • comprehension
      • activating schema
      • connecting
      • inferring
      • predicting
      • questioning
      • retelling / summarizing
      • visualizing
    • concepts of print
    • environmental print
    • fluency
    • non-fiction
    • spelling
    • word building
    • word consciousness
    • vocabulary
  • writing
    • creative writing
    • grammar
    • informative writing
    • tripod grip
  • math
    • computation
    • counting
    • numbers
  • science
    • animals
    • plants
    • science experiments for kids
  • Activities
    • birthdays
    • cooking
      • new for us foods
    • crafts
    • foundations
      • colors
      • critical thinking
      • fine arts
      • listening
      • pretend play
      • sorting
      • speaking
    • holidays
      • new year’s
      • valentine’s day
      • president’s day
      • st. patrick’s day
      • april fool’s day
      • easter
      • mother’s day
      • teacher appreciation
      • father’s day
      • july 4th
      • halloween
      • thanksgiving
      • christmas
    • family life
      • family fun
      • giving back
      • lunchbox love notes
      • school
    • indoor activities
    • outdoor activities
  • digital literacy
    • computer time
    • iPad for learning
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

learning during read-alouds: word consciousness

home / reading / word consciousness / learning during read-alouds: word consciousness
135 shares
  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Print

We shouldn’t try to fill every second of our children’s lives with learning and lessons.

Our kiddos really do need time for free play indoors or out in the fresh air every single day. However, it never hurts to sneak in a little-teeny lesson during read-alouds, especially since many of us read to our children several times a day.

raising word conscious kids teachmama.com

Even before children are able to read texts on their own, they can develop vocabulary, oral language, comprehension strategies, phonological awareness, and print awareness just by participating in a read-aloud with an adult.

For this series, I’ll highlight some ways to develop each of the above areas in super-simple–but very worthwhile–ways.

Here are just a few ways of developing Vocabulary during read-alouds:

Vocabulary Development–Word Consciousness:

Before, during, and after reading, we have a captive audience during read-alouds. Why not use this time to model how excited we are when we come across the use of rich and descriptive language?

By sharing our love of words and talking about new and exciting words, we are teaching our children to become Word Conscious. Word Consciousness is an integral component of language development and one of the early predictors of success in reading comprehension.

We can develop Word Consciousness by stopping during a read-aloud and commenting on a particularly awesome, unusual, or interesting word we encounter.ย 

While reading the book The Farmer, by Mark Ludy:

Oh, I love that the farmer ‘perseveres’ after the fire ruined his farm. He doesn’t give up. He keeps going, he re-plants his crops, and he moves forward. I love the word ‘perseveres’ because I like how it sounds when I say it, and it is a strong word. It means that someone doesn’t give up and that they work very hard (re: The Farmer, by Mark Ludy).

Sure, kids need down-time, but time during read-alouds can be useful for sneaking in some learning, too–no matter the child’s age!

Or when reading Deborah Guarino and Steven Kellogg’s Is Your Mama a Lama? you might say,

The bat says he ‘does not believe that’s how llamas behave.’ I sometimes like to use the word ‘believe’ instead of the word, ‘think’. To me, ‘believe’ just sounds a little fancier. I ‘believe’ I prefer the word ‘believe’ instead of ‘think’.

You can also develop Word Consciousness by:

  • talking about the way a word sounds when you say it;
  • discussing the meaning of a word;
  • talking about the way a word looks on the page;
  • trying different ways of using a particular word;
  • challenging each other to use a ‘new word’ later that day;
  • listening for ‘new words’ during other read-alouds and taking turns ‘catching’ them;
  • sharing ‘new words’ as a family, at the end of the day or at dinnertime;
  • keeping a family list of ‘Cool, New Words‘ or becoming ‘Word Wizards’ and making a ‘Word Wizard Wall’ of words you love. . .

Word Consciousness can be started with our littlest readers and should continue into adulthood. (Okay, or at least until our kids can stand it!). It’s easy, it’s important, and it promotes a love of language and an awareness of language that will ultimately help strengthen reading comprehension down the road.

When children are word conscious, they “are motivated to learn new words and able to use them skillfully” (Lane & Allen, The Vocabulary Rich Classroom: Modeling Sophisticated Word Use to Promote Word Consciousness and Vocabulary Growth, in February 2010’s The Reading Teacher.) So let’s start noticing words–and keep talking about it!

You May Also Like...

  • how to prepare your child for kindergarten -- summertime prep
    how to prepare your child for kindergarten -- summertime prep
  • everything free and awesome online to do while kids are home: classes, crafts, virtual tours and more
    everything free and awesome online to do while kids are home: classes, crafts,…
  • Navigating Education in a Time of Uncertainty: A Virtual Summit for Educators
    Navigating Education in a Time of Uncertainty: A Virtual Summit for Educators

About amy mascott

teacher, mother, dreamer. lover of literacy, fun learning, good food, and three crazy-cool kids. finder of four-leaf clovers | dc metro ยท http://about.me/amymascott
tweet with me: @teachmama

Previous Post: « appreciating teachers: water bottle notes & more!
Next Post: how to teach kids to tie their shoes how to teach kids to tie their shoes »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Julie

    May 3, 2011 at 11:09 pm

    I love these ideas/tips. These are things I plan to do with my son when he gets older. It’s so important!

    Reply
    • amy

      May 4, 2011 at 9:49 am

      THanks, Julie!! You’re so right, my friend!

      Reply
  2. Maria

    May 4, 2011 at 7:11 pm

    You have really helped me be teach-sneaky ; )

    Love the easy, natural way of your suggestions about reading!

    Thanks ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply
    • amy

      May 4, 2011 at 7:55 pm

      Maria! You made my day! My week! My month! My spring!
      Thank you for taking the time to share your kind comment–it means more to me than you know.

      Thank YOU!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Sidebar

our books & freebies

setting the stage for rock-star readers
raise a reader
amy mascott profile blog
subscribe teachmama

join the coolest club around:

Find Us On Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram
  • YouTube

Helpful Links

  • About
  • Contact
  • Press
  • Media Kit
  • Disclaimer
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy

Follow Us On Instagram

View
Open
Aaawwwhhhhh live this little Welcome Pack from @univofmaryland @umddining โ€” countdown is on! 

T-minus 8 days until our #1 hits campus!

#bts2022 #OldBay #marylandlife #universityofmaryland
View
Open
Super easy, homemade dog treats! 

Kids can helpโ€”they love the scraping into molds part!

Recipe below: 

ingredients 
1 egg
1 12.5 oz can chicken
1/4 cup chickpea (or tapioca) flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour

instructions 
1. preheat oven to 350โ€ข

2. add all ingredients to blender and mix on high

3. pour into silicon molds

4. bake 10 min then switch trays to opposite oven racksโ€”our racks cannot fit two trays). bake for another 10-12 min or until treats pop easily out of molds. 

5. let cool on tray so they get a little more crispy. 

store in airtight container for up to a week!

#kidsinthekitchen #homemadedogtreats #pettreats #diydogtreats #dogtraining #familyfun
View
Open
Pop Up Shops for Musikfest!

New tees and tanksโ€”super cool and perfect for โ€˜festing!

@bethlum.shop is where itโ€™s at!
View
Open
happy saturday ๐Ÿš™
View
Open
Painted rocks are a lifesaver most days, arenโ€™t they?
View
Open
Hello, Teacher Wish List.

You are welcome here. In fact, we are incredibly glad that youโ€™ve made your way into our culture.

Youโ€™re like the Wedding Registry or Baby Registryโ€“but better. 

You are a dream because you are the list that gives and gives and gives. Youโ€™re not full of weird kitchen appliances or ugly China patterns or tiny baby Air Jordans. You are made of books, pens, pencils, journals, math manipulatives, bulletin board letters, lab goggles, staplers, and hole punchers.

You are helping to equip and educate the youth of the world and are taking a tiny bit of stress off of the shoulders of our educators. And we all know that our educatorsโ€“especially in the last few yearsโ€“have been stretched to the absolute max. They are tired, worn down, and stepped on. Theyโ€™re pushed and pulled every which way and are expected to do the job of 27 different people.

What an amazing thing you are, you little Classroom Wish List! Just a simple Amazon Wish List, you let us all feel like we are helping in a teeny way, and we thank you.

We hope you never, ever leave and that youโ€™re here to stay.

Sincerely,

Everyone

Want to help #ClearTheList ? 

Please visit: bit.ly/HELPclearthelist

#BTS2022 #HelpClearTheList #ISupportTeachers #TeachersRock #linkinbio
View
Open
TEACHERS! 

We appreciate you. 

We know that you have been spending your own money for AGES for your classroom and students, and we want to help. 

Hereโ€™s everything you need to know about creating your own Amazon Wish List: https://teachmama.com/help-teachers-clear-the-list/

Am I missing anything? Please let me know! 

#ClearTheList #CreateTeacherWishList #ClassroomWishList #AmazonWishList #BTS2022
View
Open
Friends, if you have an extra $5 or $10 that you could spare to help some amazing educators, we would be SO GRATEFUL.

Head on over to find out what I'm talking about and to learn how you can help.

And? If you're a teacher, add YOUR list to the mix so it gets more eyes (and more support!)

Check it out: https://teachmama.com/help-teachers-clear-the-list/

#ClearTheList #linkinbio #BTS2022 #ShareYourList #AmazonClearTheList
View
Open
nosotros votamos!

Find YOUR Gun Sense Candidates here: https://gunsensevoter.org/candidates/

#FirstTimeVoter #GunSenseVoter #AppleBallotVoter #yovotรฉ

Copyright © 2022 · teach mama media, llc · All Rights Reserved

  • 7
135 shares