Building Vocabulary Skills
A fun way to build vocabulary skills is with “family field trips”. Below are some suggestions to provide hands-on activities through real-life experience. Enjoy!
Janine Spaulding
Speech/Language Pathologist
McKinley Elementary
Field Trips for the Family
When the family takes trips in the neighborhood or the city, there are many things to talk about. There are new words to learn and concepts to discuss. Make the most of these times; children can learn so much from you! Examples of things to talk about at various places are listed below. Experiential learning is valuable and fun. Ask questions on your field trip and encourage your child to ask them. Talk about what you saw when you get home.
Airport
Runways
Baggage handling
Fueling the planes
Size of planes
Function of the control tower
How food is put on the airplane
Where airplanes are checked for safety
How airplanes are checked for safety
How fast airplanes go, and how high
Bank
Safety deposit boxes
Job of security guard
How drive-in windows and self-service units work
Where the money is kept
What employees do
How checking accounts work
Have your child open or add to a savings account
Supermarket
Kinds of vegetables and fruits and where they grow
How a scale works
Different cuts of meat
Animals that meats come from
What the butcher, stocker, manager, and cashiers do
Different kinds of dairy products
Sizes and weights of packages
Construction Site
Kinds of machines used
Safety measures
Materials used in building
Excavating, plumbing, scaffolds
When you get home, build something out of wood, tinker toys or blocks.
Hardware Store
Kinds of tools
Garden equipment
Functions of electrical and plumbing parts
Other places to visit
Service station
Hospital
Bakery
Police station
Fire station
Post office
Pet store
Florist
Department store
Television station
Dairy or farm
Train station
Museums
Football stadium or gymnasium
Courtroom
Newspaper plant
Factory (Jelly Belly)
McDonald’s (they have family tours)
Reference:Bush, Catharine S. (1991) Collaborating with Teachers and Parents: Methods, Materials and Workshops. Communication Skills Builders, Inc.
|