Vocabulary Development

At Carlton Junior and Infants School we aim to enrich children’s vocabulary whatever the starting point. We ensure that when interacting with the children in whole class, small groups or one on one situations adults use the correct vocabulary, encouraging and supporting children with their first attempts at using a wider vocabulary.

The vocabulary that is displayed within Foundation Stage has been carefully chosen and planned for depending on the specific cohort of children we have. We are proud of the relationships we build with the children in their first years of school which helps them to have the confidence they need to try new things. As a team we discuss the vocabulary choices regularly and update them as and when it is needed.

Some of the ways we help to develop children’s vocabulary are as follows;

Labels- we ensure that there are labels in each area of provision to encourage the children to use new vocabulary when playing and tidying up.

Narrating Play- we will observe the children’s play and make comments on what they are doing or playing with.

Tell Stories- we tell lots of stories to the children and change the range of books we are offering every half term. We make stories exciting and enjoyable for children to listen to and will reread class favourites.

Repeat- we repeat language to the children regularly, each area has a set of key words we are focusing on. We will use this language whilst playing supporting children in embedding these words into their vocabulary.

Corrections- when a child makes a mistake with their vocabulary of pronunciation we ensure to correct with care, often this is done by repeating the sentence with the correct use of vocabulary.