VR questions - identifying groups of vocab

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Sally-Anne
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Post by Sally-Anne »

You might abandon Oliver to his fate on November 30th and aim to complete Christmas Carol by Christmas Eve? There's often a screening of the story over the festive season as well. I remember watching a particularly good one with my sons a couple of years ago.

Has she ever tried the Little House on the Prairie books? As children's classics go I think that they are very readable.
pixiequeen
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Post by pixiequeen »

Sally-Anne, that sounds a good idea. I'm sure we could pick Oliver up again in the New Year (she's seen the film so she won't lose too much sense of the plot) and watching the film of A Christmas Carol would be a good incentive for her to finish reading the book :D

I hadn't thought of Little house on the Prairie books. It's not something I read as a child. I will see if the library has any. The problem we have with children's classics is that DD won't touch them if they look 'old'. My mother bought her a beautiful modern hardback edition of Anne of Green Gables which she whizzed through and thoroughly enjoyed. I then ordered her the paperback of the next one, Anne of Avonlea, and DD thinks it will be really boring because the picture on the front is a rather dull oil painting of Anne. Talk about judging a book by its cover..... :roll:
Sally-Anne
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Location: Buckinghamshire

Post by Sally-Anne »

pixiequeen wrote:I'm sure we could pick Oliver up again in the New Year (she's seen the film so she won't lose too much sense of the plot)
That is an interesting point on reading. A large part of reading is visualising the description in the mind, and that in turn provokes thoughts about vocab, meaning, etc. The word "evocative" comes to mind.

I find that films always disappoint if you have read the book first. That is because your imagination is stimulated by books and you begin to picure the whole scene for yourself, while a film presents you with another person's vision. Perhaps the reason she is truggling is that she doesn't identify with the Director of that film's vision?

On the " judging a book by it's cover" issue, why not create a permanent book cover for paperbacks so that you can attach it to each one and simply say: Why not listen to this for a few minutes?" without her pre-judging the book?

Something furry and pink maybe? "The surprise book this week - wearing pink - is...". :D
pixiequeen
Posts: 378
Joined: Thu Nov 27, 2008 12:06 am

Post by pixiequeen »

I find that films always disappoint if you have read the book first. That is because your imagination is stimulated by books and you begin to picure the whole scene for yourself, while a film presents you with another person's vision. Perhaps the reason she is truggling is that she doesn't identify with the Director of that film's vision?
I hadn't thought about that. I might talk to her about how the book compares to how she imagines the story in her head.
On the " judging a book by it's cover" issue, why not create a permanent book cover for paperbacks so that you can attach it to each one and simply say: Why not listen to this for a few minutes?" without her pre-judging the book?

Something furry and pink maybe? "The surprise book this week - wearing pink - is...".
I'm SURE Anne of Avonlea will be infinitely more appealing in pink fur :D :D
Y
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Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2007 12:49 pm

Post by Y »

Modern books aren't always as low on vocabulary as you might think. Though sometimes the sentences can be very. Short. Anyway, if you pick up on Patricia's recommendation of reading aloud, you might be surprised at how revealing that is of your child's word comprehension, even in apparently easy books.
Milla
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Joined: Mon Nov 24, 2008 2:25 pm

Post by Milla »

I was going to say that, Y. My boy is ploughing through Chris Ryan which you might expect to be dumb of vocab (or is that just me, snob of this parish :oops: ? helicopters and guns and stuff) but it has some excellent vocab in it, and very readable.
wizard
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Joined: Tue Nov 11, 2008 11:06 am

Post by wizard »

Thanks for your helpful tips on groupings for VR vocab. If anyone comes across any others, please do share them.
Milla
Posts: 2556
Joined: Mon Nov 24, 2008 2:25 pm

Post by Milla »

I think that now you're tuned into it (I still think in compound words!) that they'll gravitate to you as if magnetised!
Also can't stress enough being alert to same word diff meaning - often thrown in to confuse in those select 2 which are odd from a grouping of 5.
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