3rd and 4th Grade Literature Dictionaries

[Bonnie]

Jude, I am sorry to hear this. Yes, I see why that passage springs to mind. I love the imagery, and the thoughts are so sublime and sobering.

Best to you and yours.
Bonnie

[SaintJude7]

Jude, thoughts and prayers for you and your loved one.

Bonnie

Thank you again for your prayers. He died early this morning. He was a man of strong faith and a marathon runner, so the verses that immediately come to me are 2 Timothy 4:7-8.

Blessings,
Jude

[SaintJude7]

Thank you, Bonnie. At this point we just want him to be out of pain and at peace.

Blessings,
Jude

[Bonnie]

Jude, thoughts and prayers for you and your loved one.

Bonnie

[SaintJude7]

Jude,

Sorry to completely divert this discussion for a very brief moment, but I don't think that Fr. Reggie is deceased -- although he is retired from the Vatican. I believe his Cicero book is being released later this year or next year.

Bonnie

Oh my goodness, Bonnie, you are quite right. I don't know why I wrote now-deceased instead of now-retired. I think a bit of what is going on in our immediate family crept in my thoughts there. We do have a loved one about to be deceased at any moment. But Reginald is still alive.

Blessings,
Jude

[Bonnie]

Jude,

Sorry to completely divert this discussion for a very brief moment, but I don't think that Fr. Reggie is deceased -- although he is retired from the Vatican. I believe his Cicero book is being released later this year or next year.

Bonnie

[SaintJude7]

Enbateau is correct. Our students do learn dictionary skills in spelling and Classical Composition, but by using a dictionary that only gives the definitions we need, we are limiting confusion and speeding up the process of completing our work. I don't need to add anything to Enbateau's post about literature vocabulary, but I did want to say that for classical studies, vocabulary is merely there to help students with words that are specific to a time period or difficult words they may not have heard before, so we don't want to spend more than 5 minutes on those words. They are merely to help the reading experience, so a simple definition is needed that can be copied quickly, moving us along to the actual story we are teaching.

Tanya

Ah, I understand now. My approach, regardless of the subject, has always been to have my children read through all possible meanings of a word and then isolate the specific context in which it is being used in the selection. I also do not have them look up the vocabulary words prior to reading the chapter or lesson, because I want them to be in the habit of looking up words they don't know as they come across them when reading. We do the same thing with Latin (reading through every possible definition), because that is the method that was recommended by Reginald Foster, the now-deceased Latinist for the Vatican. It does take more time.

Blessings,
Jude

[tanya]

Enbateau is correct. Our students do learn dictionary skills in spelling and Classical Composition, but by using a dictionary that only gives the definitions we need, we are limiting confusion and speeding up the process of completing our work. I don't need to add anything to Enbateau's post about literature vocabulary, but I did want to say that for classical studies, vocabulary is merely there to help students with words that are specific to a time period or difficult words they may not have heard before, so we don't want to spend more than 5 minutes on those words. They are merely to help the reading experience, so a simple definition is needed that can be copied quickly, moving us along to the actual story we are teaching.

Tanya

[enbateau]

SaintJude7 I think what you're doing is a great idea. Those dictionary skills are so important. I took quite a bit of time teaching true dictionary skills in MP2.

I like to make sure whatever we're spending a lot of time on is congruent with the goals that the professionals had in mind. The vocabulary activity is not designed to be a dictionary activity, rather an opportunity for the student to look at an unknown word in context and try to use clues to come up with a known synonym. During this discussion with the lit guides (or GM, FMOR, etc), we briefly hit on part of speech, so obviously a synonym needs to have a similar ending to fit within the sentence (past tense endings, inflected endings, comparative/superlative endings, an adjective vs. noun form, etc). I prompt my student to try to deduce the part of speech from the context (rather than from looking it up--although she knows what the abbreviations stand for in the dictionary since MP2 had us teach a lesson it). After we do this (less than 5 minutes), I let my child use the compiled dictionary to look up the exact definition that is required for the quizzes and tests. It is large enough (usually 4 novels' worth and sometimes an additional grade subject) to give the same alphabetizing skills. It keeps the vocab section the length it is intended to be.

We tend to have more time allotted for dictionary skills in Classical Composition. My student loves having both her dictionary and writer's thesaurus at her work space, and when we find an interesting word listed as a synonym, occasionally we look it up. I find thesaurus work an even better opportunity to discuss words that have specific connotations that don't work within the context of the sentence. I think the lit guides are not the best place for this work because vocabulary work is done PRIOR to reading, so the student has at best 5 or 6 words from which to draw context, and that's not always fair grounding by which to eliminate alternate definitions.

[SaintJude7]

Is there a reason why parents are creating dictionaries specific to a class or grade level rather than having a child use an actual dictionary for all classes? It seems that it would delay learning proper dictionary usage and exposure to other possible meanings of the word. (Also the experience of coming across a closely related word in the dictionary that sparks more connections.) While I will help my children narrow down the possible meanings of a word in grades 1-3 (or tell them to go back and find the correct one), I still expect them to use a dictionary and learn to do this on their own. After grade three they have enough grammar to distinguish between verb, noun, adjective, etc...

The real dictionary would also seem to be a moneysaver, long-term.

Blessings,
Jude

[Meg+3]

THANK YOU for making these!!!! I'm very thankful for this community and for your generosity.

[enbateau]

By the way, Adobe has a print setting where you can print this in booklet format. It was awesome! I just stapled it in the fold and off she went!

[MamaHill]

I really appreciate you creating this - thank you!!

These dictionaries provide just a few minutes of independence so this mama can catch up with the other spilling plates in the air...and there are many. I appreciate all who have created and shared these resources.

Thank you! (with a big puffy heart!)

Lauren

[Colomama]

Re: 3rd and 4th Grade Literature Dictionaries

and the forum comes through for the win! whoop-whoop.

I typed the very first definition for Farmer Boy and stopped. Wait, check the forum. Voila! It was here.

yay!

[TheAttachedMama]

Re: 3rd and 4th Grade Literature Dictionaries

Thank you so much for all of the hard work and for sharing. I have had this on my "to do" list for WEEKS, and you have just saved me the effort.