Lancashire Primary Strategy: Literacy
Wow Up Your Words!
Strategies for improving
and developing vocabulary
Presented by Lancashire’s Leading Literacy Teachers
Objectives from the Primary Framework for literacy
Foundation Stage
• Extend their vocabulary, explore the meanings and sounds of new words
Year One
• Experiment with and build new stores of words to communicate in different
contexts
• Find and use new and interesting words and phrases, including story language
Year Two
• Explain ideas and processes using imaginative and adventurous vocabulary
and non-verbal gestures to support communication.
• Explore how particular words are used, including words and expressions with
similar meanings
• Make adventurous word and language choices appropriate to the style and
purpose of the text
Year Three
• Develop and use specific vocabulary in different contexts
• Explore how different texts appeal to readers using…descriptive language
• Select and use a range of technical and descriptive vocabulary
Year Four
• Use knowledge of word structures and origins to develop their understanding of
word meanings
• Explain how writers use figurative and expressive language to create images
and atmosphere
• Show imagination through the language used to create emphasis, humour,
atmosphere or suspense
Year Five
• Distinguish between everyday use of words and their subject-specific use
• Explore how writers use language for comic and dramatic effects
• Select words and language drawing on their knowledge of literary features and
formal and informal writing
Year Six
• Explore how word meanings change when used in different contexts
• Integrate words, images and sounds imaginatively for different purposes
1
Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae
ISBN 1-84121-565-1
Gerald was a tall giraffe
Whose neck was long and slim
But his knees were awfully bandy
And his legs were rather thin.
He was very good at standing still
And munching shoots off trees,
But when he tried to run around
He buckled at the knees.
Now every year in Africa
They hold a jungle dance
Where every single animal
Turns up to skip and prance
And this year when the day arrived
Poor Gerald felt so sad,
Because when it came to dancing
He was really very bad.
The warthogs started waltzing
And the rhinos rock ‘n’ rolled
The lions danced a tango that was elegant and bold.
2
slim
bandy
munching
buckle
prance
elegant
bold
3
Key vocabulary within the areas of provision
Creative
• Names of materials and equipment, eg brush, printer, stamper, roller, ink, fabric, glue,
charcoal….
• Pattern, print, mark, paint, scrape, tear, stick, shape, mould, squeeze, trickle, pour, scratch,
dab, shade, colour
• Splash, spray, spatter, score, push, pour, slip, slide, dribble, spurt, squirt,
• Imaginative and descriptive language – when children are talking about their creative work
• Positional vocabulary associated with weaving – under, over, through, behind
• Vocabulary associated with patterning ,line and shape – round, curved, bendy, spiralling
Sand (wet and dry)
• Names of materials and equipment, eg spade, bucket, rake, plant pot, container, scoop
• Fill up, dig out, empty, flatten out, level off, move about, pile up, sink in, smooth out, crumble,
disappear, break, overflow, fall
• Wet, dry, damp, soggy, soaked, squelchy, warm, cold, clammy, soft, hard, gritty, solid, level,
lumpy, crumbly, rough, sharp, spiky, silky, smooth, swampy, runny, gooey, sticky, slimy
• Pattern, print, mark, wave, ripple, shape, mould, squeeze, trickle, pour, scratch, drag, drop, slide
• Full(er), empty, emptier, big(ger), small(er), tall(er), short(er), wide(er), long(er), thin(ner), heavy,
heavier, light(er), wide, narrow, space, edge, order, size
Construction
• Name of construction kit
• Names of component parts
• 2D shapes – circle, square, oblong, triangle
• 3D shapes – sphere, cube, cuboid, cone
• Big/bigger, small/smaller, long/longer, tall/taller, high/higher, heavy/heavier, wide/wider
• Number names
• Ordinal numbers – 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc
• Positional vocabulary – in front, behind, beside, underneath, above, below
• Directional language – up, down, around, left, right
Writing/mark-making
• Writing, story, letters, words, capital letter, sentences, numbers, write, read, send, listen, talk,
hear, say, tell, show, author, illustrator, pages, print, alphabet, sound, beginning, end, front,
back, title, fiction, non-fiction, story, rhyme, fairy-tale, book, cover, label, sign, poster, ticket,
pictures.
• They will also begin to be familiar with: Letter and number names (some or all). The language
used when ‘talking through’ letter formation and shared/individual writing. Planning and story
language. Vocabulary related to equipment, materials & bookmaking eg pens, pencils, crayons,
envelope, sellotape, stapler …
Role Play
ƒ Vocabulary associated with ‘feelings’ – ‘happy’, ‘sad’, ‘angry’, ‘worried’, ‘frightened’, etc
ƒ Vocabulary linked to props and resources related to theme – homes, rooms, shops, medical
services, transport & travel, animals, etc
ƒ Vocabulary linked to rhymes and stories
ƒ Language associated with different roles – family members, different jobs, taking messages,
using the telephone
ƒ Giving instructions and directions
ƒ Language associated with different situations – sorting out problems, enquiring, complaining,
etc.
4
Outdoor Play
• associated with actions, movements and skills – run, walk, jump, skip, hop, throw, roll, catch,
aim, target, dribble, over arm, under arm, leap, stretch, spring
• associated with directions & positional language – forwards, backwards, sideways, next to
under, over, through, beneath, below, above, behind, in front of, high, low, etc.
• associated with equipment & resources – ball, koosh ball, quoit, skittles, rope, tunnel, bean bag,
hoop, bench, mat, plank,
• mathematical language – heavy, light, big, small, long, short, full, empty
• language associated with changes to body during physical activities – hot, sweating, thirsty,
flushed, out of breath, aching, muscles, energy
• language associated with feelings, senses – happy, sad, excited, frightened, hot, cold, shivery,
warm, rough, smooth, hard, soft, crinkly , etc.
• Language associated with weather – wet, dry, drizzly, foggy, icy, puddle, drips, sleet, hail
stones, windy, misty, frozen
Water
• Names of materials and equipment, e.g. water wheel, jug, bottle, cup, bowl, spoon, teapot,
watering can, tubes, pipes, sponge, hole
• Drop, droplet, drip, puddle, thick, thin, change
• Wet, dry, damp, soggy, soaked, squelchy, warm, cold, hot, freezing, lumpy, silky, smooth
• Splash, spray, bubble, wave, ripple, squeeze, trickle, pour, slip, slide, soak, spread, leak,
dribble, spurt, squeeze, squirt, run off, brim, wobble, drench, fountain, jet
• Full(er), empty, emptier, big(ger), small(er), tall(er), short(er), wide(er), long(er), thin(er), heavy,
heavier, light(er), wide, narrow, space, edge, order, size, deep, deeper, deepest
• Under, over, behind, next to, inside, through, tip, tilt, bob, float, capsize, drift
• Vocabulary associated with imaginative and small world play – people and boats, pirates, under
sea creatures, car wash…
Reading Area
• Book language – cover, title page, contents, index ….
• Letter
• Word
• Sentence
• Rhyme
• Sign
• Label
• Poster
• Story
• Character
• Fiction, non fiction
5
Word Play Jokes for Children
Question: Why is it
difficult to keep a secret
at the North Pole?
Customer: Waiter! Waiter!
What's wrong with this
fish?
Son: Dad, there's a man
here collecting for a new
swimming pool.
Answer: Because your
teeth chatter
Waiter: Long time, no sea
Dad: Well son, give him
a glass of water
Question: What's a
sheep's favourite
Christmas carol?
Answer: We wish ewe a
Merry Christmas.
Question: What do
snowmen eat for
breakfast?
Answer: Snowflakes!
Question: Who beats
his chest and swings
from Christmas cake to
Christmas cake?
Answer: Tarzipan!
Question: How did
Robin Hood tie his shoelaces?
Answer: With a long
bow!
Question: Why was the
Little Mermaid
embarrassed?
Answer: Because she saw
the big ship's bottom!
Question: How do we
know that Rapunzel went
to a lot of parties?
Answer: Because she
liked to let her hair down!
Jokes involving word play – puns!
I couldn't quite remember
how to throw a
boomerang, but
eventually it came back to
me.
The butcher backed up
into the meat grinder and
got a little behind in his
work.
A hole has been found in
the roof of the secret
hideway. The police are
looking into it.
Two hats were hanging
on a hat rack in the
hallway. One hat says to
the other, 'You stay here,
I'll go on a head.'
We were so poor when I
was growing up we
couldn't even afford to pay
attention.
Now matter how much
you push the envelope,
it'll still be stationery.
He didn't tell his mother
He had been told he had a
that he ate some glue. His photographic memory, but
lips were sealed.
it was never fully
developed.
The man who fell into the
upholstery machine is
now fully recovered.
6
Nouns for ‘Articulate’
spoon
spade
vase
spanner hammer pencil
scissors needle earring
seatbelt pram
tap
computer banana
tyre
caravan
scarf
table
Synonym Race
Useful words to explore might be…
look, said, went, eat, touch
7
Grid for ‘Talking Verbs’
8
The Power of Words
sad
glum
miserable
heartbroken
worried
alarmed
panicky
petrified
9
Compound Words
play
air
jelly
under
over
news
whole
class
out
window
ground
port
fish
ground
use
paper
meal
room
side
pane
10
Crazy Definitions
Abundance
Lots of dancing cakes
Armies
Earwig
Elastic band
Fish Fingers
Gladiator
Hippies
Labrador
Microwave
11
Sensory Scene
see
hear
smell
feel/touch
12