It was a stormy day not long ago, but that did not stop our vocabulary words from being on parade! Spearheaded by Erin Trotter, our Lower School Librarian, the parade was the perfect way to celebrate the month of March – National Reading Awareness Month!

Over the course of the month, Mrs. Trotter read The Word Collector by Peter H. Reynolds to all of the Lower and Intermediate students, which in turn inspired our Wear Your Favorite Word to School Day and Vocabulary Parade.  She knew it would be a wonderful way to highlight the work we do on vocabulary, as well as the creativity of our students.  

I asked Joe Mills, the Instructional Lead for Literacy and Innovation for our Lower School, to tell me more about the philosophy behind the way we teach vocabulary here at Brookstone. He explained further:

“A wide and rich vocabulary is essential for communication and comprehension.  Beginning readers use their oral vocabularies to make sense of the words they encounter in print.  As they grow as readers and encounter more complex texts, vocabulary knowledge becomes increasingly important in understanding what they read.  At Brookstone, we foster vocabulary development in a variety of ways.  We know that children learn most words indirectly through extensive reading, through listening to rich, complex texts, and through conversations about their reading with teachers and their peers.  We also know that some words, particularly content specific and more challenging words, need to be taught explicitly.  We do this as we activate and extend background knowledge about topics and in word study.”

And while the students might realize all the strategies that go into great teaching, they certainly know creativity and fun! And that was on full display all around our quad – even as it the rain poured!

Enjoy these pictures from our first annual Vocabulary Parade! We look forward to this becoming a tradition for years to come! And kudos to the most excellent team of teachers a school has ever known for helping to pull it off! You are simply the best!