What is it?

Vocabulary is simply the words that you know or you need to know when reading or writing. An important part of reading is what is called your "sight vocabulary". Sight vocabulary is the words that you know immediately. They are words that you do not have to pause for meaning or to sound them out. Strong readers have a large sight vocabulary. 

What is its purpose?

Phonics skills help readers develop large sight vocabularies. A large sight vocabulary helps readers to read more fluently, which improves comprehension. 

How will these skill activities help?

For McFeeglebee's Pond, we have chosen two activities - Vocabulary Review and Wordsearch. Both activities are meant to reinforce the new vocabulary that you learned by reading the story. We strongly urge those visiting this site to complete the prereading activities before each story. Giving you experience with a new word before you have to read that word increases your chances of retaining the meaning of the new word. 

Here are some links to learn more about Phonics:

If you have question about vocabulary development, one resource might be the OnLine Tutor:

• http://members.aol.com/djennfam/OnLine_Reading_Tutor/index.html 

This is a neat site that helps you with vocabulary. You can choose a word from a story you are reading online and get a definition. You can even choose an entire page and get as many definitions as you want! 

• http://www.voycabulary.com