After reading this chapter I thought about a recent training I went to. They were talking about vocabulary instruction and the lady was sharing some facts. One that especially caught my attention was that a 1st grade book uses higher vocabulary than a college graduate (on average). We often talk simple to our students because we want them to understand when really we should be talking academically to them while explaining the meaning of different words because for a lot of students we are the most literate person they will encounter.
I love using magazines and newspapers in my classroom and my students love to read them just because they are something different. I know that for 2nd grade as we move more toward common core there is going to be a bigger requirement for non-ficion reading.
It's very interesting that a first grade textbook would use more difficult words than a college graduate would. But really, we do talk quite simply. I have always worked to use lots of different words with my own children. I do not talk "baby talk" to them even when they are babies. We spend a lot of time using bigger words, which does mean that we also spend time explaining what those words mean. Both of our children have a very large vocabulary because of it.
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