Vocabulary Poster for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Our current car audiobook is The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.  I got it as a download from Audible.  I did a post about why here.  I think we're on our fifth listen and this is the first activity we've done around the story.  I like to use our audiobooks as vocabulary builders.  Last year we did a lot of free vocabulary puzzles but we needed some new activities.

We haven't done a lot of large format projects, mainly because our house is small and storage becomes an issue.  It's still fun once in a while so we're doing something large for this.  I had black poster board already but I think a color would have been nicer.
  
I downloaded the  educator's guide from the C.S. Lewis Foundation.  It's a great resource with lots of info.   There's also a value based activity guide on the same web page.  Home schooling is already a lot of work.  I don't have a need to reinvent the wheel constantly so I love free quality resources.  November 29th is C.S. Lewis' birthday so you might want to make use of the Foundation's resources this month.

I printed out the vocabulary pages and chose four or five words for each chapter.  I trimmed them down to be little strips of paper.  Then off the web, I printed pictures of the characters from the BBC television show in the 80's.  It's a lot less violent than the more recent Hollywood version so that's the video version I wanted them to watch.  We watched it for the first time last week.  I glued the pictures, and character names I typed up to the poster board.  Then it was play time.

Toad was given the slips with the words on them and asked to glue them to the poster board next to the character he associated with the word.  I tried to choose words that I thought he didn't know and/or were descriptive of the characters.  My goal was three chapters or 12-15 words a session.  

For him, the design of the project was not just about the vocabulary but helping him to strengthen his weaknesses.  He doesn't process information he hears as well as that which he reads.  It always surprises me how many times we can listen to a story and what he won't recall.  Also, he has a hard time with anything associated with people.  Talking about characters in a story with any information beyond a physical description is a challenge.  Trying to discuss the thoughts or motivations of fictional characters just mirrors the challenges the same activity presents in real life.
 

On the third word, lulling, the difficulties started.  He wanted to get out the story and read where it was so he could put it in the right place.  Very logical, yes, but it doesn't work to build recall well.  Instead, I said, "Read the word and definition and use your memory to decide which character faced a situation like that."  Still nothing.  "Was there a place in the beginning of the story where one character was trying to take advantage of another?"  At this point, the peanut gallery (younger Toad) pipes up with Edmund.  My kids are so different.  The younger one listens and process everything aurally so well and is Mr. Charm so this project worked to all his strengths.  He can't read but listening to us he caught on to exactly what was going on and he understands people so well he remembered where the Witch was manipulating Edmund.  I'm looking forward to the future when older Toad gets people better and younger Toad has more opportunities to help.

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Journey to the Center of the Earth

We are listening to Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth for our current audio book.  Audio books are currently required in the car.  In the beginning I got them to calm the car arguing.  They've done that, but now their also a source of stress as they HAVE to be on.  It's still better than the arguing.

I like using audio books as vocabulary stretchers.  Last year, I got the actual book and used the illustrations from it to make puzzles.  I did a post about that here.  Those were fun but the last one sat around a long time before I could convince someone to use it so I thought I'd try something different this time around.  Toad's reading vs. writing abilities are not even in the same league so I've worked up some vocabulary worksheets that are heavy on comprehension but light on writing.  Perhaps you could use them too.

Journey to the Center of the Earth Vocabulary Sheets

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Making Free Vocabulary Puzzles

Older toad is a great reader when it comes to decoding the language but understanding what he's reading a bit less.  If he reads aloud to you, you'd never know he doesn't know the meaning of lots of what he's reading if you didn't press him, since his pronunciation is so spot on.  He also has very little patience with worksheets and limited handwriting tolerance so what's a gal to do to help him build his vocabulary?

I started making vocabulary puzzles with illustrations from the books we read.   We've done both his readers, audio books we listen to, and read aloud books - any that have a lot of words he doesn't know.

We finished up our year with The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet by Eleanor Cameron.  It was a big hit and I'm sure we'll be doing the sequel next.



This is a picture of a completed puzzle.

All you need to do is xerox an illustration from the book you're reading.  It may require enlarging to fill a piece of paper.  I use 60 lb card stock so the pieces are heavier duty but regular would work too.  Then I cut the picture up.  I have no shapes or number of pieces in mind, just abstract cutting.  Then I write our vocabulary words on the front of the pieces.  I use a contrasting color to help it show up.

Then, older toad puts the puzzle together on the table.  He reads the words when he's putting it together.  Sometimes he flips it over to read the definition on the back.  When the pieces are all assembled, we put it on clear contact paper so it stays together.  I always help with this part.  The alignment ends up better as well as I make sure all the words and definitions get read as we put it together.  Here's a completed puzzle back.