Recommended Reading
I love dictionaries - they are heavy and substantial, they feel great in your hands and look beautiful on your desk. Internet versions are a joyless substitute for the real thing.
What's more, there are excellent versions out there for children. The Oxford School Dictionary 2011 I have found particularly useful, with easy-to-read type, and definitions which are precise yet easy to understand. It is pretty comprehensive, too, and should last all the way through KS2 and well into KS3.
An age-appropriate dictionary is an invaluable tool for primary-school children. Don't think it's too old-fashioned and clunky; a good dictionary is tactile and fun to handle, and offers so much to children who are just starting to appreciate the richness of language.
A child who looks up a word in a dictionary has taken control and ownership of the learning process. Turning the pages brings other words, new words, constantly to the eye and mind: the alphabet becomes a tangible, concrete entity. Words become more than just 'spellings'; they come with meaning and history and context.
Dictionaries help children understand that the English language is not just for literacy lessons, but for life; and that the words they speak and write are rich with the past - and the future. Playground slang of today is the 'proper' word of tomorrow. Once children realise that, and recognise that language is a growing organism, they are ready to embrace literacy as a state of mind rather than a classroom subject - and that is when their real learning can begin.
