Vocabulary Development

The words in these lists are the focus of vocabulary development throughout this theme's oral language, listening comprehension, and small-group activities. The list includes a wide variety of academic and content area words as well as everyday conversational words that children add to their vocabularies through interactions with families, teachers, and peers.

Theme Vocabulary

Core Words

  • apartment building
  • baker
  • buildings
  • buy/sell
  • community
  • community helper
  • firefighter
  • letter carrier
  • market
  • neighbor(s)/neighborhood
  • police officer(s)
  • rules
  • sidewalk
  • trash collector
  • work

Basic Words

  • brother/sister
  • bus
  • cousin
  • family(ies)
  • father/mother
  • grandfather/grandmother
  • house
  • store
  • street

Story/Poetry Vocabulary

  • care
  • country
  • creaked
  • crowded
  • dentist
  • doctor
  • feast
  • granddaughter
  • helmet
  • librarian
  • live
  • map
  • people
  • safety
  • scared
  • seat belt
  • squeezed
  • state
  • teacher
  • town
  • village
  • wise man

Basic Words

  • broke
  • Daddy
  • door
  • driver
  • Grandma
  • harvest
  • hello/good-bye
  • horn
  • Mommy
  • morning
  • noisy
  • surprised
  • under
  • wheels
  • wipers

Challenge Words

  • curious
  • delicious
  • scrambled

Math Vocabulary

Number Words

  • one
  • two
  • three
  • four
  • five

Order Words

  • first/middle/last
  • second
  • third
  • fourth
  • fifth
  • next

Number Concept Words

  • count
  • equal
  • fewer/more
  • how many
  • match
  • one to one
  • same

Shape Words

  • corner
  • side
  • square

Science Vocabulary

Oral Language Card 9

  • brother
  • family
  • father
  • mother
  • parents
  • siblings
  • sister

Oral Language Card 11

  • apartment building
  • family
  • home
  • house
  • neighbor

Oral Language Card 13

  • animal
  • community helper
  • pet
  • rabbit

Social Studies Vocabulary

Oral Language Card 8

  • community
  • neighbor
  • sidewalk
  • store
  • street

Oral Language Card 10

  • brother/sister
  • family
  • father/mother
  • grandfather
  • grandmother

Oral Language Card 12

  • apartment building
  • house
  • map
  • neighbor
  • street

Oral Language Card 14

  • crosswalk
  • obey
  • rules
  • safe
  • traffic
Core Words
Teach and reinforce these words with all children.
Basic Words
Three-year-olds, English language learners, and children with limited vocabulary experience may need reinforcement of these words.
Challenge Words
Introduce these words as children's interests indicate.