🌲 Reading Forest · Language

Vocabulary in kindergarten to grade 5

Working out what a new word means from how it is used. Daily Academy tracks it as its own skill, separately from the 5 others in reading forest, so it can never be averaged away by a subject score.

Check it tonight

Point at an unfamiliar word: “what do you think that means, from the sentence?”

What to watch for

Skipping unknown words silently. At this age most vocabulary is inferred, not looked up.

Real vocabulary questions from the library

6 activities currently target this skill. These are actual questions, shown at the difficulty they are served at, with the explanation a child sees after answering.

Difficulty 1.7 — mid grade 1
"The road by the bakery was slick and shiny with water."
What does "slick" mean here?
Hint shown after a miss: The next thing that happens is a car sliding sideways.
Explanation: Slick means slippery. The clue is what happens straight afterwards — a car's wheels slide — which only makes sense on a slippery road.
Difficulty 1.7 — mid grade 1
"A car ahead of them braked, and its back wheels slid sideways with a squeal."
What does "braked" mean?
Hint shown after a miss: It sounds like "broke", but look at what a car does with its brakes.
Explanation: Braked means slowed down using the brakes. It sounds the same as "broke", which is exactly the trap — the sentence, not the sound, tells you which word it is.
Difficulty 1.7 — mid grade 1
Why did the children like Mr. Bell's driving?
Hint shown after a miss: It is right at the start, and it is about bags.
Explanation: He took the bakery corner fast enough that bags slid along the seat, which the children thought was the best part of the morning.

The other 5 skills in Reading Forest

Each one is estimated separately, which is what lets the parent dashboard name a specific gap rather than report a subject average.

Literal ComprehensionAfter any story: “what happened first, then what?”PredictionStop mid-story: “what happens next, and what makes you think so?”Inference“Why did they do that?” — choosing something the text never states.Finding EvidenceAfter any answer, right or wrong: “which part shows you that?”Main Idea“What was that whole page about, in one sentence?”

Common questions

How do I know if my child has vocabulary secure?

Point at an unfamiliar word: “what do you think that means, from the sentence?” Skipping unknown words silently. At this age most vocabulary is inferred, not looked up.

Which grade is vocabulary taught in?

It appears in both. Daily Academy does not gate skills by year group — a child is placed on a continuous difficulty scale during a five-minute intake, and vocabulary is then served at whatever level they are actually at, adjusted separately from every other skill.

Practice by grade

Grade 2 reading comprehension practiceWhat grade 2 reading comprehension involves, why fluent reading and real understanding are different things, and short daily practice with original stories written for this age.Grade 3 reading comprehension practiceGrade 3 is the year reading shifts from decoding to inference. What that means, why it catches confident readers out, and short daily practice with original stories and evidence questions.Grade 1 reading practiceWhat grade 1 reading covers in Canada, why decoding and comprehension compete for the same attention, and 10 minutes a day of short original stories with questions.Grade 4 reading practiceWhat grade 4 reading covers in Canada, why reading to learn is a different skill from learning to read, and 10 minutes a day of original passages with inference and evidence questions.Grade 5 reading practiceWhat grade 5 reading covers in Canada — comparing two accounts, separating claim from evidence, summarising rather than retelling — with original passages and questions that ask for the line that proves it.Kindergarten reading and phonics activitiesKindergarten reading in Canada — first sounds, rhyming, sight words and listening comprehension — built to be heard rather than read, because a four-year-old cannot read the question.

See where your child stands on vocabulary

A five-minute intake places them on a continuous scale, and the skill map shows every skill separately from the first week. The daily mission is free.

Start free See the parent dashboard