Mrs. Wordsworth is a company that caught my eye earlier in the year at the Christmas in July event. Amongst all the stands filled with tinsel and Christmas crackers was a teachers paradise and I couldn’t wait to talk to the creators in more detail. I was really impressed with what I learnt about the brand and the products and when they asked if I would like to try a couple of their books to see if it could help my children with their vocabulary and 11 plus practice I jumped at the chance. Below is my Mrs. Wordsmith review, I hope you find it helpful.
What is Mrs. Wordsmith?
The Mrs. Wordsmith stand had two main products, The Social Journey for children aged 2-4, and The Narrative Journey for those aged 6-13.
Both products work in the same way in that they aim to teach children a range of vocabulary that they can use to explain what they mean in different ways instead of repeating the same words. It works in a similar fashion to a thesaurus but is much more child friendly due the hilarious illustrations created by the Hollywood artist that created Madagascar, which accompany the words.
Both sets come with:
A pack of flash cards that can be used for various activities,
These have one word on the front and a list of ways in which they can be used on the back as well as a definition of the word itself.
A word of the day display board to display a picture of the word on
and a word of the day activity book.
Mrs Wordsmith – The social Journey
This product is aimed at children 2-4 and can be used in the home one on one or in a nursery or other educational setting for group activities.
Mrs Wordsmith – The Narrative journey
is for those aged 6-13 and is key stage 1 and 2 compliant. This product doesn’t just look at increasing the vocabulary known to the child but also encourages them to use different words when storytelling. The added bonus of using these words from a young age of course is that it can also improve their reading age as they start to recognise these more complex words and help their comprehension skills as instead of skim reading words they don’t recognise they will now be familiar with them and understand what they add to the story to better help them comprehend the mood of or environment in which a character finds themselves.
Although this is clearly an educational prop and anyone that reads my blog regularly will know I am a sucker for educational toys and games, this one doesn’t necessarily have to feel like one if used at home. The way it is broken down into an activity a day means it can be embedded into their routine in blocks of 5-10 minutes or even used as a game on an adhoc basis. I personally love the various ways in which this can be used but most of all I am a fan of the work sheets as it keeps a record of their progress.
Our Mrs. Wordsmith Review
We have had great fun using the Mrs. Wordsmith Narrative journey and I was really impressed with how quickly both my boys absorb the new words, understood their meanings and then used them in the correct way at a later date. The illustrations have really helped with making this a fun activity and they also work as great cues to remind the children what certain words mean.
After using the Mrs. Wordsmith Narrative Journey both my boys stated to expand their vocabulary without even noticing in their everyday conversations and when our eldest started working towards his 11 plus exam we noticed that one of the areas he excelled in once vocabulary which I am sure is in part down to these products.