If You Were a Homonym or a Homophone

If You Were a Homonym or a Homophone (Word Fun) is the best of the books I've reviewed in the Word Fun series so far.

I wish this book had been available for my classroom when I was teaching this topic. I used to try to find many creative ways to illustrate the definitions of the words and the differences between them, but this author does it simply and clearly. It is a resource book you use to review the topic at any time. I have never seen the topic explained this easily in any textbook I have used to teach Language Arts.

Nancy Loewen defines each term and then provides illustrated examples of homonyms and the often misused term homophone. When I saw her presentation, I wondered why this is not done more often to teach children how to distinguish between the two words.

This is a simple way to introduce, review, or reteach a topic that some kids do find challenging.

This is a book you could introduce to young children to get them familiar with the words and bring back to reinforce the idea as they continue to work with words. I am often skeptical of "cute" series titles, but Word Fun does fit this series.

Compound Words

Trisha Speed Shaskan has a hit with If You Were a Compound Word (Word Fun)a picture book that explains the concept in a fun way for children.

This book is part of a series of books that introduce children to the English language in a simple and fun way. In this book, the author defines compound words and then gives the children fun examples to illustrate the concept. Fonts and color are used to help children quickly identify the compound words on the page and will help even young children develop an understanding of the concept.

I am always looking for resources that make learning English language and grammar skills interesting for children. I have more books in the series on reserve to review. This one is on my purchase list.