I am going to be interning in 2nd grade next year, so my focus on this PLE will be K-2 grades in the Table 2.2 on p. 51 in Ormrod's book. At this age, they know about 14,000 words by age 6, still have difficulty understanding complex sentences, and have mastered most sounds. For the most part, they understand basic etiquette in conversations but are reluctant to initiate conversations for adults.
Some strategies that you could use to help students would be to read age-appropriate books to enhance vocab. The teacher can talk about new words, show pictures, and explain them. They could even go on a word wall or in a word journal. Another way is to ask students to construct a narrative about what they did over the weekend, over the holidays, etc.
Another way to expand this that I have seen in a kindergarten classroom is every weekend, Clifford, the stuffed animal, goes home with a special friend in the class who has been great all week. On Monday, the student brings Clifford back along with a summary in Clifford's journal of what Clifford did during the weekend. Even though the student is unable to write, the student tells the parents. Then, the student can verbally summarize it, or read it, aloud to the class.
I agree with you and that books and discussions of new words and observations are very important. I love the Clifford idea and I think grades K-2 would love that too. I might have to borrow that idea in the future!
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