Literacy begins with WORDS.

Literacy is enhanced with WORD KNOWLEDGE.

Word knowledge brings great confidence in reading, writing and speaking.

Getting kids interested in knowing WORDS is a key to learning.  Join in the fun of acquiring new, interesting or intriguing words during April with APRIL SHOWERS bring WORD POWERS!

Today’s WORD-  dobbin.

dobbin is a noun, meaning horse, especially a farm horse or work horse. The word dobbin most likely originated as a form of a pet’s name, such as Rob or Robin, then became more familiarized as any farm horse or work horse.

dobbin is a fun word to know, and it appears primarily in children’s literature, tales and books.  Children love to discover/realize that they know something fun, even something as seemingly simple as a word meaning horse.

Read about a dobbin in the lovely poem Summer Evening, by 20th century English poet Walter de la Mare:

Summer Evening by Walter de la Mare

The sandy cat by the Farmer’s chair
Mews at his knee for dainty fare;
Old Rover in his moss-greened house
Mumbles a bone, and barks at a mouse
In the dewy fields the cattle lie
Chewing the cud ‘neath a fading sky
Dobbin at manger pulls his hay:
Gone is another summer’s day.

We at Mom Generations also bumped into another of Walter de la Mare’s poems, Full Moon.  Isn’t it wonderful how learning all blends together? Give your kids the gift of WORDS.  Introduce one new word each day in April – at breakfast, in the car, at dinner or bedtime.   Remember that Literacy is all about WORDS – Written. Spoken. Felt.