The Picture Dictionary, designed with the youngest learners in mind, allows the exploration of a word visually and auditorily. Each selected word appears with a link to its audio pronunciation in English and is accompanied by an illustration or animation.
By selecting one of the language options in the lower toolbar, the word will also appear written in that language—an indispensable feature for multilingual classrooms. In the bar on the far left, the Picture Dictionary shows the words and images that precede and follow the selected word. This is an engaging format for young learners that both reinforces concepts of alphabetization and encourages free exploration.
Children can browse through the Picture Dictionary by clicking on the yellow navigational arrows in the main display or by using the scroll bar on the left. Children can also use the thumb index at the top of the page to go to words beginning with a certain letter. Of course, teachers can navigate directly to a particular word by using the search box.
The Picture Dictionary defines words by picture only, but child-friendly definitions, example sentences, and additional images can be easily accessed through the word’s link with its dictionary entry in the Book. From there the child can navigate to that word anywhere else where the word appears in WILD. The aardvark, for example, can be found with other animals in the Mammals collection. The accordion can be seen in the school’s Music Room in the WILD World as well as in the Musical Instruments collection. The acorn can be found in the Trees and Tree Parts collection. By navigating to different parts of WILD, children can learn not just what a single word means as an individual item but how that word relates to other things in the actual world. This is how WILD integrates the learning of word meaning with the acquisition of real-world knowledge—in a way that is really fascinating and fun for kids!
See other visual environments in WILD: