Usually, when we think in terms of academic vocabulary, we think they are words that are separate from the ones we use in a regular conversation. However, in the elementary years, they can be very easily be integrated into the daily conversation.
There are several websites that give you the vocabulary words that your child should be familiar with in a particular grade. You could ask the teacher to provide you with that information too. The more the word is used, the more the child is comfortable with the word, and then it can be transferred to the academic setting.
When you look at your child’s standards for the year, pick up a few words that you can easily use in your conversation. Understand how the word is being used in academics, and its meaning. Now start using it whenever you talk to the child.
Here is an example. Opinion is a word you will be seeing coming up a lot in all writing prompts from 2nd – 5th grade. When you first use the word for the first few times, give the meaning of the word too, so the child can associate with it. You could say something to this effect, “Mike, in your opinion, and when I say your opinion I mean what you think we should do this evening?”
Give the meaning of the word a few times in the same sentence that you use the vocabulary word, until you feel the child has got the meaning. After that, you could just use the word itself. This way, when the word comes up in an academic setting, the child transfers their understanding of the word.
If one looks at the elementary curriculum and standards, it can be seen that at least 80-90% of the words can be easily integrated in everyday conversation.