After learning about vocabulary in our Professional Development meeting, I realized how mcuh my classes were lacking in this area. Yesterday, a student asked me what a list of words meant that she had made during out reading. I explained them to her and she asked if certain endings and beginnings of words meant certain things all the time. I explained to her about prefixes and suffixes. I realized I needed to teach these kids about words.
So tofay I started a bellringer called "Rootology." Everyday, I will introduce two or three root words to the class and together we will think of examples and decipher what they mean. I will record these on a chart so the classes can use it as a reference. These words will be on their final exam.
I think that this practice will not only help them on standardized tests, it will help them become better readers in general. It will teach them to pick apart words to find meaning.
This is a good Web site with a very complete list of common roots to pull from.
No comments:
Post a Comment