Greek and Latin Word Roots

A few years ago I started teaching spelling and vocabulary built around greek and latin word roots.  I pulled together bits and pieces of resources, ideas, information from everyplace I could find and finally created my own resource that I knew would work well with my students.  These resources have really increased my students ability to figure out the spelling and meaning of new words, and increased their vocabulary.

I wanted to focus on several roots each week, so I created word lists focused around several roots around the same theme.  I made two different lists using the same roots, one a bit more challenging than the other.   I was very pleased with how my students responded to the word lists and learning word roots.    This was my first Greek and Latin resource in my TpT store, and is one of my best sellers!

This fall I wanted to expand the activities I did each week with the word lists to help my students remember the roots, their meanings, and also the meanings of the words on the lists.  I created an interactive notebook so that the kids would have a resource with all the roots and words they learned and well as a place to collect other words they came across with the same roots.  This has been a very popular activity with my class each week!  It allows them to be creative, and they love that!

Finally, what classroom could be complete without a word wall????  Based on the traditional sight word wall used in many primary classrooms, I created a Word Root Wall for the big kids!  The colorful cards brighten up my room and are a great visual to remind the kids what the roots mean.

      

I put together a free sample of these three products that includes resources for the roots bene, bon and mal.  The freebie includes two spelling lists, interactive notebook pages and word wall cards.  

Click on the image to download this freebie from my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

What are some activities or games you have done to teach vocabulary?

Hello Greek and Latin Roots

 Spelling has always been a frustrating subject for me, as so little of it seemed to transfer over into writing and oftentimes the spelling list was a random hodgepodge of unrelated words.

So, last year I began teaching my spelling and vocabulary through Greek and Latin roots.  My students were so excited to learn "Greek and Latin", I think it made them feel very mature and studious!

I created differentiated word lists for each week of study.  Each week focuses of 2-3  related roots (for example- uni, mono, bi, du).  There are two list of 10 words, a basic list and a challenge list.  Both lists use the same roots, but the challenge list increases the spelling difficulty and uses words that will challenge students to learn more difficult vocabulary.  I introduce the roots and words on Mondays and I let the kids choose between the basic list and the challenge list.  I was worried that the kids would take the easy route and always choose the basic list, but they surprised me and most kids chose the challenge list.

I love teaching spelling and vocabulary now because I have seen a real transfer of knowledge from the Greek and Latin roots to the students spelling and figuring out meanings of unknown words.  I love it when I hear a kid say "Well, I know mal means bad, so the word must mean ....".

If you are interested in learning more about the resources I created to teach Greek and Latin roots in my classroom, visit my Teachers Pay Teachers shop.

Hello August

Hello August-  is it really August already?  I feel like it was just a couple weeks ago when I still had the whole summer ahead of me.

It is about this time every year that I start to think about school- projects, ideas, decorating, picking up glue sticks, notebooks, random miscellaneous at the Target Dollar Spot (I can't get past that section without grabbing something!).

Today I worked on making a "teacher sample" of the word root cards I have my students make to go along with our Greek and Latin word root spelling.  I love to draw/doodle, so it was a fun project for me!  Here is a picture of four of the completed cards.

The kids always love making these cards (some of my girls could decorate these cards for hours!).  I then have the kids write the word root meaning on the back of the card along with a list of words containing that root.

Have a great weekend!