New Puzzle for Suffixes

A few weeks ago I wrote a post titled Puzzle Me This...Prefixes that had some great response.  Many people asked if I would be making any more 12 Square Puzzles, and in fact, I have!  I have now combined the prefix puzzle with one for suffixes (for a total of two separate puzzles) and have them available for free in both of Teachers Pay Teachers and Teacher's Notebook stores.

Click here to download:

TpT

OR

TN

Hoping you like them! :)

7 Reasons Why the Teaching of Roots and Affixes Is a Middle School Matter

In the 14 years that I've been teaching, I've seen a real shift in the philosophy of English Education.  When I started, whole language was the focus of all reading and writing instruction.  Quite honestly, this was a shock to me since, as a student in a very small K-12 school in upstate New York, I only knew traditional methodology.  My English classes were filled with diagramming sentences, memorizing the forms of the verb "to be," and studying vocabulary - including root words and affixes.  That being said, as you can imagine, seeing my own students read and write just for the love of reading and writing...not concentrating on the number of complex sentences versus compound-complex sentences in a passage, was exciting!  I loved it!  My students loved it...ELA was fun!  

But...the question of whether or not it was wise for the pendulum to swing so far to one side and seemingly abandon the systematic teaching of grammar, conventions and vocabulary - specifically Greek and Latin roots and affixes - now arises. Is there something to be said for the shift to a "back to basics" approach that the Common Core Standards require?  When looking carefully at the CCSS and researching the benefits of learning and internalizing the basic building blocks of language, to me the answer is a resounding, "Yes!"  The interesting thing I found is that the CCSS vocabulary standards pertaining to Greek and Latin affixes and roots begin at 4^th Grade and end at 8^th Grade.  Here's some of what I've found and why I think this is so:

1. Quite simply, let's start with knowing the parts helps our students to understand the whole.   Knowing commonly used roots and affixes can help students infer the definitions of new words in context.

2. The ability to infer meaning: Knowing Greek and Latin word parts helps students recognize and gain clues to understanding of other words that use known affixes and roots (Nagy & Scott, 2000).

3.  Over 60% of the words students will encounter in school textbooks have recognizable word parts; and many of these Latin and Greek roots (Nagy, Anderson, Schommer, Scott, & Stallman, 1989).  This means that word study can helps students' comprehension in all content areas.

4.   Recent reading research has supported the morphological approach to vocabulary development in elementary and middle school.  In linguistics, this practice of identifying and analyzing the parts of words in a given language is helpful in its acquisition.

5. Content area vocabulary is largely Greek and Latin-based and research supports this instruction, especially for struggling readers (Harmon, Hedrick & Wood, 2005).

6. Knowing commonly used suffixes can help students identify a word's part of speech, further helping with correct usage in writing.

7. Lastly, standardized tests assess students' vocabulary.  Whether we like it or not, state testing seems to be here to stay.  That being said, giving our students the tools necessary to be successful can turn what is often a stressful situation for many into an opportunity to confidently show what they know.

In doing some research to answer my own questions for this post, I also found a very well-written and thorough research summary on the topic created by the National Middle School Association.  In it you will find a great deal of research that not only supports the instruction of vocabulary in language development, but the need for word study at the middle school level.

So, with all of this said, we now need to examine how.  How do we meet the needs of our students without swinging the pendulum all the way back in the other direction...forsaking student-centered instruction for skill and drill?  I think balance is the key.  Direct instruction of vocabulary is a place to start, but time should be given for students to explore and analyze word parts in small groups or learning centers and on their own.  This gradual release of responsibility approach - which we know so well in the instruction of reading - pertains to vocabulary as well.  

In an effort to help you find materials that can help with organizing cooperative learning opportunities for word study, I'm also including a link to my Content Areas Roots, Prefixes and Suffixes - which includes a PowerPoint for reviewing word parts and their roles in language.  

CCR and CCSS aligned for ELA 5 - 8

 

It includes charts and Memory Match cards for roots in ELA, Math, Science and Social Studies as well as for commonly used prefixes and suffixes. My Student Accountability Form and my My Vocabulary Keeps Growing graphic organizer are also included.

Please feel free to click HERE  if you would like more details.

In providing links to some of the free materials I've created for vocabulary, and following the post I wrote for Common Core Classrooms, I've received some great feedback, and questions as to the whys and hows have been asked.  I'm hoping that I've given you some more information, places to look for additional answers, and have offered some resources that may be helpful.  Are you teaching roots, prefixes and suffixes in your classroom? If you have fun ways that you have had your students review or practice...please consider sharing more in the comments below.  The more insight and resources we can gather, the better!

Harmon, J., Hedrick, W., Wood, K. (2005).  Research on vocabulary instruction in the 
Content areas:  Implication for struggling readers.  Reading & Writing Quarterly, 21, 
261-280. 



Nagy, W.E., Anderson, R.C., Schommer, M., Scott, J.A., & Stallman, A.C. (1989). Morphological families in the internal lexicon. Reading Research Quarterly, 24(3), 262-282.


Nagy, W. E., & Scott, J. A. (2000). Vocabulary processes. In M. L. Kamil, P. B. Mosenthal, P. D. Pearson, & R. Barr (Eds.), Handbook of reading research (Vol. III, pp. 269–284). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Valentine Parts of Speech Fill-in FREEBIE

Let's hear it for some Parts of Speech-love for Valentine's themed review!

(Click on link to download Google Doc.)

Your students can complete a valentine for their mom.  The finished piece will not only be an expression of love that will touch both hearts AND funny bones.  

I hope that both you and your students have fun with this freebie.  I'm linking this post to Classroom Freebies' Manic Monday for February 4th.  Be sure to click on the link and check out all of the great resources available to you!

Also check out:

Puzzle Me This...Prefixes!

I'm SO happy to share my newest FREEBIE with you!  I so love games and puzzles.  I know that my students do, too.  The challenge of solving this puzzle certainly helps motivate students to learn the meanings of the commonly used prefixes that are featured in this 12 Square Puzzle:

(click on the image to download it here)

Simply print one copy to place in a folder for an answer key. Then, print and copy the puzzle (on cardstock, if possible).  Have students cut the pieces apart on the dotted lines and mix up them up. To play, have them match the prefixes to their definitions to put the puzzle together.  Ready, set, GO!  This is great on its own, but it would also be a great addition to my Content Area Roots, Prefixes and Suffixes PowerPoint and Center Activities.  This pack also contains a chart of prefixes that are used in this puzzle.  Feel free to stop by TpT or TN to take a closer look.  The pack is 20% off today (1/21/2013) at both stores!

I hope you find this FREEBIE useful.  I'm linking this post to Classroom Freebies' Manic Monday for January 21st.  Be sure to click on the link and check out all of the great resources available to you!

Have a great day!!

A Letter From Santa - FREEBIE

I used to LOVE Mad Libs when I was a kid.  One of my favorite, really vivid memories of 5th grade is being in class when our teacher would review parts of speech with us by using them.  He would call out a part of speech and hands would shoot up in the air to take a turn contributing a word to the collaborative effort of completing what we hoped would be a hilarious story when we finished.  The best part was watching our teacher's face as he considered how the words given by us would alter the meanings of the story.  He would giggle to himself and nod, and sometimes, if he REALLY liked where the story was going, he would whisper, just loudly enough for us to hear, "Oh...this is going to be so good!"  The suspense was just this side of agonizing to a bunch of 9 and 10 year old kiddos waiting for the biggest laugh ever!  Then, when all of the blanks were filled in, he read it...as dramatically as he could, and we would laugh and beg to do another one.  Not a bad way to review some grammar!

For a Christmas time activity that I hope will bring your students the gift of laughter, I am giving you my first attempt of writing my own Mad Lib as a FREEBIE.  In this example, Santa is writing back to a child that seems to have made his/her way to the naughty list.

(Click image to view and download your copy)

Enjoy!

UPDATE: If your classes enjoyed Santa's Letter, I do have three more Festive Fill-ins available at my store, PLUS my Grammar At a Glance to help your students with choosing the correct parts of speech for each passage:

(Click the image to check it out.)

Happy Holidays!

Classroom Management Magic - Making Review Fun

This time of year can be wonderful, magical and full of fun.  Children seem to ooze with excitement; walking into my son's Kindergarten classroom, the energy is honestly palpable!  Our younger, elementary friends are not the only ones who may seem to have a little trouble focusing on the necessary tasks at hand during the school day.  Between concerts, and snow days, and professional development days, and vacation days...not to mention the extras that go on outside of school this time of year in December, Middle School can quite easily become Crazy Town in the days nearing Holiday Break.  Though these are mostly the best of times - they can also be the most challenging of times, especially when we know that CCSS and benchmarks wait for no one...not even a distracted child.   This is when, much like Santa and his magic toy bag, if you have a few tricks to pull from your sleeve to harness the energy and keep the kiddies focused, everyone will be that much happier to prepare for things like... any assessments you may be giving in December. ;-)

My Winter Tic Tac Toe Review is one such activity that is an easy game to set up, and provides not only for a creative review, but a chance for you to gather some formative assessment data for your students as you check questions and answers and observe game play.  I'm always looking for quick review activities that require students to process and internalize new information. This version of Tic Tac Toe is perfect because students must first create their own open-ended questions and answers to those questions - which require details for support - before they can play. Students then work together, quizzing each other, as they move their way to a Tic Tac Toe.

This download includes:

Complete Directions

Game Board

18 Game Pieces (Students can cut these out.)

Question/Answer Planning Sheet

...AND a link to a FREEBIE on my blog that can help with easily creating cooperative learning partners that can be used for this activity or any other quick think-pair-share kind of brain break you like to practice in your class.  The key to keeping activities like this from taking too much time to make worth it is having a system already in place to quickly get students working together...you'll find that here.

You can download a preview of this at my TpT Store:

{click image}

and you can also find other activities to help with some fun review that will leave your students asking when they can play again...and not, "When does this class end?!"

Grammar: I have...Who has...?

Common ELA Vocabulary Review Game Pack

ALSO - I'm linking this post to:

Be sure to click and check out other great resources for this crazy time of year...all for $1.99 or less!

Any activities that you like to do this time of year that keep kiddos focused  while having fun?

Please think about sharing below.

Thanks for stopping by!

Grammar At a Glance

(image from funny-pictures-blog.com)

Yoda is not the only one who struggles with using correct grammar. :) Check out my store for Grammar At a Glance and some quick, basic review of parts of speech and sentence structure.  My I have...Who has...? game is a great CCSS aligned activity (grades 5-8) for the days just before or just after Thanksgiving break! 

Here is what's included:

- Grammar At a Glance: This is a 1 page (front and back) reference sheet with basic parts of speech and sentence structure terms and definitions. This sheet can be given to each student and placed in their binders for review and a quick reference when needed.

- Teacher Guide: CCSS alignment, directions, suggestions for use of the game AND an answer key

- I have...Who has...? card game: 24 cards 

Please consider visiting my stores and taking a closer look:

Teachers Pay Teachers

OR

 Teachers Notebook

I hope that you'll find to be a great resource and review tool for your students!