One of the main things I hear from teachers is that at the moment it’s really hard to engage their students in deeper, on-going word inquiries in the same way they can in the classroom. One of the reasons is the collaborative nature of these inquiries - the social construction of learning. Now that is not available in the same way it’s certainly challenging. Another, of course, is not limited to word inquiry, but rather the strain our students are experiencing in having all their learning online.
I have long said that while we want to engage our students in investigations as it builds student agency, critical thinking and transferable skills, we also need them to practice these skills so they can bring their understanding and knowledge to their next investigation, or apply it to their reading and writing.
We know that ‘practice makes permanent’ and ‘short and often’ is more effective than one long practice session weekly. So in these times when everyone seems to be on overload I would suggest giving your students some practice activities to keep their skills of analyzing and synthesizing words developing. You could set 5-10 minute daily activities or a weekly challenge and ask them to work on it a little each day. Encourage parents and care-givers to join in.
Today’s ideas are about solidifying an understanding of the structural elements of words, the morphemes. I am suggesting two ideas for this:
- Give the frame for the structure of a word and ask your students to think of words that fit the structure
- Give your students a set of words and ask them to analyze them to decide if they fit a given structure.
How many words can you find that fit this structure?
In this video I am speaking directly to your students so you can show it to them and then either give them this student sheet or have them just write the answers somewhere they can share with you.
How many of these words fit this structure?
In this video I am speaking directly to your students so you can show it to them and then either give them this student sheet or have them just write the answers somewhere they can share with you.
Words that might cause discussion
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Incomplete analysis
Depending on your students’ level of learning and understanding at this point in their study of orthography, you might find they have some analyses that are incomplete. This is fine and merely a point for further learning either now or in the future. Always remember, it’s better to have an incomplete analysis than an incorrect one.
For example:
<enjoys> might be analyzed: enjoy + s → enjoys but can be further analyzed to en + joy + s → enjoys
<carefully> might be analyzed: care + fully → carefully but can be further analyzed to care + ful + ly → carefully
<prediction> might be analyzed as predict + ion → prediction but can be further analyzed as pre + dict + ion → prediction
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Incorrect analysis
We all have a tendency to assume a group of letters we recognise often as a suffix will always be a suffix if you see them at the end of a word, but this is not necessarily the case.
For example:
<laugh> is the base of <laughed>: laugh + ed → laughed ✓
<sl> is not the base of <sled>: sl + ed → sled ✘
We, as adults can clearly see that <sl> is not the base of <sled> but we often find words where we assume a suffix if we don’t think carefully. The structure can look plausible but there must also be a meaning connection. Ultimately we can prove a connection by tracing the root of the words.
<flow> is not the base of <flowers>, as in a plant: flow + er + s → flowers ✘
Teacher Resource and Student Sheets
Teacher resource: Some ideas for both activities (link)
Student sheet: How many words can you find that fit structure of base-suffix? (link)
Student sheet: How many of these words fit the structure of prefix-base-suffix? (link)