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Every Word Tells a Story (Structured Word Inquiry—Spelling)

Completed by 34 learners
Ages 7-11
Live Group Class
In this ongoing, twice-weekly class, students will become investigators of words, analyzing their structure, spelling, and history to improve vocabulary, spelling, and comprehension.
Average rating:
5.0
Number of reviews:
(701 reviews)
Star Educator
Popular

Live video meetings
2x per week
5-9 learners per class
25 min

What's included

2 live meetings
50 mins in-class hours per week

Class Experience

US Grade 2 - 5
Have you ever wondered why there's a "g" in sign? Or why two has that "w"? Or why friend has that i? In this class, we investigate these questions and more. The sometimes-baffling spelling of the English language is actually highly ordered. Spelling is a combination of etymology (word history), phonology (word sounds), morphology (word meaning), and orthography (the spelling of the English language). When students begin to understand how all of these work together, their understanding of the English language deepens, as well as spelling, vocabulary, and comprehension.

**To be successful in this course, learners should have a basic understanding of prefixes, suffixes, and base words. It is recommended (though not required) to have completed at least one term of my "Orton Gillingham: Morphology, Vocabulary, Grammar, and More!" course.***

In this course, learners will engage in Structured Word Inquiry. This practice rests on four questions:

1. What does the word mean?
2. How is the word built? What is its structure?
3. What are the word's "relatives"?
4. What are the letters doing in the word?

This method puts the learners in the driver seat--encouraging them to investigate words and discover relationships that will improve vocabulary, spelling, and morphological awareness.

Since investigations are student-driven (but teacher-led), learners might: create a matrix, discover a spelling rule, figure out a root from a set of words, investigate the history of a word, explore the use of a suffix, or all of these at once.

This class meets twice weekly. In the first class of each week, the teacher will present a word or set of words for inquiry. Learners will engage with the four questions of structured word inquiry. In the second meeting of each week, learners will "deep dive" with questions that came up in the first day of the week. 

Since learners are highly encouraged to provide words for investigations, the content of the course in the long-term will follow student needs. Individual sections may also vary in content based on the needs of each group. Please contact me for upcoming topics in your section.

Other Details

Parental Guidance
In investigations, I will share my screen while using Etymonline, an online etymology dictionary. Learners will not be asked to access this website on their own during class. Parents may wish to assist their learners with etymological investigation using etymonline at other times. Occasionally, I may show videos from Arika Okrent, the author of "Highly Irregular: Why Tough, Through, and Dough Don't Rhyme and Other Oddities of the English Language."
Supply List
Any print-outs (when appropriate) will be supplied the week before class. Other supplies include paper, pencil, white boards.
Language of Instruction
English
External Resources
Learners will not need to use any apps or websites beyond the standard Outschool tools.

Meet the teacher

5.0
701reviews
Star Educator
Popular
Profile
Teacher expertise and credentials
Illinois Teaching Certificate in Elementary Education
Master's Degree in Education from Dominican University
Bachelor's Degree from Middlebury College
I am a certified elementary teacher with years of experience in preschool and second grade. I have also taught ESL for 3 years on-line, and hold an MA in Teaching from Dominican University. I am trained in the Orton-Gillingham approach through IMSE (30-hour morphology plus course) and the Reed Charitable Foundation (30-hour classroom educator course).

Reviews



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