THIS IS AN ASYNCHRONOUS CLASS. THERE ARE NO SCHEDULED MEETING TIMES. STUDENTS WILL WATCH THE RECORDED CLASSES AT A TIME THAT WORKS BEST FOR THEM. 

Grab your notecards and help us solve the mysteries of words! Students will write the roots and accompanying information on a set of note cards. They will keep these note cards in a small binder. By the end of the session, they will have a nice resource to refer back to. 

Each class will follow the same general format. At the beginning of each class, I will review the roots from previous weeks before diving into our new content. Each week we will study 2-4 Greek and Latin roots. The roots we study each week will all be related. For example, the first week we will look at roots having to do with numbers (uni, bi, tri). I will introduce one root at a time. I will discuss the spelling of the root and point out any spelling patterns. I will then talk about the meaning of the root and present a short list of words based on that root. I will also introduce some challenging words that have these roots. This is where the detective work comes in! I will show the students how to dissect each of these words so they can figure out the meaning of these new words based on what they know about the roots.

I will post a print-out in the classroom each week. Please print it out, and use it during class. Students can fill out the information on the print-out, then cut it out, and glue it on to the notecard. The students will need one notecard per root. They will use colored pencils to add information to each notecard so they can quickly locate the information they need. 

Each notecard will have the following information:
- root
- origin (Greek or Latin)
- meaning
- words containing these roots
- optional pictures to help them remember the meaning
 
I will post Nearpod links for games. One of the links will be for a memory game that uses the Greek and Latin roots. I encourage students to participate in the games. By working on these roots in varying activities, students will commit them to memory and have a good understanding of each root by the end of the session.

Why study Greek and Latin roots? 

1. Knowing the meanings of the Greek and Latin roots helps us to figure out the meaning of an unfamiliar word.
2. It helps us become better spellers. 
3. According to dictionary.com, over 60 percent of English words have Greek or Latin roots.
4. Studies show that students who study Greek and Latin roots score higher on academic tests.
5. Greek and Latin roots are the basis of many scientific and medical words, so students going into those fields will benefit from learning word roots.
6. Greek and Latin are two of the seven classical languages.
7. The romance languages are based on Latin. If your child is planning on learning Spanish, French, Italian, etc., having a strong foundation in Latin roots is helpful.