Lets Get to the Root of It...Spelling

In this ongoing, weekly class, the students will look at the sound structure of letters and how they can change when interacting with other letters (examples, ie, ea, sh, ph).  

We delve deep into the working of vowels; vowels are such special letters, they are needed and valued in almost every word we know and use and they can change their sounds many different ways (sometimes making these the trickiest letters to grasp).

Classes will begin with explicit teaching of the sound / word / root word rules.  Students will work together to create a class word list (with my support) which use the rules we are studying that week.  Often times, words will be broken into their parts and placed in organized groups which will help students visualize the written patterns in the spelling.  

The roots are organiz(s)ed into prefixes (added before a word), suffixes (at the end of the word) and the root of the word (main body).  Each week a new prefix, suffix or both will be looked at, meanings described and sentences composed.  After the prefix / suffix study I will introduce a new root word which we will define and use to create words we know and write sentences about the word (example: aer means air and is used in aeronautics).  

We will question how we use the Greek and Latin roots in our everyday English language, how the spelling can change (from country to country or over time) and create word lists from the roots we study.

At the end of the lesson (time permitting), I will play a word game with the children which focuses on the rules and words we have created in the word lists.  These games help the students solidify the new word knowledge we have focused on during the lesson.  

I will include a few activities (some are movement activities for the more kinesthetic learners in the groups) the children can work on with the word lists to continue to engage with the new rules through the week.  These will be easy to follow along from your homes as I slowly guide the children through the instructions.  The movement activities can be joined live on screen.  I am aware not all children are comfortable with this engagement and that is why I offer a range of activities for the children to participate in.

I encourage active participation from the children and focus my teaching on having a strong foundation for the students to build upon.  Using games, activities, movement and writing helps the wide range of learners access and engage with the learning in the way they do best. 



These classes can change weekly (according to the students needs).  Please check the schedule to see what rules I will be focusing on each week and join the ones your child will be interested in or need more support in.  

Lessons:
1. Hard and soft sounds of 'c' and 'g' and 'c' and 'k'
2. Changing words to plural forms
3. prefix ab, root aqua
4. prefix a-, root aero