One way I've found to help build and strengthen my students' vocabulary is to study the Latin and Greek word roots. Etymology has been a very successful unit of study in my classroom. Students may not recognize or know all of a word; however, if they know part or parts of the word they can use context clues to help identify the meaning of a new word. There are many resources available out there to help educators teach and assess students learning of word roots. Occasionally, I'll have my students play Scrabble using the word roots we've been learning. Here are some additional sites I've found and use in my classroom to help build vocabulary.
1. Free Rice-This is a website that tests students' vocabulary but also feeds the hungry while they play. Every word they define correctly donates grains of rice to the hungry. I checked it out before using it and it really is true. If any students finishes early or has some free time, I often direct them to this site. They love it, and there are several content areas to choose from!
2. Latin and Greek Root Concentration-This is a matching game for students to play with word roots and their definitions.
3. VocabTest.com-This site offers tests or quizzes over SAT vocabulary. It's a way to get my students looking to see if they recogonize any roots and trying to define the word using the Greek and Latin roots.
I just recently read a novel called "The Broken Teaglass" by Emily Arsenault. The story takes place in a dictionary company that deals with all contexts of words. I found it very interesting. It was a novel, but I did learn some new things. My husband took an etymology class in high school. I wish I could too. Your resources will help me :)
ReplyDelete