Hi, I just joined and I've never sent out a reply. (Am I doing it right? I get a digest and couldn't reply all.)
I teach vocab for just 10 minutes, 2 times a week - on Tuesday and Thursday. (It's part of our Fountas and Pinnell "language block," except I do more vocab than they do.) I choose a Latin or Greek root that seems appropriate (this week it's terra and aqua because we're doing terraria and aquaria in science). I write it on a piece of chart paper with the definition and we discuss a couple of words that come to mind based on that root. The chart stays up until the next Tuesday or Thursday, and kids can add to it. If a week has passed and they haven't added anything, we do a quick search of the dictionary and share some new words. They LOVE this. I had a kid say "it just gave it away" (a mystery word gave the definition away because it - terraqueous - was so easy to figure out). Well, yeah, that's the point! I also have a class "job" be vocabulary wizard, and his or her job is to type our words into a premade document and print it for each child so we all keep an ongoing record of the roots we've learned. We use these words constantly, because, as I mentioned, they are relevant to other subjects we're studying. Maggie -- Maggie Dillier "If you want to build a ship, don't herd people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea." (Antoine de Saint-Exupery) _______________________________________________ The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/LITArchive
