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! Interesting to learn more about phonemic awareness especially as it pertains to second language English speakers, of which we have many at ASB.
! Loved the highlighting of the logic inherent in English spelling even though the general conception is that there is no logic at all in it for the most part.

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As a high school teacher, this is a new concept to me. It is interesting to look at the fundamentals of language acquisition. For EAL students in particular, this will be particularly usefully in the high school classroom.

There is a. lot of terminology to decode here and this will be pushing me outside of my comfort zone. However, I can see that this will enrich my teaching in areas of language acquisition, spelling and grammar.

Looking at the patterns in language is paramount. Schwa words is interesting and something I was unfamiliar with. I'm interested to say how I can implement this in the classroom and the results of this approach in the HS classroom.

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Context, connections, wider and deeper meanings of words. Making sense in real time.

Fostering a love of language and individual words - favourite words, interesting words, links to other languages, unusual words

Older EAL students who are naturally inquisitive about language, precise vocabulary, idioms, funny/unusual words etc - how we nurture this interest in native speakers...

Morphology - time value...we have learned so many new words from this one root word

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! 60% of unfamiliar words in the Middle School are derived words; 20% of words are Schwa words!

? What should the focus be for older EAL students who don't have phonics foundations?

Yes! We use some letters to signal meaning, not sounds.
Grammar + mechanics=tools not rules
'Word Curious Stance'-Language IS fascinating!

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Breaking Open Syllable Words - bad guy - Billie Eilish (Parody)

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Breaking Closed Syllable Words - Old Town Road - Lil Nas X (Parody)

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#3 AISBahrain -  Word Study Foundations G3 - G8 

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Make a copy

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ES Lesson Planning Practice: Patterns of Power Planning Steps

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! Schwa is the most common vowel sound in the English language.
? Can kids who have not mastered letter-sound relationships access/utilize morphology?
Yes--to the explicit instruction of spelling patterns

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EKC

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Notable Sentences (and Some Passages) for Imitation and Creation

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Notable Sentences (and Some Passages) for Imitation and Creation

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This blog is both a forum for collaboration and a resource for language arts teachers to use. Please use the sentences you find here as models for exploration and imitation in your classrooms, and add to them as you find strong examples through your personal and class readings. Use the sidebar to the left to view or add to the collected sentences.

The idea for the blog grew from a conversation at one of Jeff Anderson's workshops. Jeff is the author of Mechanically Inclined: Building Grammar, Usage, and Style into Writer's Workshop , a very practical and valuable exploration of grammar and writing instruction. Through discussion of how to promote positive development of students' grammar knowledge and writing style, Jeff encouraged us as teachers to find powerful model sentences in the stories and books we read, and to present these sentences to our students as models for discussion (what he calls "noticing") and imitation. When teachers asked if there is a collection of these model sentences somewhere, the idea for this blog was born. Jeff's second book, Everyday Editing: Inviting Students to Develop Skill and Craft in Writer's Workshop , also holds many lessons to help you teach editing outside of the "vacuum" of canned instruction.

Use in the Classroom: These are meant to be noteworthy sentences from published authors that students can examine ("What things do you notice about this sentence?") and imitate ("Now you try it, using this sentence as an example.") within the context of writing instruction of all types. Some sentences could also serve as leads, prompts, or stems for journal entries or more formal writing assignments.

Organization of Blog: In the left sidebar, I have grouped these entries in a variety of ways, knowing that teachers look for sentences for many reasons. There is a general "Best Sentences Ever" Section, and below that there are numerous more specific categories of the following titles: Parts of Sentences (with subheadings of Parts of Speech, Phrases, and Clauses), Purpose of Sentences, Structure of Sentences, Length of Sentences, Syntax Techniques, Figurative Language, Sound Devices, Literary Techniques, Punctuation, and Style/Voice.

How to use this site as a resource: Use the links in the left sidebar to select a category of sentences. Once on the category page, click on individual types of sentences to view or add sentences. Read the "Comments" to find sentences relevant to your current search.

How to contribute to this resource: Below any post about a type of sentence, click on the "Comments" link, and type the sentences according to the following directions. Please write out your selected sentence(s) in quotations, followed by the name of the author, the work in which these lines appear, and the page number(s) on which these lines appear. Please proofread before posting. NOTES: Colorful quotations are wonderful, but please try to make sure they are also appropriate. If you have a strategy that has worked well with this particular sentence you are posting, you may also include a brief description of that strategy.

Thanks for contributing! If you have a comment or suggestion, you may email me at lswolter@gmail.com.

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Notable Sentences...for Imitation and Creation

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"As writers, we learn most of what we know just by watching the pros, don't we?" ~John R. Trimble

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Framework for Learning Vocabulary Teaching & Learning

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Framework for Learning Vocabulary Teaching & Learning

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Good guide to using morphology to help with spelling and vocabulary

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This reference manual includes several useful features:

takes teachers through how English spelling uses morphology to represent the meaning of words

teaches word sums and word matrices as tools for examining word structure and constructing and deconstructing words morphologically

contains a series of ready-to-use lessons, helping teachers and students act as word detectives who problem-solve the links between structure and meaning

targets vocabulary, reading, and spelling skills!

By: Peter Bowers

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teaching how the written word works [wvc216] books and workbooks grammar and writing workshops | trainings classroom sets games gift certificates multisensory learning beginning reading morphology and vocabulary free downloads multisensory bundles high-frequency words multisensory instruction kit books and workbooks grammar and writing workshops | trainings classroom sets games gift certificates proceeds to charity multisensory learning beginning reading morphology and vocabulary free downloads o-g multisensory bundles sight words multisensory instruction kit ecommerce

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Kendore Learning Store Teaching How the Written Word Works [WVC216] - This reference manual includes several useful features: takes teachers through how English spelling uses morphology to represent the meaning of words teaches word sums and word matrices as tools for examining word structure and constructing and deconstructing words morphologically contains a series of ready-to-use lessons, helping teachers and students act as word detectives

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Filled with ideas to explore...

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Etymonline Dictionary - History of words

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Etymonline Dictionary - History of words

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Etymonline - Online Etymology Dictionary

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The online etymology dictionary (etymonline) is the internet’s go-to source for quick and reliable accounts of the origin and history of English words, phrases, and idioms. It is professional enough to satisfy academic standards, but accessible enough to be used by anyone.

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Great Resources from Classroom Teacher -  Blog

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Great Resources from Classroom Teacher -  Blog

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It's all well and good that we can put on an extra layer when the wind gets chilly and the temperatures drop, but what do the wild animals do? How do they cope with the heavy snow and freezing temperatures? That is the focus of the article I read recently. It's called "Do Wild Animals Hate Being Cold in Winter?" It was published in Popular Science, written by Bridgette B. Baker. You can read it at THIS LINK.

As I read it, I couldn't help but notice a number of words that share the base <therm>.

"In fact, wildlife can succumb to frostbite and hypothermia, just like people and pets."

"One winter challenge for warm-blooded animals, or endotherms, as they're scientifically known, is to maintain their internal body temperature in cold conditions. Interestingly though, temperature-sensing thresholds can vary depending on physiology. For instance, a cold-blooded-that is, ectothermic-frog will sense cold starting at a lower temperature compared to a mouse. Recent research shows that hibernating mammals, like the thirteen-lined ground squirrel, don't sense the cold until lower temperatures than endotherms that don't hibernate."

"Many cold-climate endotherms exhibit torpor: a state of decreased activity. They look like they are sleeping. Because animals capable of torpor alternate between internally regulating their body temperature and allowing the environment to influence it, scientists consider them heterotherms."

Most people will acknowledge these are interesting words. But when summarizing the information, they will skip using them and go back to using simpler, more familiar language. Often the thought is that these words are too tough for children to remember (especially if the adult doesn't really understand what they mean). What if instead of skipping using them, we investigated them further? What if we looked closer at the sense, the meaning and the function of the morphemes in each of these words? We have here an opportunity to understand scientific terminology AND word families better!
hypothermia
Let's begin by looking at <hypothermia>. It was first attested in 1877 and is from Modern Latin. When something is noted as being Modern Latin, that means that the word was created by scientists who needed a name for something. They didn't just make up a name, but rather they looked back to Latin and Greek for what to call it. The word <hypothermia> did not exist in Greek, but the stems <hypo> "under" and <therm> "heat" did. The <-ia> suffix indicates that this word is an abstract noun. If you look at the denotation of the base <therm> "heat" and the denotation that the base <hypo> "under" has, you can see that the word itself tells you that hypothermia is when something is under it's normal level of heat. If a person has hypothermia, their body temperature is lower than it should be. The base <therm> is from Greek θερμός (transcribed as thermos).

What about this base <hypo>? It is from Greek ύπό (transcribed as hypo) and has a denotation of "under." Have we seen this in other familiar words? What about a hypothesis, which is the groundwork for an investigation. Do you recognize the denotation of "under" in hypothesis, as in an underlying position? It is also in hypodermic, which is the area just under the skin. That gives you a better sense of where a hypodermic needle is used, doesn't it? And what about hypotenuse, which is the side of a triangle that is opposite the right angle. It has a sense of being stretched under the right angle.
endotherms
When I looked for <endotherms>, I was lead to <endothermic>. Etymonline notes that this word was first attested in 1866 and was formed by adding <endo-> and <thermal>. The suffix <-ic> indicates that the word is an adjective. The suffix <-al> can indicate the same thing. When I look at the entry for <thermal>, I learned that the first time it was used to mean "a sense of heat" was in 1837. So using <-al> is older than the use of <-ic> with this base.

So what about the base <endo->? It is from Greek ένδον (transcribed as endon) and has a sense of "inside, internal". When you pair up <endo> "internal" and <therm> "heat", you can see that the word itself tells you that endotherms are organisms that regulate their heat from inside themselves.

We see this base in endoscopy which is when a doctor uses a camera and light attached to a flexible tube to examine your esophagus, stomach, and/or intestines. In other words, the doctor is looking at your internal organs.

This base is also in endoskeleton which is the internal skeleton structure that all vertebrates have.

My dogs are endotherms. So am I.
ectotherms
There was not a specific entry for <ectotherms> at Etymonline, but there was an entry for <ecto->. It is from Greek έκτός (transcribed as ecktos) and has a denotation of "outside, external." It is related to the prefix <ex-> "out", but they are not the same. When you pair up <ect> "outside" with <therm> "heat", you can see that the word itself tells you that ectotherms are organisms whose body heat is regulated by their environment ( outside themselves).

I went to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) to find related words. This base is found in science words like ectotrophic. An example of that is when tissues form on the outside of a root and are being nourished by that root. Interestingly enough, the opposite of ectotropic is endotrophic! That is when one organism is getting nourishment from within another organism.

We also see this base in ectocrine which is described as an organic substance that is released from the outer layer of an organism that will effect other organisms in the environment in either a good or bad way. It will come as no surprise to you that this word is the opposite of endocrine, which is a gland having an internal secretion. So in one case the secretion is external, and in the other it is internal.

Turtles and snakes are ectotherms. They bask in the sun to get heat.
heterotherms
There wasn't a specific entry for <heterotherms> at Etymonline, but there was an entry for <hetero->. It comes from Greek 'έτερος (transcribed as heteros) with a denotation of "one of two". When you pair up <heter> "one of two" with <therm> "heat", you can see that the word itself tells you that heterotherms are animals that can regulate their own heat AND also have their heat regulated by their environment. Here's something interesting that I found at Wikipedia:

"Regional heterothermy describes organisms that are able to maintain different temperature "zones" in different regions of the body. This usually occurs in the limbs, and is made possible through the use of counter-current heat exchangers, such as the rete mirabile found in tuna and certain birds. These exchangers equalize the temperature between hot arterial blood going out to the extremities and cold venous blood coming back, thus reducing heat loss. Penguins and many arctic birds use these exchangers to keep their feet at roughly the same temperature as the surrounding ice. This keeps the birds from getting stuck on an ice sheet."

"Chinstrap Penguin with snow in its mouth" by Liam Quinn is licensed under CC by-sa 2.0

Here is a matrix of the words we have looked at:

You will notice that all the base elements are bolded. The connecting vowel <o> and the suffixes are not. That means that there are four compound words represented on this matrix:

<hypothermia -> hypo + therm + ia>
(or variations such as hypothermic or hypothermal)
<ectothermal -> ect + o + therm + ic>
(or variations such as ectotherm or ectotherms)
<endotherms -> end + o + therm + s>
(or variations such as endotherm or endothermic)
<heterotherm -> heter + o + therm>
(or variations such as heterotherms or heterothermal)

You may not be familiar with a connecting vowel, so let me explain a bit about them. They are used to connect two bases (as they are doing in three of the four words above), but they can also connect a base to a suffix or a suffix to another suffix.

My favorite example of a compound word with an obvious connecting vowel is <speedometer>. We instantly recognize the two bases here because they are both free bases. We also recognize that the <o> doesn't belong to either one! It is simply connecting them. The <o> can be used because the second base <meter> is from Greek μέτρον (transcribed as metron) "measure". The first base is not from Greek. It is from Old English sped. The sense and meaning "rate of motion or progress" is from c.1200. The fact that one of the bases is from Greek and one is from Old English makes this word a Germanic hybrid!

Have you noticed that in the above matrix not all of the words have an <o> connecting vowel? How do I know that the <o> at the end of <hypo> is not a connecting vowel? I start by doing some research. If you skim back through the paragraphs in this post, you will find that the origins of the bases are as follows:

<therm> - Greek θερμός (transcribed as thermos)
<hypo> - Greek ύπό (transcribed as hypo)
<end> - Greek ένδον (transcribed as endon)
<ect> - Greek έκτός (transcribed as ecktos)
<heter> - Greek 'έτερος (transcribed as heteros)

Notice that three of the four have the same Greek suffix. That <os> suffix is called the nominative suffix. If I remove it, I see the stem that then came into English as a base. There is one word that has a Greek <on> genitive suffix. If I remove it, I see the stem that then came into English as a base. Those four bases entered English without the <o>. We can also notice that the words we're looking at today were coined by scientists who needed a word to describe something they were working on. Oftentimes they joined the Greek (or Latin) bases (that fit best in the context of what they were doing) with a connecting vowel.

I know that <hypo> does not have a connecting vowel because it does not have a Greek suffix that could be removed. This present day base was a preposition in Greek. If you look in the OED, you can find several entries for <hypo> as a free base noun.
The bottom line
As you read through this post, I hope your sense of these bases deepened. When I do this with children, it's not that I want them to remember every word we talk about. It's more that I want them to take an invisible thread and connect each base or morpheme that we focus on to the words in which it is used. I want them to see that every word is not completely new and unique. Words belong to families, and the key to understanding an unfamiliar word is by recognizing one or more of its morphemes and being able to recall some related words to help with remembering the sense and meaning that the words share.

The matrix I created above focuses on the words from the article that had the base <therm> in common. The joy of matrices is that they can be used for what you need them to be used for. They don't need to contain every possible word that shares the base (probably impossible anyway). I love when one of my students presents a matrix they made to the rest of the class and another student asks, "Could such and such a word be added to that matrix?" The person who created the matrix doesn't have to feel embarrassed because they missed something. There is no expectation that a great matrix has x number of words! A word matrix is a starting point. It is a thought provoker and a discussion starter. When another student suggests a word that could be added, it proves that the students in the audience are engaged and thinking about this particular family. That is a thing to celebrate!

That being said, a fuller matrix is really fun to look at once in a while. Once you start thinking about this base <therm>, you start wondering what other words you know that share the base. Have fun thinking about the words represented below. Do you recognize the bases we just studied? Do you recognize the others? Are you familiar with the suffixes? Are you noticing that a connecting vowel is used to connect bases where <therm> is the second base? Are you noticing that a connecting vowel is used to connect bases where <therm> is the first base? Are you aware that any word that contains two or more bases is a compound word? Do you know the denotations of the bases I haven't talked about?

I encourage you to use Etymonline as a starting point. Find out what the bases mean independently, and then find out how we currently use the word by looking in a modern dictionary. Sometimes I like to search for an image as well to further deepen my understanding. Notice how the connecting vowel is pronounced in thermographic, thermoluminescence, thermostat, and thermosphere. Then notice how there is a shift in stress, which changes the way we pronounce that connecting vowel in thermography and thermometer. Interesting, right? The pronunciation changes, but the spelling and the meaning does not. An orthographic truth you can count on!
A warm send off
Well, this here endotherm is going to put on thermal underwear so she doesn't have to turn up the thermostat. I wish we had geothermal energy, but we don't. Staying warm might prevent the need for a thermometer should she take a chill. Once she's dressed in layers, she can gaze out the window and imagine that she can see all the way to the thermosphere.

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It's all well and good that we can put on an extra layer when the wind gets chilly and the temperatures drop, but what do the wild animals do? How do they cope with the heavy snow and freezing temperatures? That is the focus of the article I read recently.

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Simple

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2-Week Vocabulary Study PLANNER - Course

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EXAMPLE Word Study Scope & Sequence - G3

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Make a Copy before planning.

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from Vocabularians (2015)

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Example - Planning a Spelling Investigations

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Inquiry Rich Planning Template for Grammar Study

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Inquiry Rich Planning Template for Grammar Study

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Resource for Vocabulary Tree Information

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Resource for Vocabulary Tree Information

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A great resource where you can (or you can teach the kids to) make matrices.

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Morphology Home / Matrix Home

Welcome

Welcome to the main information page for Mini Matrix-Maker.

We aim to provide a simple low-cost web-based tool for creating word matrices, similar to the one below. For the moment, the current version is free.

Visit our Morphology Home page for other useful tools, which can help you improve your matrices.

Run Mini Matrix-Maker (free version)

Click the link below to run the program.

www.neilramsden.co.uk/spelling/matrix/run.html?version=temp

You may wish to add a bookmark to this link.

Please read the current terms and conditions before running it. They may be updated periodically.

Free Usage

We may charge for using the Mini Matrix-Maker in future, but for the moment usage is free. The most likely next step will be to include a voluntary donation box to help keep this web-site active.

Using Mini Matrix-Maker now doesn't commit you to any future involvement.

Example Matrix

View a sample Matrix Results Page, built from word sums around the base element <mode>.

What is Mini Matrix-Maker?

Mini Matrix-Maker will automatically build a word matrix for you from the set of word sums in your word family.

Normally, deciding how to organise your word matrix can be hard to get right and even one small change to your word sums can make a big difference in how the matrix looks.

Mini Matrix-Maker makes life easy for you, because all you have to do is concentrate on the word sums. From there, building an accurate, attractive matrix is all done for you.

How do you use a Word Matrix?

Word matrices are powerful tools for exploring and testing knowledge of word structure. They provide a graphical shorthand for illustrating families of interrelated words.

Word matrices read from left to right.

From them, you make single, complete words.

You may use one element from a column at a time.

You don't have to take an element from every column of a matrix - but you must not "leapfrog" over a column.

How does Mini Matrix-Maker compare with Word Microscope?

The Word Microscope program can more actively guide you in creating word sums and matrices. It recognises prefixes, bases, connecting vowels and suffixes, and includes checks and reference tools. You can also easily save and retrieve your work, or print a customised findings log.

Learn more by reading the quick comparison between Word Microscope and the Mini Matrix-Maker.

There is a Word Microscope download for Microsoft Windows, which can be used for free for a limited period.

Word matrices originated within Real Spelling. Visit the Real Spellers web-site to discover more about Real Spelling concepts and the role of matrices in understanding English orthography.

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Welcome to the main information page for Mini Matrix-Maker.

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Possible Lesson Sequence (adapt to YOUR kids!)

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Possible Lesson Sequence (adapt to YOUR kids!)

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Free resource from Stenhouse

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Make a copy

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Lesson Planning Practice: Patterns of Power Planning Steps