We spent some time last week exploring words in a bit more detail. This originated from several students asking questions about how to spell certain suffixes (or ends) of words. We began with the word play as this is an easy base on which to add suffixes, and a word with which students are familiar.
We began our exploration by identifying what it means to play. Most students were able to articulate that it means to "do something for fun". We found out that this is a base word -- meaning that it makes sense and can stand on its own. It can have prefixes and suffixes added to it.
Now that we identified and explained what the word play means, we were able to also name some other words that are built using the word play. These words (i.e. plays, playing, playground) - along with a few extras thrown in (i.e. playful) - were used for the next part of our inquiry.
Students were broken into partners and each partnership was given a word containing the base word play. They were then instructed to figure out what each word meant based on our prior knowledge of what it means to play. Once that was determined, the next step was to illustrate their word in order to explain it to others:
We gathered at the carpet and shared our words. We identified suffixes and briefly discussed the meaning of each.
It was then time to see if this inquiry into the word play transferred into other learning situations. How amazing it was to see that several students began using -- and understanding -- suffixes during writing workshop:
We already have another word inquiry in which to partake that was inspired by the students themselves. Why and when do some words end in the phoneme /ē/ but are spelled with a <y>? Stay tuned to see what we find out!
We began our exploration by identifying what it means to play. Most students were able to articulate that it means to "do something for fun". We found out that this is a base word -- meaning that it makes sense and can stand on its own. It can have prefixes and suffixes added to it.
Now that we identified and explained what the word play means, we were able to also name some other words that are built using the word play. These words (i.e. plays, playing, playground) - along with a few extras thrown in (i.e. playful) - were used for the next part of our inquiry.
Students were broken into partners and each partnership was given a word containing the base word play. They were then instructed to figure out what each word meant based on our prior knowledge of what it means to play. Once that was determined, the next step was to illustrate their word in order to explain it to others:
We gathered at the carpet and shared our words. We identified suffixes and briefly discussed the meaning of each.
It was then time to see if this inquiry into the word play transferred into other learning situations. How amazing it was to see that several students began using -- and understanding -- suffixes during writing workshop:
We already have another word inquiry in which to partake that was inspired by the students themselves. Why and when do some words end in the phoneme /ē/ but are spelled with a <y>? Stay tuned to see what we find out!
To find out more about Structured Word Inquiry and how word inquiry works with young leaners, check out Lyn Anderson's amazing blog!
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