Practical Ideas for Adding Root Study to Your Classroom

Students encounter new words in their vocabulary every time they read. Incorporating the study of Latin and Greek roots in the classroom will not only teach students how to decode new words when introduced, but it's also a faster method to expanding their vocabulary. Check out this article and get some real, practical advice for teachers who have incorporated Latin and Greek roots into their classrooms.

"In Essentials of Elementary Reading, Michael Graves, Susan Watts-Taffe, and Bonnie Graves estimate that students learn between 3,000 and 4,000 new words each year, with the typical student knowing some 25,000 words by the end of elementary school. If your students read for thirty minutes a day, they will be exposed to an average of one million words by year's end. How many of those words will be new and how can we help them? It is obvious that five pre-selected vocabulary words from a basal textbook doesn't make the grade. Even if a new word is taught each day, in addition to five pre-selected vocabulary words for the week, that is still fewer than 400 words a year. So, how can we maximize vocabulary acquisition? One Greek word stem can open up vocabulary acquisition for hundreds of other words found while reading."

For more ideas on how to bring the study of Latin and Greek roots into your classroom, check out our two roots-based vocabulary programs today!

Vocabulary from Latin and Greek Roots

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Growing Your Vocabulary: Learning from Latin and Greek Roots – for grades 4-6