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Root of the Week

Hey, Friends!
Happy Monday. 🙂 This morning as I walked into my classroom I realized I never shared about a classroom routine we practice. As students walk in the classroom and spend time transitioning in the hallway {in 5th grade my kiddos trade class 6 TIMES A DAY…we spent A LOT of time in the hallway}, we use a “rolodex” of roots to practice and reinforce Greek/Latin roots.
Root of the Week

Each
morning, students lead (after many weeks of training) a simple activity working with our root – record it, list it,
picture it, chant it, and teach it. Each activity requires less than 4 minutes
(totaling 15 minutes  throughout the
week). These simple and no-prep lessons immediately throw us into learning. Then, at the end of each week, I assign a student to flip to the next root – easy peasy!

photo 4 1

Once I copied the Rolodex and our recording logs, it has turned into an prep-free and ‘real’ way to engage with root words! This rolodex of words turns into a fabulous root-word dictionary that perfectly accompanies our many other root-word routines. (See other ways we integrate root words into our daily lives here.)

After I tried it out with my 5th graders and tweaked it over the course of the year, I’ve complied all the activities, recording sheets, and root cards into a resource you and your students can use! To learn more about this low-prep but powerful resource, click here. 🙂

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15 Responses

  1. I like this idea 🙂 I'll keep it in mind for next year to go with their prefixes, suffixes, and roots 🙂

    && at 24.. going on 25.. I know EXACTLY what you mean by body aches. #upperelementaryproblems HAHA

    Leanna
    lilismilee.blogspot.com

  2. I already bought this and have it printed and ready for next year 🙂 …I may try it out this last 6 weeks, although our schedule is a bit crazy with remedial groups to get ready for the 2nd administration of our state test for the ones that didn't pass it the first time :/

    1. What??? You find out the results that quickly????!?!?!? We won't know how our kids did until OCTOBER! How do you like knowing in the Spring? How do the retakes work?

    1. Sending positive vibes your way. And yes, at 23 I feel so old. God bless the you and all the teachers who are still alive and rockin' after 10-15 years of teaching. You all ROCK!

    1. Great question, Allison! Yes, we keep a log of all our root words, their meaning, and words we find them in. 🙂

    1. Adapt away, Meredith! A few months ago one of our intermediate math classes taped multiplication facts around the school. You would have 1st graders say, "I know what 7 times 6 is!" It was an awesome way to use the hallway. 🙂

  3. I'm sick getting over the flu and catching up on some blog reading…this looks awesome…I'm trying to figure out where I would put it in our day….so the kids actually journal it? Love to hear more:) Thanks:)

    4th Grade Frolics

  4. What a fun idea! I also teach 5th, and I'm always looking for good vocabulary ideas! I'm new to your blog, and I can't wait to see what else you have. Hope you can visit mine sometime!

    Mel
    The Teaching Crew

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