Have Derivational Patterns Taken Root For You? :)

In this week's blog, I want to recap a very important point from our readings: Children learn pattern by pattern, not rule by rule or skill by skill.

As we have learned, the rules for phonics are very unreliable because the letter-sound relationships in our language do not match perfectly and are quite complex. Does it really help to tell a student that when "two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking" if that rule is only true about half of the time? Does it really help to tell a student to "sound it out" if they are working on a "ch" digraph where the "c" and the "h" actually make one sound together (rather than blending two sounds together)?

So as teachers, what we need to know and highlight with our students are the consistent patterns in our language. These are the patterns we have been learning about for the past two weeks. (And remember that a "rime" is a pattern that helps children attack vowels; this is different than a "rhyme"!) Over the past two weeks, you have hopefully added a great deal of "teacher knowledge" about letter-sound patterns!

We want older students who have mastered most of the sound patterns to begin focusing on meaning patterns in their spellings. For example, knowing that words like "photograph," "telephoto," and "photosynthesis" are based on the Greek word "photos" (meaning light) helps advanced students learn the meanings of words and enables them to spell them. (Joe and Marcy have given us a great start in the Week 5 tags by pulling out some of the key points about derivational patterns.)

This week, I want you to work a bit with root words and meaning patterns -- and hopefully have some fun, too! -- so you're going to play Brainburst! The directions are posted below:

Brainburst

Players compete to brainstorm as many words as they can that are derived from the same root in this game. Unique words are the only words that will earn points.

Materials

Different roots should be written on cards such as phon, dict, port, graph, scope, struct, spect and so on. (For this assignment, just choose two of these roots and play two rounds of the game!) Roots that have a wide variety of possible derivations should be chosen. Each player or team needs to have a piece of paper and a pencil. A standard dictionary and a timer are needed.

Procedures

1. The timer is set for 2 to 3 minutes and a card is turned over. Each team or player attempts to think of as many words as possible derived from that root. (E.g., for phon-, I'd begin my list with phonics, phonemes, telephone, etc.)
   
2. Players draw a line under their last word and count the number they have when the timer goes off.
3. The player with the longest list reads the list aloud. If another player has the same word, the word is crossed off of everyone’s list. Words that are not on another list are checked.
4. Each player reads aloud any words that no one else has called to determine whether he or she has a unique word. A dictionary should be used to help settle any disputes.
5. The winner of the round is the player or team with the most unique words.

Report Back

How did you and your partner do? Include the lists that you came up with and make sure to tell us the unique words from each of your list. Include in your post what you found out about the meaning of each root that you chose.

Take the Tongue Twister Challenge!

My hope is that, through your blogging so far this semester, you have begun to pay attention to all of the language that surrounds you and your (future/current) students everyday! As we have found, there are so many interesting words out there -- from dog breeds to superhero words to words we pass by every week at the grocery store!

As you collect words with your children, keep in mind that enjoyment, wordplay, and authentic purposes for literacy should always come first. So before we use superhero words to teach our students about letters and sounds, why not say the words out loud with students in our best superhero voices just for fun? (And maybe even say them with movement? POW!)

One great way to first play with words (and THEN learn about letter-sound relationships) is with tongue twisters. This week, I challenge you to have a Terrific Tongue Twister Tournament (with a friend or with a little one you know) -- and I also challenge you to have FUN with language!

Are you ready to take the tongue twister challenge?

Find someone who will be willing to take the tongue twister challenge with you!

Choose one of the tongue twisters below and ... start the clock! In ten seconds, how many times can you read it?

Then have your partner try to read it as many times as possible! Who read it more times?

Try out one more tongue twister, repeating the directions from above.

Which Dishwasher?

Which dishwasher washed which dish?

Which dishwasher washed which dish?

Which dishwasher washed which dish?

Half-foot Heifer

I have a heifer with half a foot. Have you a half-foot heifer?

I have a heifer with half a foot. Have you a half-foot heifer?

I have a heifer with half a foot. Have you a half-foot heifer?

Two Torn Tutus

Sue took the two torn tutus to the tutu tailor and told the tailor to sew the tutus today.

Sue took the two torn tutus to the tutu tailor and told the tailor to sew the tutus today.

Sue took the two torn tutus to the tutu tailor and told the tailor to sew the tutus today.

Wright Writes Wrong

William Wright was a writer. Wright had a right to write, but Wright's writings were rarely right. What Wright wrote was wrong. What was wrong with what Wright wrote was Wright's weak words.

Report back:

How did it go? What was fun (or maybe not fun!)? Which tongue twisters were the hardest? Tell us about at least one phonics element (see Module 4 Discussion forum) that students might discover during the Tongue Twister challenge! Can you think of a way you might use this activity with your current/future students?

Create a tongue twister for your Blog Buddy using one of the phonics elements listed in last week's discussion forum (or find a good tongue twister online, if you find it too challenging to create your own). See how challenging you can make it! Buddies, see how many times you can say the tongue twister in 10 seconds and make sure to report back in your comment about it!

Grocery shopping ... for words!

This week your mission is to pay attention to the words you see at the grocery store! Whether you're in the candy aisle, the pasta aisle, the bread aisle, the produce section (where we all should be!) or whatever aisle is your favorite, your job is to see if you can find 5-10 words that are related to the letter-sound pattern (e.g., consonant blends, r-controlled vowels) that you posted about in ANGEL this week. (And feel free to recruit your children, friends, significant others to join you on this mission!)

In your blog, make sure to address the following:

• What are the words that you found?
  
• Go to the "What children will discover" section that is connected to your letter-sound pattern in our textbook. (For example, if your pattern is "consonant blends," look at p.111.) Would children make any of the same discoveries mentioned in the text with your words? Can you think of any additional discoveries they might make?
  
• Finally, choose one of your words and see if you can break the syllables into onsets and rimes (see pp. 113-114 for help). Keep in mind that learning about onsets and rimes is not for the purpose of becoming a linguist (!!) but for building your teacher knowledge so that you can help children to tackle letter-sound relationships for vowels! Buddies, please check each other's work and offer support, if need be!

I know this is a bit more involved posting than usual, but there's a lot of important information that you need in Chapter 5, and this is a hands-on way to make meaning about some of these phonics elements! If you have any questions, please ask them in the comments section of my blog, and that way everyone else can see my answer in case they are wondering the same thing.

Happy Shopping!

Superhero Words!

This week we are on a mission to find five great superhero words that our students might find fun and interesting -- and might also lead to some interesting conversations about what words mean and where they come from. (See this link if you'd like more information: http://www.ncte.org/journals/cnp/excerpts/superheroes.)

Here are some superhero words that one literacy researcher collected from children during their word study work: psychic, mindreader, ripper, jaws, telepath, and carnage.

At least one word of your five needs to come from a resource beyond Google. This resource could include (but is not limited to) the following: talking to a child, talking to someone you know who loves superhero movies, watching a short clip on youtube, or reading a superhero comic.

In your post, make sure to include your five words and how you found them. Why might these be interesting words for students? Could you use them in an authentic literacy activity described in Chapter 1 (e.g., shared writing, interactive writing, personal writing, science inquiry)? Could you use them to build phonemic awareness and/or graphological awareness, as described in Chapters 3-4? Describe how this activity might go.