Word Fugitives!!

Let's see if we can have a little fun this week (maybe more so than last week for some of you!) -- and also think about how meaning patterns in language can be useful for our students (especially those who are more advanced in their reading/writing/spelling)!!

Here are a few questions for you:

• Does anyone know what the word is that describes the momentary confusion that is experienced by everyone in a room when a cell phone rings and no one is sure if it is her/hers or not?!

• Does anyone know what the word is when you're hoping you get someone's voicemail but instead you get the actual person?!

• How about the term for always forgetting your umbrella?!

• Or the term for that frantic period in the morning that many families experience in the morning prior to leaving home when you're trying to get everyone ready?

• How about the term for when that traffic light knows just when YOU are approaching so it can turn red?!
  

These are things that happen everyday, but there are no words that describe them yet!! No one has really invented a word for them yet!!! That means they are "word fugitives" -- they are "wanted words" waiting for someone to capture them!!!

For this week's blog, I have for you a list of word fugitives that some people have been trying to capture! For example: The act of entering a room and forgetting why! (This one has been happening to me quite a lot recently!) Take a look at the word fugitives. Then I want you to work with a buddy and take the Word Fugitives Challenge!

NOTE: Blogspot won't let me post a document here, so you will find the Word Fugitives Challenge posted on ANGEL. Just open up the document that is called Word Fugitives in Module 8. See how many ideas and terms you can match up just using a meaning pattern, or a root word or chunk that you know! I bet you'll figure out #1 just by using the base word!

(Answer: The act of entering a room and forgetting why is "destinesia" because it's destination and amnesia put together!)

Just have fun with this and see how many you can match up!

Then report back: Which ones could you figure out? Which ones were challenging? Were there any that didn't have a meaningful root word you knew? How does this activity connect to helping kids to use meaning patterns in their reading?