Etymology is the study of word origins and their history. For example, the word hippopotamus is derived from Ancient Greek. In Ancient Greek hippo meant 'horse' while potamus meant 'river' thus putting them together, hippopotamus literally translates to 'river horse'. It is also useful for the roots of words. For example, aqua is from Latin, meaning water, thus words like aquatic, aquamarine, aquarium, must have something to do with water. Knowing these little facts may seem pointless, but when you're confronted with a really tricky word with no one available to help you (exams, ick) then any little bit can help.
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Etymology is also a great way to get students involved with the dictionary. A common response to a dictionary is "Why would I need that? I have Google". Well, as great as the internet is, it is not always reliable and the reality of today is that many of your more disadvantage students may not have regular access to a computer, whereas dictionaries tend to be commonplace in schools and libraries. One activity for older students might involve giving them a word, such as aquatics, and having them work in small groups to come up with as many other words with a similar pattern (aqua) that they can find. Give them a dictionary and see how much quicker they become at finding the words, especially if you make it a race!
On Teachers Pay Teachers there is a great (free, though you do have to sign up) resource that encourages students to think about the roots of words. You can download it here. Again, great for a short twenty minute word study session.
Now that you've (hopefully) got a better understanding of some of the more common strategies that students can utilise when spelling a word, where to now? How can you actually use this in the classroom? Well, head on over to Lesson Ideas and...
On Teachers Pay Teachers there is a great (free, though you do have to sign up) resource that encourages students to think about the roots of words. You can download it here. Again, great for a short twenty minute word study session.
Now that you've (hopefully) got a better understanding of some of the more common strategies that students can utilise when spelling a word, where to now? How can you actually use this in the classroom? Well, head on over to Lesson Ideas and...