Mrs. Barber 2014-2015
Listed below are detailed explanations of each word work homework routine. Each routine will be completed once a month with the prefixes, roots, and suffixes we are learning for that particular month.
All appropriate materials to complete each routine will be sent home. Students are expected to fully complete each routine each month. The work we do during class will build upon the routine that is done for homework. Thank you for supporting your child’s learning as these routines will be essential for them to learn and practice the proper usage and spelling for the words we will be studying this year.
Nifty Thrifty Fifty
Cards
Making Words and
Neologisms with Nifty
Thrifty Fifty Cards
Making Words
Word Detectives
Scavenger Hunt
At the beginning of each month, students will bring home a chart with our new words that are broken up into prefixes, roots, and suffixes. Students will write each prefix on a green note card, each root on a blue note card, and each suffix on a red
note card. The note cards for this routine will be sent home with the chart in a plastic bag. Students should return the completed cards in the plastic bag for us to use in
class the following day. Each chart for the month should be stored in your child’s
HAWK binder for access throughout the year. The charts build upon each other and will be reviewed throughout the year.
Each month, we will use all of the word cards to make new words and neologisms. (A
neologism is a new word that is made of common prefixes, roots, and suffixes. It doesn’t currently exist as a new word, but it makes sense. Common examples are texting, blogger, and Internet.) Students will extend this activity at home by using the charts and cards to create two additional words by combining prefixes, roots, and suffixes. Students should also try to create at least one neologism each month with a
riddle or defining sentence to show its meaning. They may complete this on notebook paper in their HAWK binder and return the following day.
A few times each month, students will make new words by adding letters and moving letters around from one big word. All of the given letters make up the “Secret Word.”
Students will bring home their letter cards from the secret word to complete their homework routine. They should first make as many words as they can remember from class and then make any new words they can think of with the letters from the secret word. They will record their words on the Making Words Homework Sheet in
their binder.
In class, we will build our vocabulary of unknown words by creating a list of words that are similar to or look and sound like the unknown word. We will use what we know about prefixes, roots, and suffixes to help us to determine the meaning of the unknown word by relating it to other words we do know. Students will be asked to copy this list on notebook paper in their HAWK binder to take home. Their homework routine for these words will be to sort them, add category headings, and add any
additional words they can think of that might relate to the new word.
Once a month in class, students will participate in a scavenger hunt of prefixes or suffixes learned while they are reading in their independent reading books. Students will be asked to continue this scavenger hunt on their own as part of a homework routine. While they are reading independently for their nightly reading assignment, they will list any words they find in their books that have the prefix or suffix we looked for in class. They will have to place a check mark by the words that correctly
use the prefix or suffix and cross out any words that do not.