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Teaching phonics
Figure 11.6 A word tree
medicine medicinal medical medicare paramedic
medic
Interactive word wall Introduce simple prefixes so that children understand that prefixes are placed at the front of words and have predictable meanings and pronunciations. Children then learn to use common prefixes as cues for word meaning. In order to achieve this goal, help children to discover the meaning of a few simple prefixes such as ‘un’ and ‘mis’ and challenge them to guess the meaning of new words with these prefixes. Create a ‘special’ word wall on erasable poster board where children will add new words with common prefixes. Have children hunt for words in their textbooks, newspapers and magazines. unfair unpack unusual unknown unequal unclear unlock unlike misspell misinform misbehave miscue
Content-word boards This activity focuses on word study for vocabulary development. However, in this activity the words under focus are arranged thematically. Children brainstorm and search out all the possible words related to a topic of study. In order to encourage challenging word work and vocabulary growth you might stipulate that the children can only post polysyllabic words. These can also be linked to topic areas of study or to frequently used words in children’s writing.
