Table of Contents
Forewords 7
Preface to the Second Edition 11
Chapter 1 Teaching Vocabulary: What Does the Research Say? 13
Importance of Vocabulary in Literacy Development 15
Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension 16
The Vocabulary of School 18
The Roots Advantage 19
Five Principles for Word Learning 21
Vocabulary Development for English Learners 24
Chapter 2 A Root Awakening 27
What Is a Root? 28
Moving Along 29
Why Teach Roots? 29
Increasing Word Awareness 31
The Three Kinds of Roots 32
Chapter 3 Getting into Words: Patterns, Sounds, and Meaning 39
Why Patterns? 39
Sound-Based Word Families 40
How to Teach Word Families 42
Meaning-Based Word Patterns 44
Chapter 4 A Developmental Look at Vocabulary Instruction 47
Compound Words 48
Negating Words with Prefixes 50
Some Directional Prefixes 51
Word Composition 52
What Are Students Learning? 52
Some Easy Suffixes 53
Back to "Basics" 55
"Metaphors Be with You": Helping Students with Figurative Meaning 56
Polysemy: Helping Students Understand Multiple Meanings 58
"Run" with This 58
A Coherent Pedagogy 59
Chapter 5 Planning Vocabulary Instruction & Assessment 63
Instructional Planning: The Basics 64
Recommendations for Instructional Routines 65
Differentiating Instruction 70
Vocabulary Assessment 73
Chapter 6 Vocabulary Practice Activities 77
Text-Based Practice Activities 80
Activities to Build a Word-Rich Learning Environment 84
Word-Analysis Strategies 86
Word-Play Activities 91
Card Games 95
Word Puzzles 97
Vocabulary Activities Chart 100
Chapter 7 Roots in Action: Classroom Snapshots 103
Root of the Week 104
Root Word of the Day 104
Roots around the School 106
Realia and Children's Literature 106
Writing an Exciting Story 108
Words We Are Curious About 109
Veni, Vidi, Vici 110
Cognate Connections 112
Chapter 8 More Strategies for Building Words 115
Flexing the Meaning 116
Flexing the Form 117
A "Spectacular" Etymology 117
Flexing and Reflecting with Spect, Spic 119
Word Composition; Start with the Base 120
Flexing and Reflecting with Trac, Tract 122
The Ultimate Test: Does It Make Sense? 123
In the Classroom 124
Chapter 9 Spelling Matters 127
Spelling and Vocabulary Development: From Sound to Meaning 128
Spelling Tips for Latin-Based Vocabulary 129
What Students Need to Know about Assimilation 131
Spelling Tips for Greek-Based Vocabulary 133
A Word about Greek and Latin Bases 134
Chapter 10 The Story of English-How Did We Get Here? 137
The Romano-Celtic Period: 58 BC-AD 450 139
Old English: AD 450-1066 141
Middle English: 1066-1500 143
Modern English: 1500-Present 145
The New World: English on the Move 157
Learning English Today: The Lessons of History 148
Appendices
Appendix A Resources for Students 150
Appendix B Resources for Teachers 152
Appendix C Commonly Taught Roots 158
Appendix D Beyond Greek and Latin 172
Appendix E How to Teach Assimilation and Words with Two Prefixes 176
Appendix F Professional Development Ideas 182
Glossary 186
References Cited 188
