Name: Victoria Whited Lesson Topic/Lesson Length:

Greek and Latin Roots 25 minutes

Content Area: English Grade Level(s): 7th

Class Context:

This lesson will be given to a 7th grade Honors ELA class.

Lesson Content

Background Information/ Relevance/ Context/ Rationale (Purpose) – Please be clear about how this
particular lesson is situated within the current instructional sequence (i.e., unit), why this content important for students to learn,
and how you will convey the relevance and significance of this lesson to students.

Students have already tried to practice Greek and Latin roots on IXL. However, they
have not had any direct instruction.

Relevant VSOLs/CCSSs – Include only the standards addressed by this particular lesson

The student will apply knowledge of word origins, analogies, and figurative language
to extend vocabulary development within authentic texts.

c) Use roots, affixes, cognates, synonyms, and antonyms to determine the meaning of
unfamiliar words and technical vocabulary.
Learning Targets -- Please reference these learning targets throughout your lesson plan.

As a result of this lesson, students will…

● Know common Greek and Latin roots and their associated meaning
● Understand that they can use knowledge of root words to determine the meaning and spelling
of unfamiliar words
● Be able to categorize words through common meanings

Assessments: – How will you know if students have met/made progress towards the learning targets? Be sure these
assessments are integrated throughout the procedures and steps in the lesson outlined below.

Diagnostic Formative Summative

Method of assessment: Method of assessment: Root Method of assessment:

word sort

Exit Ticket
Description of assessment: Description of assessment:
Description of assessment:

Students will independently sort

words and meanings with their
Aligned with which Learning
associated roots.
Target(s):

Write a sentence using one of the Aligned with which Learning

new words they learned today. Target(s):

Criteria for assessment: Aligned with which Learning

Target(s):
Criteria for assessment:
L1-3
How data will be used:
Criteria for assessment:
How data will be used:
Have students matched the
correct words with their roots?

How data will be used: These

assessments won’t be graded.

Materials/ Supplies/ Sources/ Digital and Interactive Instructional Technology (if appropriate): –
Please list all necessary instructional supplies, materials, and sources. Make sure that these are clearly labeled and referenced
throughout the lesson plan to enhance clarity.
Index cards

Beginning Room Set Up: -How is the room set up when the students enter? Is there anything written on the board or
projected on the screen? Are their handouts, books, etc. that are laid out for students to pick up as they enter?

Desks will be in pods of four or five, but nothing will be on the desks.

Proactive Planning for Learning Differences: – What planned supports have you included to make the content
accessible for all learners (i.e., groups of students and/or specific students) and to build upon learners’ diversity? Be sure any
modifications are explicitly explained in the procedures/steps outlined below.

Students will be given roots according to their ability levels. Some

students will have more familiar roots, such as those who have had less
confidence in their root and vocabulary knowledge. More advanced
students will be given trickier root words.

Procedures/Steps in the Lesson: -- May follow a specific model (i.e., Direct Instruction, Jigsaw) or be more open-
ended. Be sure to think about what students will be doing during each step, in addition to what you are doing. Scripting and/or
estimated time frames may or may not be included, but the plan should be clear and explicit enough that another person would
be able to teach from it.

Intro:

Today, we are going to start studying vocabulary through root word knowledge.
Etymology is the study of the origin of words, where words come from.
The English language has borrowed from and been made up of words from other
places around the world.
In fact, over 60 percent of all English words have Greek or Latin roots.

What is a root?

A root is a part of a word that has a certain meaning. Words that share the same root
often have similar meanings.
Also, a root is a word or portion of a word from which other words grow, usually
through the addition of prefixes and suffixes. By learning root words, you can
determine unfamiliar words, expand your vocabulary, and become a better
speller. I will show you guys some clips from the National Spelling Bee with
examples of language of origin.

Activate prior knowledge:

Can you all think of any roots off the top of your head? What were some root
words you found on your IXL practice? Were there any that stumped you?

Show video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAU2BIw0b-0

Examples from IXL that many struggled with are:

The root bel means war.

A rebel is a person who rises up in armed opposition to the

government.

Belligerence is the tendency to seek out or engage in conflict and

hostility.

All of these meanings relate to the concept of war.

The root bene means good.

The root fac means do or make.

A benefactor is a person who helps others by contributing money or

aid. He or she does good for others.

CHRON means time. - Synchronize means to arrange things to happen at

the same time. If something is in chronological order, what does that
mean?

So now I want to show you guys some examples of the words from the National Spelling Bee
and how hard they tend to get.

Show clip from Scripps National Spelling Bee.

2018 Scripps National Spelling Bee Winning Moment

How can they know all of these words? Often they don’t, they usually know the roots. They
will ask, “Does this come from the Greek root meaning ______?”

If they know these root words, it’s like a puzzle and they just put together what they
know.

I want to quickly show you how many there are. So many of our words are simply a
combination of these.

Show students this list of Greek and Latin roots so they understand how many puzzle
pieces they have.

https://www.oakton.edu/user/3/gherrera/Greek%20and%20Latin%20Roots%20in
%20English/greek_and_latin_roots.pdf

Root word tag (5 minutes)

Now I am going to give you each a word on an index card. You will walk around the room and
try to find people with who have a word with the same root. For example, if I had chronological
and my friend has chronic, we would get together. You will then come together to discuss your
common root, what you think the root means, and work together to try and define each of your
words.

Then I will give you all the definitions of the words to see if you were right.

WORDS:

Have four roots: Viv, Vit. - Life or Lively

Vitality, survive, vitamins, vivid, vivacious, revive

Cred: Believe, trust:

Credentials, discredit, credence, incredible, credulous

Aut, Auto- Self- Directed from within

Autobiography, automobile, autonomy, autograph

Pend, pens - Swing or hang

Suspenders, pendulum, suspenseful, impending, pendant, dependent, appendix,

Independent sorting activity with meaning of roots and the words that contain those
roots. (5 minutes)

See if you can figure out the common root.

Write categories (words related to seeing) on the left board and words on the right. See

See if you can figure out the meaning of some of these words.

Words to match with their roots meaning include:

Spect- WORDS relating to Seeing:

Inspector, prospect, perspective, speculating, spectacular

Bio- Words related to life

Biography, biome, biopsy, biology,

“Graph” words- autograph, paragraph, seismograph

-Mot, mov-, mob

Words relating to movement

Motive, mobile, motor

EXIT TICKET:

WRITE A SENTENCE USING ONE OF THE WORDS YOU WORKED WITH TODAY, AND
UNDERLINE THE ROOT IN IT, WITH AN EXPLANATION OF WHAT THAT ROOT WORD
MEANS.

We are going to make an ongoing list of roots and their meanings on a chart throughout the
next few weeks.

Materials Appendix (if appropriate):-Please include the slides, images, links to texts, handouts, etc. that are used in
this lesson. They should be “Student Ready”