Three experienced teachers show how to get even your most resistant students to become fascinated by words and sentences. They explain how to turn memory-draining spelling homework into an activity that enriches vocabulary, sight word mapping and provides a deep understanding of how words are constructed. If morphology and the English spelling system doesn't make sense to you and your students, they will by the end of the podcast. Mary Beth, Lisa and Skot explain how structured word inq...

Would you like to: understand how the English spelling system, or orthography, can be taught in so it makes sense to students and teachers, alike? integrate morphemes, the meaningful core of every word, into your reading, spelling and vocabulary instruction? Alternatives to memory and attention demanding practices like sight word spelling, syllable types, and spelling rules? In this episode, Sue Scibetta Hegland, author of Beneath the Surface of Words, chats with Liisa Freure—f...

A wonderful plan for teachers, starting with five-year-old students on up to secondary school, to create a community of students who love exploring language, starting with the written and spoken word. Based on Ann Whiting and Lyn Anderson's beautiful books, A Field Guide to Words and A Year in Words. Children learn how the English spelling system, or orthography, works and how it is the foundation of reading, spelling and writing. Children learn to explore the three components of the spelling...

Do you know how English spelling really works? Go beneath the surface of words to find the connections between orthography (spelling system) and morphology, the meaningful core of every word in every language. While sound-symbol relationships in English are variable the spelling-meaning relationships are consistent. Jennifer Petrich and Brad Johnson are dedicated to advancing their students’ language, literacy and cognitive growth. depth of understanding of words and how they func...

The High Frequency Word Project, is an explicit, systematic resource that teaches the 130 high frequency words using strategies that make them stick. Each of these critical words is taught on multiple levels, from sounds and spellings to the morphological meaning, and how they are defined in sentences. Each word is further defined using something new: linguistically-accurate and fascinating stories about high frequency words’ etymologies providing the missing link to explain the mysterious pa...

If you think you know how dyslexia affects children and adults please listen to this moving and uplifting podcast. Dyslexia causes confusion way beyond decoding. Roadblocks frequently arise during vocabulary, sight word and morphology development, while learning spelling-meaning correspondences, sentence construction and how grammar reveals the meaning of words in sentences. Marie Foley spend decades with undiagnosed dyslexia and reveals how she gained clarity and confidence about herse...

Would you like to turn your Read Alouds into a dynamic lesson that improves language comprehension - the upper strands of Scarborough's Rope - as well as reading comprehension and sentence writing? Trina Spencer and Doug Peterson not only have been researching these topics for decades but have made Story Champs, a series of ready-to-use stories and scaffolds. See their videos below and watch a 15 minute lesson were a student goes from describing a story in three words to retelling the story u...

Learn how educators can enrich lessons and develop a deep appreciation for written and spoken language for students in all grades. Learn that spelling, morphology, vocabulary development and sentence writing can be taught, not as separate subjects, but in a time-saving integrated manner. If you are looking to connect word meaning and sentence comprehension to decoding instruction then this is the podcast for you. Dr. Marcia Henry brings six decades of experience working in the fields of...

Linnea Ehri updates her theory of orthographic mapping to emphasize the role that morphology plays not just in the four initial phases but when words are stored in sight word memory directly - without needing to be sounded out. The spelling of morphemes is critical to developing sight words and becomes the predominate way that words enter sight word memory. She points out that morphemes - the meaningful core of every word - have consistent spelling patterns that help readers resolve sound-sym...

Jennifer Constantine and Kara Lee have written an implementation guide to one of the most exciting areas of literacy instruction - Structured Word Inquiry. They are the authors of Structured Word Inquiry – An Implementation Guide for Teachers. Their practical guide to structured word inquiry, or SWI, “revolutionized our approach to teaching students to read and spell. English makes sense, and we can help students make sense of it. This revelation has sparked our creativity and ren...

Vocabulary & Morphology using Structured Word Inquiry by Lisa Barnett and Katie Squires is designed to help you implement lessons guided by the four essential questions of structured word inquiry. The book contains a teacher guide, lesson template, and student work packet. The comprehensive Teacher Resource Guide leads you through the four guiding questions of SWI to help the teacher present lessons to their students that will uncover key concepts of the structure of our spelling system a...