suffixing

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Twelve students and twenty minutes … Let’s make the best of this!

For about two months in late fall, I worked with a group of 12 students for 20 minutes a day, four times a week.  These were students I also saw for 90 minutes every day when they came in as part of their homeroom.  This small group opportunity is part of what our school calls WIN time (WIN stands for What I Need).  As a grade level team, we talk about the needs we see and how to group the students so we can address those needs.  I asked for this particular group of 12 based on spelling errors I saw in their writing samples at the beginning of the year. What an opportunity to reinforce some reliable concepts in our language!

We started by looking at words that take an <-es> suffix versus those that take an <-s> suffix.  I picked this because it’s a great place to begin noticing things about suffixing, digraphs, and roles of the single final non-syllabic <e>.  I could have started with any number of activities.  In fact, it seems that no matter where I begin when talking about English spelling, we end up reinforcing many ideas, just in different contexts.  That is the beauty of teaching with a Structured Word Inquiry focus.  We think about something particular, we collect some words to examine what it is we are focusing on, we make some observations about what we are seeing, and in the process of all that, we deepen our understanding of many things.  Most important of all, we build an understanding of the connectedness of these concepts and facts about how our spelling system works.

Another reason I chose to start with the <-s> and <-es> suffixes is that I wanted to give this group a preview of them before we discussed them as a larger group.  It always amazes me how much we can talk about in only 20 minutes!  We began by talking about using angle brackets to represent a spelling.  When we see a word in angle brackets, we spell it out.  We don’t announce it.  When we want to announce it, we can either write the word without angle brackets at all or we can represent the pronunciation in IPA.  If we use IPA symbols, we use slash brackets.  As you can see below, I demonstrated with the word <teach>.  I also showed the students how we might represent the graphemes and digraphs in the word <teach>.  The word has 5 letters and 3 graphemes.  One of the graphemes is a single letter grapheme, and the others are digraphs.  I don’t spend too much time on what I have just described because with this group beginning in mid-October,  this information is already something we are reviewing.

The next thing we did was to talk about words that can take an <-s> suffix.  If you look at the left side of the picture below, you’ll see that as the students suggested words, I was writing the final letter of the word + s.  In this way I could encourage the students to think of words that ended in other ways (besides words that end with the same letter that was previously named).  Since we already had the word <teach> on the board, I asked what suffix we would add if we wanted to talk about the person who teaches in the next room.  In this case, we are not adding a suffix in order to make the word plural.  We are adding a suffix to indicate the verb tense.  A few of the students knew we would add an <-es> suffix to <teach>, <peach>, and <coach>, but no one knew why.

When someone asked about <bounce>, I wrote it out as a word sum.  When a word ends in a single final non-syllabic <e>, it is not as obvious to the students that the suffix being added is an <-es>.  When we compare the spelling prior to adding the suffix to the spelling of the word after the suffix has been added, it would appear that only an <s> was added.  But that is not the case.

In order to understand why we need an <-es>, I directed the focus to the word someone had thought of that ended with a final <t> – <pits>.  We announced the word <pits> as /pɪts/ and noticed that we could easily feel ourselves adding the /s/ after the /t/.  Then we announced the word <teaches> as /titʃɪz/ and noticed that immediately following the /tʃ/ we said /ɪz/.  In fact we found it awkward and unsuccessful to follow the /tʃ/ with either /s/ or /z/ by itself.  In other words, we needed the suffix to be <-es> which would add an /ɪz/ to the pronunciation of the base.

Now we took a look at <bounce> (the rest of that list wasn’t there yet).  We tested to see if we could just add an <-s> suffix to bounce.  The students realized quickly that the word ends with an /s/ already.  Adding an <-s> suffix wouldn’t work. In announcing the word with the suffix added, we wouldn’t know where one /s/ left off and the next one began!  Then they tried adding the /ɪz/ of <-es> to the base /bɑʊns/.  That worked!

My next question to the students was, “Why does the word <bounce> have a final <e>?”  No one was sure.  There were guesses about the vowels in the word, but in this word, the <e> had a different role.  I asked if anyone could think of two more words that were similarly spelled.  The words <spice> and <fence> were suggested.  I asked, “Why weren’t we able to just add an <-s> suffix?”

“Because there was already an /s/ at the end of the word and it would end with /s..s/!”

Of course that led to lots of students trying to demonstrate how it wouldn’t work.  But that’s okay.  I know they understand.

“Does the <c> always represent /s/ in a word?”

“No.  It’s a /k/ in <cat>.  Oh!  The <e> tells us the <c> is /s/!”

We noted that in <spice>, the <e> was doing two things.  It was also indicating that the <i> would be pronounced as /aɪ/.  Next I asked if they could think of words that ended with a /s/ pronunciation, but were not spelled with a <c>.  They quickly thought of horse, house, and mouse.  We discussed the role of the single, final non-syllabic <e> in these words.  The <e> in these words had yet a different role!  It was preventing the words from looking like plurals when they clearly weren’t!  My favorite examples of where leaving off the final <e> would truly confuse a reader are please and pleas and dense and dens.  A student may not recognize why someone would think *hous is a plural word since *hou isn’t a word in English, but they will recognize that dens are where some animals live.

I left our notes on the board and explained the work my WIN group had done to my regularly scheduled classes.  The 12 were scattered among three classes and were eager to explain things for the rest of their class when the opportunity came up.

 

Day 2

The next day I wanted to continue looking at words that take an <-es> suffix.  I wanted to focus on the ending grapheme/phoneme correspondences when the word was in its singular form.  I listed the headings and together we noticed which graphemes could represent those phonemes.  In the first column, I started by underlining the final <tch> trigraph and/or the <ch> digraph. then we moved to the middle two columns that ended up including four different graphemes that could represent a final /s/!  As you can see, I wrote out word sums so they could see over and over that with these word final phonemes, we would need to use an <-es> suffix.  I also underlined the final graphemes in each word.  As we went along, the students tried adding an <s> pronounced as /s/ and then quickly knew they needed to add an <-es> pronounced as /ɪz/.  With words in the last column, we talked about the single, final non-syllabic <e> that was following the <g>.  The students wondered aloud if it was like the <e> that follows a <c>!  So then we could compare the <g> grapheme (when followed by an <e>) to the trigraph <dge>.

The last thing I did was to point out the vowel in front of the trigraphs <tch> and <dge>.  I asked if the students recognized whether they were considered short vowels or long vowels.  We said them together and they identified them as short.  I underlined them in red.

Again, I left our work on the board and shared our findings with the three larger classes.

 

Day 3

While sharing with the larger groups yesterday, someone asked about words with a final /z/ phoneme.  How brilliant, right?  Of course we added another column today and explored the graphemes that could represent the phoneme /z/.  Once more we went over the different final graphemes and proved to ourselves that they couldn’t take an <-s> suffix, whether it was representing an /s/ or /z/ phoneme.  The words with these final grapheme/phonemes needed to take an <-es> suffix that would be announced as /ɪz/.

 

Day 4

Today we went back to explore the words with either a final <tch> trigraph or a <ch> digraph.  The students brainstormed a bunch of example words of each.  Then we made observations about what was immediately in front of each.  We began to notice some consistencies.  In front of a word final <ch> digraph there was either a consonant or a vowel digraph.  In front of a <tch> digraph there was a single short vowel.  We wondered if this could explain why a <ch> is used in <bench> and not a <tch>.  It was time to get the students working on their own.  I split them into groups of two.  This is my favorite group size for word investigation.  Here are the specific topics of inquiry for each group:

~words in which a consonant precedes a final <ch> digraph.
~words in which a vowel digraph precedes a final <ch> digraph.
~words in which a single vowel precedes a final <tch> trigraph.
~words with a final <t>, but whose pronunciation changes when an <-ion> suffix is added.
~words with a final <t>, but whose pronunciation changes when a <-ure> suffix is added.
~words that take an <-es> suffix.

And they were off!  They got out their orthography notebooks and turned to the next available page.  One in each group grabbed a Chromebook so they could look at Word Searcher to find words with the targeted word ending.  They also had a dictionary handy in case there was a word they didn’t know.  I walked around to make sure each group was clear on what they were looking for.  Then I let them work on their own for the rest of the time.

 

Day 5

Another group work day.  They were collecting words and keeping track of them in their notebooks.  I walked around and checked in to make sure they weren’t collecting words they didn’t know when there were plenty of words they did know to choose from.  That seems like something I shouldn’t have to do, but my students are new to tasks that ARE NOT busy work.  They are used to mindless spelling tasks in which they aren’t expected to really think about what they are doing and why.  After years of Words Their Way, they are used to shifting words into piles that don’t necessarily make sense to them.  The words are moved there because of some surface-y reason that does not have any basis in the logic of our English spelling system.  And the students learn to do the task without asking the kinds of questions that lead to a better understanding that logic.

 

Day 6

I circulate, guiding the students in now grouping the words they found.  If they found a vowel digraph in front of the <ch> digraph for instance, how many words did they find with that same vowel digraph?  How many different vowel digraphs did they find?  Each group had some organizing to do before they could make observations.

 

Day 7

By this point, the groups were not all at the same point in their investigations.  That makes sense because they were investigating different things.  When one group starts making a poster or chart, the other groups get a little concerned.  They ask, “When is this due?” I always tell them that they will be given the time they need, provided they stay focused and productive each day.  The groups that were investigating digraphs and trigraphs were given large graph paper so they could share their findings by creating bar graphs.  The groups looking at a word final <t> and what happens to its pronunciation when an <-ion> or <-ure> suffix is added, made their own posters.  I asked them to include a page where they color coded the graphemes and phonemes in each word so we could see how the grapheme <t> ended up representing more than one phoneme.

As the groups finished, I asked them to write scripts.  What would they say as they presented their findings?  I told them that when they had a script written, I would revise it, edit it, and then I would record their presentation with my camera.  They liked that idea!  I liked the idea that they now had to think through their observations as they were writing them down.  This took several days, and the video recording took several more for each group.  When one group was completely done, I gave them another investigation that could easily be finished with our regular classroom work (back with their homeroom groups).

Here are the videos sharing the investigative work they did.

 

 

As I was filming these, I saw that a few groups of students chose words that they didn’t know.  I was hoping to catch those prior to the presentations, but obviously I didn’t catch them all.  When I asked the students if they knew those words, an interesting thing happened.  They said they did!  And then they proceeded to announce the words.  Do you see here what I see?  The students who struggle with reading and writing the most believe that announcing a word means you know that word.  Can they use it in a sentence?  No.  Do they know what it means?  No. But they have been taught (without the words necessarily having ever been said out loud) that announcing a word is what’s important in reading.  It is more important than what the word means.  Fluency over comprehension.  That is what the students think.  This is why I will always push the idea that a word’s meaning is the most important thing to know about a word.  Once we know its meaning, we can research to understand its spelling and then its pronunciation.

I have seen the effects of the small group work with the students mentioned in this post.  On a day that we were reviewing suffixes, they spoke up confidently about when to use <-es> versus <s>.  In the group work we are currently doing, they no longer sit quietly.  They contribute.  They question.  In their daily work I am still seeing spelling errors.  Of course I am.  I cannot single handedly help 75 students understand every single spelling error they make.  But what I can do is help them understand some of the consistent patterns we see in English.  Notice I said to “understand some of the consistent patterns.”  Up until now they may have been required to memorize lists that had consistent patterns, but that is not the same as understanding why a spelling is one way and not another.  What I teach helps them understand the spelling of many words – even words they don’t know yet.  I am teaching how the system works, not just how a single word is spelled.

Once the last group was finished with video recording, the WIN groups were reshuffled so that other needs in other areas could be addressed.  I have a new group now.  We are not working on word investigations.  This time we are reading Peter Pan and stopping to talk about the colorful and often times unfamiliar vocabulary used.  We also pause to look at the specific writing techniques of James M. Barrie.

And just in case you are wondering, our current project is focused on the topic of assimilated prefixes!

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Suffixes – Building Familiarity

My students enter fifth grade with limited knowledge of words.  They know a fair amount of words, but they don’t really know much about them.  They think that learning to spell a word is unrelated to learning what that word means.  According to the students, those are two skills done at two different times.  They have no idea that words actually carry meaning in their elements … because they don’t know that a word is composed of elements.  In other words, they don’t know that words have structure.  They don’t know that every word has at least one base element that supplies the main sense and meaning of the word.  They’ve heard of prefixes and suffixes, but not of connecting vowels.  And even though they’ve heard of prefixes and suffixes, they don’t know that a word can have more than one of either of those.

So how do I help?

I keep thinking of activities that will help my students become more familiar with the elements in a word.  I have shared many of those activities in other blog posts, but here is one that is new. This one focuses on suffixes and being able to prove whether or not letters at the end of a word are a suffix.  I had the students work in pairs and use one Chromebook per pair.  Before I gave them paper to write on, I had them open tabs at Etymonline and at Neil Ramsden’s Word Searcher.  Then, as a class, we practiced using these two resources to find words with specific suffixes.

I had sheets of paper, each with a suffix at the top.  The students were to find words that had that suffix.  They were to write a synthetic word sum for each word they found.  I felt that if they wrote a synthetic word sum, then they might quickly recognize whether or not the letters at the end of the word were truly a suffix or just part of the word. As an example of that, I wrote the word <jumping> on the board and asked if the <ing> in this word was a suffix.  There was a resounding “Yes.”  I asked for a word sum.  A student replied, “<jump + ing –> jumping>.  Great.  Next I wrote <bring> on the board and asked if the <ing> in this word was a suffix.  This time I had a mixed response.  Some were definite in their voiced, “No.”  Others quickly said, “Yes.”

As we’ve been learning since the beginning of the school year, not all bases are easily recognized by people new to studying morphology.  We recognize what we are familiar with.  We are familiar with bases that are free, meaning we recognize that the <-ing> in <jumping> is a suffix because we recognize <jump> as a word we have been using for a long time.  But earlier this year, as my students encountered words like <hydrant> and learned that the base was <hydr>, they began to wonder about these bound bases we come across in our investigations.  When we looked at <biosphere>, they identified the two bases as <bi> and <sphere>.  The first is a bound base from Greek bios “life, living” and the second is a free base from Greek sphaira “globe”.  So in their limited experience, I have shown them that a bound base can be biliteral (consisting of two letters).  So back to the word <bring>.  Why wouldn’t some of the students be open to the fact that <br> might be a bound base?  So instead of me telling them whether it is a bound base or not, I directed all the students to the entry for <bring> at Etymonline.  Here is the part of that entry that we focused on for this activity:

We read it together looking for evidence that this word was from a root that became the Modern English two letter base element <br>, but we could not find any.  The <ing> was always part of the spelling of this word.  Therefore, we can conclude that the <ing> in <bring> is not a suffix.

Next I directed them to Neil Ramsden’s Word Searcher and showed them how to search for words that end in <ing>.  Using the legend below the search bar, I had them use the $ sign after the suffix so that only words with <ing> at the end of the word would show up.  Then we looked at the list.  Wow.  There were 6085 words listed.  “Does this mean that all of these words have an <-ing> suffix?” I asked.

“No!” replied one of the students.  The word <bring> is on this list and we know that the <ing> in that word is NOT a suffix!”

“Right.” What I want you to do is read through this list and find words that you suspect have an <-ing> suffix.  Then I want you to flip to Etymonline to check for evidence to help you in your decision making.  Once you are confident that you have found a word with a clear <-ing> suffix, write the word as a synthetic word sum.”

I let them work with their partner for seven or so minutes before I interrupted them to begin the activity.  “Now that you know what I expect you to do, let’s get started with today’s activity.  I will give each group a piece of yellow paper.  At the top of each sheet is a specific suffix.  In this way, each group will be looking for words with a suffix that is different from every other group.  After ten minutes of work time, I will come around and switch which suffix your group is looking for.  In this way, I am hoping you become familiar with several suffixes.”

Here is a list of the suffixes I believe they already encounter on a daily basis:

<-s>
<-es>
<-ed>
<-er>
<-en>
<-ate>
<-ion>
<-est>
<-ist>
<-ous>
<-ing>

Do you see the kinds of wonderful discussions that could come of the lists they are creating?  As the students got started, I walked around and listened in to make sure they were using the resources as intended rather than just guessing at words that might work.  This activity went well.  The students were engaged and enjoyed having a partner to think out loud with.

When it came time to switch the sheets to a different group, I asked that the first task be that the group read through the previously listed words.  If the new group had questions about any of the words and its word sum, they were to put an asterisk to the left of the word.  After that they could add to the list.  On this particular day, we only switched twice.

<-s>, <-es>

So let’s take a look at the sheets and see what there is to notice.  One thing I was interested in finding out is whether or not my students understood when an <-s> suffix was used and when an <-es> suffix was used.  So I compared the two sheets.

As you might expect, when the base had a final <e>, there was confusion.  Is an <-es> the suffix to be added or an <-s>?

Looking at this sheet, it appears that many students are used to adding this suffix and understand that in most cases it represents marking a word as plural.  The two words on this sheet that I would highlight to talk about would be <ages> and <lines>.  Even though <lines> is a word with an <-s> suffix, because I also see <ages> on this list, I want to make sure my students can explain why <lines> has an <-s> suffix and<ages> has an <-es> suffix.

This sheet reveals a broad lack of understanding about the <-es> suffix.  The students recognize that when an <-es> suffix is joined to a base that has a single final non-syllabic <e>, that final <e> is replaced by the suffix.  That is a good thing.  But it appears that they are using a single final non-syllabic <e> as a signal that the <-es> suffix is the one to use.  Here’s where we need some clarification!

If I make two lists on the board like the two below, and ask my students to read them aloud, they no doubt would notice that the first list has one syllabic beat and second list has two.

fox                    foxes
dish                 dishes
ace                   aces
use                   uses
ash                   ashes

If they catch on to that, I would also present the following lists:

absence            absences
excuse              excuses
college              colleges
memorize        memorizes
surprise           surprises

I would ask, “Is the same thing happening here?  How many syllabic beats in <absence>?  How many in <absences>?”  I want them to notice that we use an <-es> suffix when making the word plural adds on a syllabic beat.   I don’t want them to think this only applies to a base that has one syllabic beat to begin with.

Now I will present this next set of lists:

chicken          chickens
toe                   toes
pencil             pencils
desk                desks
shoe                shoes

Again we will count the syllabic beats and see if the plural form is one syllabic beat longer.  They will notice that making the word a plural did not change the number of syllabic beats.

Here’s the next set of words to compare:

horse                  horses
promise             promises
adjective           adjectives
tadpole              tadpoles
squeeze             squeezes

The first thing I want the students to notice with this list is that all of the singular bases have a single final non-syllabic <e>.  That will not help determine whether we use an <-s> suffix or an <-es> suffix.  I will ask, “How do we know whether we have used an <-s> or an <-es> to make these bases plural?”  Hopefully, at this point they can explain back to me that when a syllabic beat is added to the word when the word is in its plural form, the <-es> suffix is used.

(The above flow chart is being used with permission from the works of Real Spelling.  In the flow chart, an “extra segment” is what I have referred to as a “syllabic beat.” )

This discussion of <-s> versus <-es> is the place I will start with the students when I see them next.  Then, once the students can state when to use an <-s> suffix and when to use an <-es> suffix, I’ll create an exit slip, asking the students to write down a synthetic word sum for both <ages> and <lines>.  In that way I’ll be able to assess individual understanding between these two suffixes.

There are other instances of using an <-es> versus an <-s> suffix, but I will begin with the misunderstandings I have noticed in this activity.  The other instances will come up in our work at another time.  They always do!

<-ed>

As I looked over the sheets for <-ed>, I noticed that a few need to review the suffixing convention that requires the final consonant of the base to be doubled when a vowel suffix is added.  One group called me over and asked how to represent that happening in a word sum.  They were writing a word sum for <twinned>.  As you can see in the picture below, I showed them that on the left side of the word sum we do our thinking and analyzing.  I said that other people might have another way to represent it, but I like to put the doubled <n> in parentheses close to where it will be in the final spelling.

Other than that, I was pleased to see that over and over students were showing that the single final non-syllabic <e> would be replaced with the <-ed> suffix.  Our practice with that suffixing convention has paid off!

The expected use of a word with an <-ed> suffix is as a past tense verb.

Jane wanted a puppy.
Saveea walked to the store.
Landing awkwardly, he damaged his ankle.

But what if we use a word with an <-ed> suffix to modify a noun?

Her grandfather was a wanted man.
I took the well-walked path.
I returned the damaged package to the post office.

When looking at words on a list (as we are with this activity), it is important to be thinking of sentences in which we might use the words.  The context is what defines a word’s function within any given sentence.  Please keep that in mind.  Have your students suggest the sentences so they become comfortable with changing the way a word functions within a sentence.

<-er>

One of the drawbacks from an activity like this is that some children will do this on automatic pilot, meaning they will not think too deeply about what they are doing.  One of the directions I had at the beginning was that the students couldn’t use a word that they didn’t know.  In other words, I didn’t want them to just copy from the list at Word Searcher without knowing for sure whether or not the <er> was removable (a suffix).  A word that I saw on the list with this suffix was <power>.  It was on the list as *<pow + er –> power>.  That just didn’t seem right to me, so I looked at Etymonline.  I couldn’t find anything in the entry that pointed to this being a case of a base plus an <-er> suffix.  Then I looked below at the listed related words and couldn’t find any words that had the <pow> spelling without the <er>.  As far as this resource is concerned, <power> doesn’t have an <-er> suffix and should not be on this list.

I must say I was pretty impressed with one group’s word sum for <cinema + ate + o + graph + er –> cinematographer>  What impressed me is the fact that this group recognized the base <graph> that we have looked at a few times.  They also recognized the possibility of an <o> connecting vowel!

One of the other things I’d like to do with these lists is to see if we can categorize some of them as to their grammatical function.  We’ll have to be careful though.  In order to determine a word’s part of speech, we’ll have to use the word in a sentence first.  I was thinking of something like this:

     1                                2                                        3
Person                Comparison                    Thing

baker                           fewer                        mower (depends)
diver                            ruder                        dryer (depends)
farmer                         slower                      sewer  (depends)
wrestler                      older                         mixer (depends)
biker                           riper                          charger (depends)

If I wrote (depends) next to the word, that means the word could be a thing, but it might also be a person.  The context (the sentence we find it in) will be what determines its meaning.  I’m hoping the students challenge the lists and offer sentences to support their thinking!

Do you see how this might bring awareness of how this particular suffix is used?  I can imagine some great sentences being offered and some questions being raised.

<-en>

This suffix didn’t seem to present problems with spelling.  Word sums were clearly written, and if there was a suffixing convention to be applied it was replacing the single final non-syllabic <e>.

I’m thinking of looking closer at these lists as well to examine how we use words with an <-en> suffix.  Two categories that seem obvious are adjectives and verbs.  At first glance I see words that can sometimes function as adjectives such as ashen, broken, frozen, widen, and wooden.  Then I see words like ripen, sharpen, deepen, and flatten.  These are verbs.  As usual, context will be the thing that determines how a word is functioning.

adjective                      verb

ashen                               ripen
oaken                              sharpen
golden                             deepen
wooden                           flatten

I wonder how accurate my students would be at categorizing the words in this way.  Perhaps I could give them a framework that would help.  For the adjectives, I could tell them that if they say the word and can think of a noun it could modify, they can classify it as an adjective.  As an example, let’s say, “frozen ….. pond” or “frozen food”.  In this way the students know it can be an adjective because they have it modifying a noun.

One way to check to see if it could be used as a verb, would be to use the modal verb “will” in front of the word and see if that makes sense.  For example, I could say, “will ripen”, as in “The banana will ripen.”  We could also use the auxiliary verb “has” in front of the word.  For example, I could say, “has broken”, as in “The boy has broken his ankle.”

<-ate>

This sheet revealed different levels of understanding.  The students are making hypotheses about the structure, and it is obvious that the hypotheses they are making are based on an understanding that is deepening with each classroom investigation.  It is also obvious that not everyone is in the same place with their understanding.  That is what makes classroom teaching so challenging and often rewarding!

I know that the use of the plus signs can be visually confusing at times.  Some of the students do a nice job of leaving enough space between elements in the word sum.  Others circle the plus signs so they don’t look like <t>’s.

In the word sum for <situate>, the students hypothesized that the <u> is a connecting vowel.  Since the base is Latinate, that hypothesis is quite possible!  The word sum for <hydrate> is one we know.  When the students investigated <hydrosphere> earlier this year, they came across this relative and we talked about both <hydrate> and <dehydrate>.  It’s nice to see the students connect what they already learned to what they are currently focusing on.

When I first saw the word sum for <pirate>, I had suspicions that this might not have an <-ate> suffix.  But when I looked at the entry for it at Etymonline, I saw (as the students did) the related word <piracy>.  So again, their hypothesis is based on thought and evidence.  In looking at the word sum for <radiate>, I see a hypothesis in which the <i> is considered a connecting vowel.  The entry at Etymonline does not support that.  This word sum is one I will use to deepen their understanding of the information offered at this great site.  Perhaps they are not familiar enough with Latin suffixes.  Some will remember our investigation of <stratosphere> that led us to Latin stratus which became our Modern English base <strat> “layering, spreading out”, but many will benefit from having it pointed out again.

One last thing to point out on this list is the absence of the single final non-syllabic <e> on the suffix <-ive> in the word sum for <activate>.  If I asked someone to spell <active> they would no doubt include it, but when they are looking at a word sum that includes more than one suffix, they often miss it.  They are understanding the final <e> that is found on the end of many bases, but not that it is often found at the end of suffixes as well!

<-ion>

I can tell by looking at these sheets that the students are familiar with this suffix and recognize it as part of a word sum.  Since they were so focused on proving the <-ion> suffix, some missed a second suffix in the word.  One of these days I’ll write <operation> and <cooperation> on the board and ask for word sum hypotheses.  I wonder how long it will take to spot the same base element in each.  Hmmmm.  I will also see if students see the two suffixes as <-ate> and <-ion>.  Those two are often seen in combination.  (See that last word?  Ha! I proved my point!)  I might even ask for the students to help me brainstorm a list of words that include both.

Next, I could do the same with <motion> and <motivation>.  The first word has one suffix, but the second word has three.  Perhaps I could have the students brainstorm a list of words with <mote> “move” as a base.  Then I could ask questions such as, “Who can spot a word in this family that has three suffixes?  Who can spot a word in this family that has a prefix?  Who can spot a word in this family that has only one suffix?  Will we ever see this base without a suffix or prefix?”  You get the idea.  Depending on the related words we thought of, I could keep going with questions to make sure everyone is engaged and thinking about what we are seeing.  Of course we would follow up any answers given with: “Prove it by writing a word sum on the board next to the word.”

<-est>

I wonder how long it would take the students to identify which part of speech these words could be classified as.  “Were they adjectives before we added this <-est> suffix?”  This could turn into a great discussion of comparative and superlative adjectives!  If I felt some of the students didn’t understand this idea, we could use the superlative adjectives on this list and write them in their comparative and adjective forms:

superlative               comparative                    adjective

unfriendliest                 unfriendlier                          unfriendly
sprightliest                    sprightlier                              sprightly
yellowest                        yellower                                 yellow

I bet you noticed the word sum for <rainforest>.  Setting up the columns for comparative and superlative adjectives might help students recognize that this word is not like the others.  And then a glance at Etymonline will provide evidence that the <est> is not a suffix in this word.  It is just part of the spelling.

<-ist>

When I ask my students to write a word sum and the final graphemes represent /ɪst/, they often spell it as <ist>.  Comparing the <-est> list to the <-ist> list might help them understand the difference between these two suffixes.  Let’s take a look at the sheet of words with <-ist>.

I hope you are starting to catch on that each one of these lists is full of opportunities for discussion and deepening understandings.  Look at the second word on this list <ageist>.  Why aren’t we replacing that single final non-syllabic <e> on the base?  Show them what it looks like when you do replace that <e>  and see how the students pronounce it.

I’m not sure why there is an <o> in the word sum for <chemist>, but it might be interesting to put this word on the board and ask for related words.  Then we could find the base and see how many different suffixes (besides <-ist>) are used with it.

As we read through this list, I might ask if these are adjectives like the list that had <-est> suffixes.  Hopefully we’ll get to the realization that words with an <-ist> suffix often refer to a person.  When they do, they are called agent suffixes.  For example, the dentist is the person who takes care of problems with your teeth.  A harpist is a person who plays the harp.  We could do down the list, reading the word sums and  identifying whether or not the word is referring to a person.

The word <copyist> is a great one to use when talking about an instance in which we do NOT switch the final <y> to an <i> before adding the suffix.  The more I can have my students vocalizing the reasons they do and do not use suffixing conventions, the better.

I’m sure you’ve noticed the word sum for <hypnotherapist>.  That looks like a great one for the board.  “What is your hypothesis?  Does anyone else have a hypothesis?  If we removed the <-ist> suffix, what other suffix could we replace it with and still have a familiar word?  Have you ever seen the beginning of this word in another word?  How about the part right in front of the <-ist> suffix?”

On the other hand, the word sum for <climatologist> is pretty impressive.  Our work with the base <log> is paying off.  They are recognizing it in new words!  The fact that this group left the <e> from the <-ate> suffix in the final spelling is something to note, but in the scheme of things I think that kind of error will correct itself with more application of the suffixing conventions and more reading aloud of word sums.

<-ous>

There are some really great things to notice about this first sheet.  In the word sum for <gaseous>, there was the recognition that the <e> would have to be a connecting vowel!  It clearly is not part of the suffix nor the recognizable free base element.  There was also the recognition that if we remove the <-ous> suffix from <famous>, the single final non-syllabic <e> replaces the suffix.  The free base would be <fame>.

The inclusion of <synonymous> is interesting.  The changes in stress, and therefore pronunciation, brought on by adding or removing the suffix might make the recognition that <synonym> and <synonymous> are related words a tad difficult.  It wouldn’t be the case for all students, but it would be the case for many.  I will definitely want to bring this word to everyone’s attention.  With some hypotheses offered, we could then investigate it further and find its relationship to antonym, homonym, anonymous, and pseudonym.  I’m sure they will get a kick out of  their respective senses:  “opposite name”, “same name”, “not named”, and “false name.”

This sheet also gives us the opportunity to see what others think of the asterisk that was placed in front of the word sum for <ridiculous>.  “If you agree that as written this word sum is questionable, what do you think the word sum is?  What makes you say that?”  Then we could go to Etymonline to find the evidence together.

One group working with this  <-ous> suffix called me over to talk about the base having a final <y> that becomes an <i> in the final spelling.  I showed them how to represent that change in the word sum.  This is definitely something we will spend some time on in the next few weeks.  Understanding the suffixing conventions takes care of so many misspellings.  The students start feeling better about themselves as spellers without feeling like they worked hard at it.  (Comparing the time they used to spend with rote memorization.  For too many that felt like hard work with few results.)

 

Summing it up

These sheets provide all the example words I need!  The activity was fun for the students, gave them valuable practice at using two trusted online resources, and revealed much to me about what kinds of practice they need next.  I was able to see patterns that could be used to help the students understand a word’s use a bit better based on its suffix!  These sheets can be used to inspire many many activities.  I could simply post any of these on the board and ask for reactions. It would be a great way to stimulate question asking and reviewing important word structure features.  I could ask any of the following:

Are there words you don’t know?
Do you see a word that could be further analyzed?
Do you see a word that you think doesn’t belong on the list?
Do you see a base identified here that you aren’t so sure of?
Is there a suffixing convention happening in any of the words on this list?

I know there are those who wish that SWI came with a scope and sequence, but really?  Why set up a generic plan for generic children when we have real children right in front of us with specific needs!  Their own work reveals what they need, and when the specific work is repeated at a later date, can reveal growth.

My first reaction to these sheets is one of optimism.  They understand so much already.  I always keep in mind that on day one of 5th grade, they believed that English spelling couldn’t be understood.   They had no expectations that I would teach them anything different from that.  But at this time of the year, they are starting to believe differently.  They have experienced for themselves the evidence and reasoning.  The rest of the year will be so much fun!  They will become better at spelling, but they won’t remember having studied or memorized letter sequences in order to do it.

 

 

 

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Drop the ‘e’? Replace the ‘e’? Understanding a Familiar Suffixing Convention

Some people have been taught to say that the final <e> is dropped when a vowel suffix is added.  I have switched to saying that the final <e> is replaced.  You might be wondering if it really makes such a big difference to use one word over another.  I think it does, especially with the big picture of what is really happening with that <e>, whether we see it in the final spelling of a word or not.  Let’s head to Etymonline to get a better sense of both of these words.

First off, let’s take a look at that word drop.  It is from Old English.  It has always had a sense of falling.  In the mid 19th century, the things being dropped were sometimes considered immaterial (temperatures, prices).  We still use it in that sense.  But is that final non-syllabic <e> one of those immaterial (unimportant) things to be dropped off a word?  If we begin with the base <bike> and then add the suffix <-ing>, we will end up with the word ‘biking’.  We no longer see the <e>.  If we used the phrase “the <e> has been dropped”, there is a sense that the <e> is now gone.

Now let’s consider the word replace.  It was first attested in the 1590’s and meant “to restore to a previous place or position”.  Using ‘replace’ instead of ‘drop’ leaves us with the sense that the final non-syllabic <e> isn’t EVER permanently gone.  It may get replaced with a suffix, but should the suffix be removed, the <e> is replaced once again.

To demonstrate to my students that I want them to picture that final non-syllabic <e> getting replaced and not dropped, I write a base word on one piece of paper and a vowel suffix on another, like I have in the picture below.

I then slide the <-ing> suffix over the top of the final non-syllabic <e> and spell the word like this:  <h – o – p –  replace the e  with  ing>.

Then I show what happens when I remove the <-ing> suffix.  I slide it away and it is replaced with the final non-syllabic <e>.  I want my students to imagine that the <e> is still there – has been there the whole time, patiently waiting to replace the suffix once it is removed.

Here’s a video that explains this suffixing convention.  Watch how the students act out replacing that final <e>.  There’s nothing like a couple of orthographic superheroes to set us straight!

Once the initial explanation has been presented, it’s important to practice applying this convention with a variety of words.  I like to focus on one base at a time and add different suffixes, verbalizing why we sometimes replace that final <e> and sometimes don’t.  For example, I might put the stem ‘create’ on the board and ask the students to write word sums on their paper for creates, creating, created, and creation.  Then students volunteer to write their word sums on the board.  Once they are on the board, we can talk about them.  Finally, students volunteer to come up and read the word sums out loud, justifying their decision to either replace that final non-syllabic <e> or to leave it.  Here is a video of how that looks:

The other day, a student came up and asked me how to spell ‘unuseful’.  Instead of telling her, I asked, “How do you think it is spelled?”  She responded, “Un – use – ful”.   The fact that she used the structure of the word to help herself spell it, thrilled me more than you can imagine!