1. Visual Thesaurus Mock Lesson

2. The national standards require that students, beginning in fourth grade, know common Greek and Latin roots and affixes and use this knowledge to analyze the meaning of complex words. So our students would already know some roots, this would be more of an overview and introduction to some new words. This would be a good introduction at the beginning of the year for vocabulary, and every week new roots and affixes could be added for weekly vocabulary.

3. “Root” • Noun Meanings • Learning the roots of English can help strengthen your vocabulary. • How can the “roots” of a language be compared to other kinds of foundational “roots”?

4. Today you will also be applying the meaning of "root" that refers to "the place where something begins" and will therefore be discovering some of the ancient Latin roots that long ago contributed to the formation of English words that you now encounter and use in your everyday lives.

6. Does good deeds

7. Does good deeds A good blessing

8. Does good deeds A good blessing Something that promises “well being”

9. Does good deeds Also does good deeds A good blessing Something that promises “well being”

10. Does good deeds Also does good deeds A good blessing Good or well Something that promises “well being”

12. Words Containing Latin Roots

13. Next… • Look up the words on VT and write down their meanings • Determine the root’s meaning based on those definitions • Jigsaw approach

14. Wrap-up • Challenge students to create original words using some of the roots discussed in class in conjunction with one another or with another root they know or discover on-line. Students will have fun making goofy words or serious words. Have students share these words with the class and describe their definitions.

15. Assessment • Groups' analyses of ancient roots' meanings can be assessed on accuracy and their use of the VT to validate their analysis. • Students' understanding of specific roots presented in the jigsaw groupings could be easily assessed by giving the class a "roots quiz" to see how many roots they interpret correctly.