Rationale and Purpose
Teachers and students are all about pragmatic tools. High utility and high frequency vocabulary words give them the most bang for the buck. Teachers want to teach both the high utility Tier 2 academic vocabulary and the the high frequency Greek and Latin prefixes, bases, and suffixes. Thee 25 Greek and Latin Power Words provide both.
Methodology
I examined the results from vocabulary research studies on high frequency Greek and Latin morphemes and chose the 60 highest frequency prefixes, bases, and suffixes. I then combined two or three of these morphemes for each of the 25 Greek and Latin Power Words. We simply remember linked items better than we remember items in isolation.
I used the More Words site to check the number of words in which each of these 60 word parts appear in the English language. The results were staggering: The 60 word parts are found in over 60,000 words, including their inflections (a conservative total). With our English lexicon of about 600,000 words, these 60 word parts constitute 10% of the words in our language.
Format
- 25 Tier 2 Academic Language Power Words Divided by Morphemes (meaning-based word parts)
- Two or Three Morphemes for Each Word with Concise Definitions
- Word Counts for Each Word Part
- Research Studies
FREE Download
25 Greek and Latin Power Words
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Mark Pennington is the author of the grades 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 Comprehensive Vocabulary.
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Questions teachers ask
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The grammar and usage assessment and the mechanics assessment are both in the free toolkit. Each comes with a recording matrix that shows which conventions a student has and has not mastered, so instruction can be targeted instead of whole-class.
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Mark Pennington, M.A. Reading Specialist
Thirty-six years teaching ELA and reading, elementary through community college, plus district reading specialist. He wrote every program on this site.
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