The rich conversation brought such discoveries! What continuously ignites the flame to learning is the discovery of something new born out of curiosity! We celebrate the mystery of what we do not know and the "why" behind the printed word!
As soon as we opened the text, "The Three Billy Goats Gruff," my word scientist exclaimed, "Look! <Gruff> <cliff> these words follow the FLOSS-Z words!" All that I prompt before reading is to open your scientist eyes and be curious! What can you find? It is like a treasure hunt! We use highlighter tape and stick up the text to discover the new Trigraph <dge> that writes /j/ at the end of <bridge.>. To test our hypothesis that it is a new trigraph, we explore other English words where <dge> writes /j/ like in <pledge> and <judge>. This was my first anticipated discovery while reading! Thinking about the plot of the story and writing events on our plot diagram, we discover a new curiosity. Why is <goat> spelled with <oa> and not <gote>? Great question! (I LOVE questions!). We explore all other English words that write the long <o> with <oa>. This leads us to naming words where the long <o> is not in the beginning or the middle like our original word <goat> to discover <ow> like in <snow> and <grow>. "What about <toe>?" she asks excitedly! Oh, my! Another vowel team that writes long <o>. The board becomes full of discovery because of our initial word <goat>. I would never, ever have bundled so many new concepts for this excited learner...it would just be too much...or so I thought! She initiated the discovery and mapped the new learning! Because she was curious and discovered the pattern, it made the difference! Grammar! Yes, the structure of the sentences we write matters. As we write to unlock the plot, the complex sentence is ready for another rich discussion. A prepositional phrase! Another new discovery! The deeper meaning behind the tale unlocks a key ingredient for Traditional Literature. She easily opens the door to the theme of the story! The plot and theme are complete! The learner is in the driver's seat. I am the coach on the side. I ask questions and wonder, right alongside in this discovery partnership. Each session is rich and sweet.
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AuthorI am loving learning! I've been an educator for over 30 years and a tutor for ten...and I'm constantly amazed at new discoveries about the brain, how we learn, and how new instructional strategies like Structured Word Inquiry, unlock readers who are stuck. New discoveries about our English language and the structure of words are absolutely the biggest "Ah-Ha" moments with students that I've ever encountered! Archives
November 2022
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