Latin/Greek roots...when?

[caedmyn]

What grade(s) should Latin/Greek roots ideally be learned if we're NOT planning on doing formal Latin (or Greek)?

[Upennmama]

I bought flash cards and do them each morning, with my 6th and 2nd grader. They seem helpful.

[mathmarm]

What grade(s) should Latin/Greek roots ideally be learned if we're NOT planning on doing formal Latin (or Greek)?

I don't think that it's grade dependent at all.

 

You could begin doing them as soon as a student is sounding out new words syllable by syllable and reading at a good speed.

[knitmama]

I agree with mathmarm -- making etymology visible isn't (shouldn't be) grade dependent.

 

I'm not a huge believer in flash cards for Latin/Greek roots, either, although they're certainly not going to hurt. My approach has been to study the root concurrently with vocab, and then expand.  

 

So, for example, if a kiddo is learning the word "convert," I point out that "con" means "with" and "vert" means "turn," which explains why "converting" something means "turning to go with" something else; and I give some real-life examples of the word used in different contexts. And then I immediately point out that because "ad" means "to" or "toward," "advertising" means  trying to make someone "turn toward" something and buy it.  And because "intro" means "inside," an "introvert" is someone who enjoys turning inside for pleasure/company (and an "extrovert" is someone who enjoys turning outside of himself). And because "re" means "back" or "again," "reverting" means turning back to an earlier state or approach.  And at some point I ask the kiddo, if we know that "sub" means "from below," what do you suppose we mean when we say someone is being "subversive?"  You get the idea.

 

Doing it this way takes a bit of time at the very beginning, but in my experience it  changes how kiddos think about words by teaching them to begin looking at words as collections of rational, constituent parts. Eventually, with repetition (and there's a ton of repetition, which is precisely what makes studying roots so valuable), vocab stops being a disconnected word list and starts, for the most part, to be sensible. And soon you're spending a whole lot less time on vocabulary than you were, because kiddos are no longer pattern-matching and guessing; they have the tools to figure things out for themselves.

 

There are several Latin/Greek root books on the market aimed at different ages/grades, although I'm not 100% enamored with any of them (and so am in the process of writing one myself).

 

Yes.  I am a word nerd. :-)

 

 

[goldenecho]

I found a resource that had cute lapbook/notebooking pages you colored and then filled in with vocabulary related to the root.  I've started making a notebook for my child who is nine...we started it when we were studying Ancient Greece...figured, why not.  It looked fun and at his level and he's responded well.  (And he's not a child who's ahead).  We also do not plan on doing formal Latin or Greek.

[purduemeche]

Another recommendation here to start early. It is valuable!

 

 

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[Kalmia]

I agree with mathmarm -- making etymology visible isn't (shouldn't be) grade dependent.

 

I'm not a huge believer in flash cards for Latin/Greek roots, either, although they're certainly not going to hurt. My approach has been to study the root concurrently with vocab, and then expand.  

 

So, for example, if a kiddo is learning the word "convert," I point out that "con" means "with" and "vert" means "turn," which explains why "converting" something means "turning to go with" something else; and I give some real-life examples of the word used in different contexts. And then I immediately point out that because "ad" means "to" or "toward," "advertising" means  trying to make someone "turn toward" something and buy it.  And because "intro" means "inside," an "introvert" is someone who enjoys turning inside for pleasure/company (and an "extrovert" is someone who enjoys turning outside of himself). And because "re" means "back" or "again," "reverting" means turning back to an earlier state or approach.  And at some point I ask the kiddo, if we know that "sub" means "from below," what do you suppose we mean when we say someone is being "subversive?"  You get the idea.

 

Doing it this way takes a bit of time at the very beginning, but in my experience it  changes how kiddos think about words by teaching them to begin looking at words as collections of rational, constituent parts. Eventually, with repetition (and there's a ton of repetition, which is precisely what makes studying roots so valuable), vocab stops being a disconnected word list and starts, for the most part, to be sensible. And soon you're spending a whole lot less time on vocabulary than you were, because kiddos are no longer pattern-matching and guessing; they have the tools to figure things out for themselves.

 

There are several Latin/Greek root books on the market aimed at different ages/grades, although I'm not 100% enamored with any of them (and so am in the process of writing one myself).

 

Yes.  I am a word nerd. :-)

 

Knitmama: If you are patterning the book after the style of your third paragraph, it should be great.

 

Original Poster: Kindergarten is not too early to start!

 

Vocabulary from Latin and Greek Roots is similar to knitmama's use of the root in many words.

https://smile.amazon.com/Vocabulary-Latin-Greek-Roots-Book/dp/1580492002/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1490119677&sr=8-3&keywords=Vocabulary+from+greek+and+latin+roots+Prestwick

 

My son loved  Michael Clay Thompson's Series Building Language, Caesar's English I, and Caesar's English II. Unless you want a lot of Roman history, buy the older, smaller first editions used. You only really need the teacher's editions. My son had 100% retention from these. They are snuggle on the couch and learn together type books, not workbooks. Building Language only has a few words in it, but would be good for your youngest.

https://www.rfwp.com/series/vocabulary-elementary-program-by-michael-clay-thompson

 

This vintage reprint seems most like knitmama's approach of showing the root in multiple words. The link is to the whole text on archive.org

Derivation of Words with Exercises on Prefixes, Suffixes, and Stems: An Appendix to Practical Lessons in the Use of English for Grammar Schools by Mary Frances Hyde

https://archive.org/details/derivationwords00hydegoog