[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-267772-105":3,"doc-detail-267772-en":81,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":95},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","can-latin-help-younger-students-build-vocabulary-by-liana-heitin","Can Latin Help Younger Students Build Vocabulary - By Liana Heitin","","Study group teachers use Greek and Latin root-based word instruction to help elementary students build vocabulary through morphology rather than memorizing isolated word definitions. Examples from classroom discussion connect shared roots such as “temp” to meaning about time and language patterns that support reasoning. Research cited from Kent State and the University of Akron argues root-word teaching improves meaning from unfamiliar words, increases awareness of purposeful language, and builds student confidence during reading through interactive activities like word sorts and “odd word out.”",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/exam/","Exam",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/can-latin-help-younger-students-build-vocabulary-by-liana-heitin/267772/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/can-latin-help-younger-students-build-vocabulary-by-liana-heitin/267772.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Theodora","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-24","2026-09-14",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",10,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"How do teachers use Latin and Greek roots to teach vocabulary?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"Teachers incorporate prefixes, suffixes, and bases by using activities such as word sorts. Students learn roots and then generate or discover related words through classroom discussion and independent reading.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"What is the main theory behind root-based vocabulary instruction?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"A single root can produce many related words, so learning roots helps students unlock larger vocabularies more quickly than memorizing definitions of individual words.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"How do the cited researchers explain the impact on reading?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"They argue that teaching morphology and word patterns improves students’ ability to derive meaning from unfamiliar words, which supports overall reading comprehension.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},267772,1789424793,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",{"doc_id":79,"user_id":84,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":85,"doc_module":4,"category_id":33,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":86,"file_id":87,"file_url":88,"file_type":89,"file_size":90,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":33,"language":91,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":92,"faqs":93,"seo_title":94,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":80,"read_time":55},687197207919,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/a000253d6f5f7c60be?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1779446848396160552","Published Online: April 12, 2016  \nPublished in Print: April 13, 2016, as Can Latin Build Young Vocabularies?  \nCan Latin Help Younger Students Build Vocabulary?  \nBy Liana Heitin  \nFairfax, Va.  \nWith students gone for the day, 6th grade teachers Joy Ford and Ryan Rusk sat in a classroom discussing the Latin root temp.  \nAfter determining that \"contemporary\" and \"temporary\" share the root, which refers to time, the two Woodlawn Elementary teachers then turned to the word \"temptation. \"  \n\"I'm tempted to eat this chocolate,\" said Ford. \"That doesn't have to do with time. \"  \n\"But if I'm tempted, I want it now,\" responded Rusk. \"So could it?\"  \nAlong with a half dozen other K 6 teachers, the two were participating in a study group in which they meet weekly to learn how to incorporate Greek and Latin roots into their daily instruction. The group was doing a \"word sort\" activity from the book Greek and Latin Roots: Keys to Vocabulary Building.  \nThe theory behind teaching Latin and Greek prefixes, suffixes, and bases, which some teachers are doing with children as young as 1st grade, is that it helps build vocabulary more quickly than learning definitions of individual words.  \n\"A single root can generate over 100 words,\" said Joanna Newton, the reading specialist at Woodlawn, who runs the professional development group. \"If you teach a kid even 10 roots over the course of a year, that's like 1,000 words they can potentially unlock on their own. \"  \nTeaching root words also gives students a way to play  \nwith language and see it as something they can reason through. \"It makes them more aware of words, that words hold meaning, and that the language is purposeful,\" said Emily Ulrich, a 4th grade teacher at Woodlawn, who has been using the approach for three years . \"It gives them confidence, too, when they're reading and they see parts of words they're familiar with. \"  \nThe exchange between Ford and Rusk about temp (which, by the way, is not the root of temptation) mirrored the kinds of conversations the teachers were hoping to inspire in their own classrooms . And in many classrooms, it seems to be working—students are finding root words in  \ntheir group and silent reading, chatting with their peers about what words could mean, and bringing words they ' re curious about to class .  \n\"It' s a paradigm shift in the way we teach vocabulary, \"said Newton.  \n'Breaking the Code '  \nA group of Ohio professors from Kent State University and the University of Akron—Timothy Rasinski , Nancy Padak, Rick M. Newton, and Evangeline Newton—wrote the 2008 book, Greek and Latin Roots, and designed an o—n a root word exercise during class . accompanying curriculum, which some teachers in Fairfax Dustin Franz for Education Week  \nand other schools around the country are using. (Woodlawn' s Newton is the daughter of Rick and Evangeline Newton. )  \nAccording to Rasinski , a literacy education professor at Kent State, teaching young students about morphology (the study of word forms) and word patterns improves their ability to gain meaning from unfamiliar words, which helps with reading overall. \"This is one of the most promising ways for developing word knowledge, \" he said. \"Anybody who' s ever taken Latin in high school seeshow profoundly it' s affected English and can help build vocabulary . \"  \nLatin class has long been a staple in high schools, but the idea of teaching Latin in elementary schools isn't new either . In a 1984 Commentary piece for Education Week, Rudolph Masci antonio, then an administrator in the office of curriculum for the Philadelphia school district, wrote about efforts in Baltimore, Chicago, Cincinnati , Los Angeles, and other cities to teach Latin to young students . \" Educators have long believed that a pupil who knows the Latin roots, prefixes, and suffixes has the keys to unlock the meaning of countless English derivatives and cognates, \" he wrote .  \nHowever , some teachers using root words now say they don't focus too ","cbCaimXDXJ2A652I","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaimXDXJ2A652I","pdf",239160,"English","# Can Latin Help Younger Students Build Vocabulary?\n## Teaching roots through word sorts\n## Why morphology and word patterns help reading\n## Classroom activities and student reasoning","[{\"question\":\"How do teachers use Latin and Greek roots to teach vocabulary?\",\"answer\":\"Teachers incorporate prefixes, suffixes, and bases by using activities such as word sorts. Students learn roots and then generate or discover related words through classroom discussion and independent reading.\"},{\"question\":\"What is the main theory behind root-based vocabulary instruction?\",\"answer\":\"A single root can produce many related words, so learning roots helps students unlock larger vocabularies more quickly than memorizing definitions of individual words.\"},{\"question\":\"How do the cited researchers explain the impact on reading?\",\"answer\":\"They argue that teaching morphology and word patterns improves students’ ability to derive meaning from unfamiliar words, which supports overall reading comprehension.\"}]","Can Latin Help Younger Students Build Vocabulary - By Liana Heitin | PDF",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":96},[97,101,105,108,113,118,123,128,133,136,139],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":106,"slug":107},70,"exam",{"id":109,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":110,"show_sort_weight":111,"slug":112},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":114,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":115,"show_sort_weight":116,"slug":117},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":119,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":121,"slug":122},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":124,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":125,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":127},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":129,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":130,"show_sort_weight":131,"slug":132},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":131,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":134,"show_sort_weight":131,"slug":135},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":137,"show_sort_weight":55,"slug":138},"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":140,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":141,"show_sort_weight":109,"slug":142},19,"General","general"]