This strategy was used with Group A for prefix words the first week and root words the second week. The students drew a tree with seven branches (one branch for one word). On the branch, students wrote the word and a prediction of what they thought the word means. The following day the students corrected their definitions and added leaves that included examples using the prefix/root.
Tips for this strategy:
- The first time you use this strategy, make sure you tell your students to use the whole page to draw their tree on.
Our thoughts: We decided that the tree diagram was an excellent strategy for prefixes, but not for roots. The students were confused to why we put roots in the branches of the tree instead of the roots of the tree. The first week we did the strategy, the students would draw small trees on only half of their page and it was hard for them to add the leaves to the branches. Of course, we learned that error the first week, so the second week the students knew to use the whole page.
Student thoughts....
"The tree was helpful because it was an interesting way to learn vocabulary"
"I think the tree was helpful but I think I would have learned just as easy with a chart."
"It helped me get a better understanding on how words are made."
