What is Structured Word Inquiry?
Structured Word Inquiry is an empowering way for students to learn language and the words within it. In many classrooms, students simply learn phonics rules and the definitions of isolated words. Through SWI, also known as Scientific Word Investigation, students study the history of words, the connections between words, and the evolution of language that […]
Resources for Learning Vocabulary
No one can deny the importance of building a strong vocabulary. Even if your child had robust vocabulary instruction last year, chances are, he isn’t keeping up with it this summer. Just a few minutes of vocab practice a day can help keep those skills sharp. Here are some of our favorite web-based resources for summer […]
Learning Vocabulary: Greek and Latin Roots
Well over half of the words in the English language come from Greek or Latin. So you can see how useful it would be to teach at least the more common roots to students in order for them to best make sense of our language. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always happen. Teaching Greek and Latin roots […]
The Five Elements of Reading Instruction
Through decades of research into how kids learn to read, most experts have reached a consensus that there is a right way to teach reading. Now called “The Science of Reading,” these best practices are becoming more and more widespread. Lots of people associate the science of reading with phonics instruction, or teaching kids how […]
What is Morphological Awareness?
Are you a passionate educator? Do you love helping kids develop morphological awareness? Join our team and become a Braintrust tutor today! Morphological awareness is one of many skills that help students learn how to read and write. A morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning in language. The words “like” and “a” are both […]
A Better Method for Vocabulary Development
For those of us who have been out of the K-12 school system for quite some time, we all remember the classic strategy for learning new vocab. First, we would look up a list of words in the dictionary. Then, we would write those words and their definitions a number of times. Eventually, we would […]
Components of the Reading Rope: Vocabulary
Vocabulary is an undervalued asset. The richer a person’s vocabulary, the richer his or her thinking. We will only be able to communicate what our vocabulary allows. Therefore, if our vocabulary is limited, our communication will be limited as well. This is why vocabulary is one of the eight fundamental strands of Scarborough’s reading rope, […]
Vocabulary Fundamentals
Vocabulary sometimes gets a bad rap—and with good reason. Historically, students learned vocabulary by memorizing the spelling and definitions of long lists of words. Their teacher would quiz them on it, then they would usually never use those words again. But when a teacher does it right, vocabulary instruction can be an instrumental part of […]
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