When you recognize a word's prefix, you can make a better guess at the meaning of a new word. Or as our new prefix video says, "Prefixes...It's like a remix, it changes things." By the end of this prefix lesson plan, students will be able to recognize the meanings of common prefixes, use the prefixes to determine meanings of words, and then play a prefixes game where they invent new words using prefixes.
A noun is the name for any word that is a person, place, thing or idea. Person, place and thing nouns are concrete. That means you can experience them with your five senses. The only type of noun that you can't experience with your five senses is an idea noun. Idea nouns are also known as abstract nouns. These are nouns that you can't see or touch or feel or smell or taste, but they still exist. In this lesson plan, you'll review common abstract nouns with your student's favorite music and artwork.
Our brand new Ancient Egypt video includes rapping (and unwrapping) mummies, hieroglyphic-decoding explorers and a tour of the pyramids. And behind the beat on the hook, we included an actual relic from Ancient Egypt. The sound you hear at the end of the song comes from King Tut's trumpet. While unearthing King Tut's tomb in 1922, archaeologists found a lot of cool stuff that belonged to King Tut: the first-ever sofa bed, 30 boomerangs used for hunting, and two beautiful trumpets. One trumpet was silver, the other was copper. Both were decorated with ornate carvings. In 1939, someone decided they…
In our yearly circle around the sun, Pi Day comes but once a year. Pi Day is March 14, or 3.14, to celebrate the first three digits of everyone's favorite irrational number. (Do places that write the date Euro-style celebrate it, too? Or do they celebrate Pi on 31/4? Hmmm, that isn't a date.) Celebrate Pi Day with these activities: 1. Watch the video at the top of this post. One person made a massive domino spiral celebrating pi. Have your students use pi to estimate how many dominos are in the spiral. (10,059, according to the creator.) 2. Bake…
As our new adverb song notes, adverbs can provide more detail about the verbs in your sentence. How did you eat at Thanksgiving? You ate ravenously. How did you trip on stage at the talent show? You tripped clumsily. But sometimes, adverbs actually do the opposite. Many writers use adverbs as a crutch when they aren't exactly sure about what they're saying. Take this article from this morning's New York Times: The writer can't assuredly say that Romney won, so he uses adverbs to hedge. (He also rhymes a little, channeling his buddies over at Flocab). When it comes to…
