Please contact me for availability and scheduling. 

  New to Outschool? Use code AndreaDa20 for $20 off any class!  

This class maximizes our knowledge of how the brain learns best; by making meaningful connections. Rather than studying a random list of words and trying to memorize them, this class takes learners through the process of building words together from a common base, and seeing how all the words that result share connections in spelling and in meaning.  Connections that will make them easier to remember, recognize and understand.  

  Each week, we will work with a different base word and its prefixes and suffixes to build as many words as we can from that word family. Students will have some guided practice in building words and then have some time to work independently. Then as a class, we will share and discuss which words we made. 

https://outschool.com/classes/word-builders-develop-spelling-and-reading-skills-through-morphology-mBHHMix9?refuid=nD85Y1ms

  This word building and discussion will help students to practice and develop a variety of skills including:

• A fundamental understanding of how English spelling works; that its purpose is to communicate meaning as well as sound, and that letters can serve functions in words other than creating a sound.
• The impact of prefixes on the meaning of the base (do vs. redo vs. undo)
• The possible spelling impacts of adding suffixes to the base, including the chance to practice applying spelling rules, including when to drop a silent ? and when to double a final consonant
• How the meaning of the base carries over into the meanings of the new words that are built from it (side/sideways/besides)
• An understanding that spelling patterns and meaning are retained even when pronunciation shifts. (sign/signal, heal/healthy, act/action)
• An understanding that suffixes can affect a word's part of speech and usage in a sentence. 
• An understanding that knowing the meaning of the base can give you clues as to the meaning of the other related words
• The difference between a bound base and a free base

https://outschool.com/classes/word-builders-develop-spelling-and-reading-skills-through-morphology-mBHHMix9?refuid=nD85Y1ms

  Examples of some bases we may study together include: 

• fine (final, finally, refine, define, etc)
• ease (easy, easier, easiest, uneasy, etc.)
• cycle (bicycle, recycling, cyclone, cyclical, etc)
• ject (reject, subject, object, etc)
• busy (busier, busiest, business, etc)
• cent (percentage, centennial, centimeter, etc.)

Structured Word Inquiry is an excellent strategy for learners with dyslexia as it removes the need to guess at a spelling, memorize lists of rules or rely on visual memory. Students study words in in the context of their word families; those words with whom they share a common base and therefore connections in spelling and meaning. Rather than being taught "tips and tricks" that overload working memory, students are taught to analyze words and that spelling is a system of logic and order.