A marked decline in students’ ability to recognize words, use context clues, and comprehend texts has been observed in a district over the last few years. The lack of reading growth was striking when data was examined and students’ progress was documented from grade to grade.
When students were pulled into small groups to listen to them read, it became apparent that we needed to take a deep dive into the world of word study. This fall, the district infused a morphology unit into its reading and writing program to build students’ decoding and comprehension skills.
Morphology in the Classroom
In a self-contained fifth-grade classroom, the positive results of this new program are already visible in all subjects. Word recognition not only impacts reading skills but also writing. Students struggled to retain the purpose of a prefix, root word, or suffix, and their spelling skills were weaker than those of students five or ten years ago.
The morphology content was initially targeted for ELA lessons, but it was soon realized that students gained more when word study was incorporated into other subject areas, specifically social studies. The teacher explained that morphology is “the scientific study of how words are built out of chunks of meaning.”
The terms phoneme, grapheme, and morpheme were introduced. For example, phoneme was explained as a single oral sound made by the mouth. Putting this word on a whiteboard and asking students to find a familiar word within “phoneme” was a great way to pull the students into the learning process.
The same steps were followed with the word grapheme, which is defined as a written letter or group used to spell a sound.
To explain morpheme, the teacher used students‘ understanding of “morph” as “change.”
Students applied their newfound knowledge to real-world examples, such as articles in 5th Grade Studies Weekly, which provided excellent examples for word study.
Eventually, they began to understand the word “geologist” as a person who studies the earth.
The teacher plans to continue using morphology lessons in all core subject areas. Finding word meanings has become engaging and fun for the students, and they now read their social studies articles with more vigor and focus.
Future Plans
The teacher’s goal is to continue building on the success of the morphology program and to expand it to other areas of the curriculum. By incorporating word study into other subjects, such as science and math, the teacher hopes to create a more integrated approach to learning. This will enable students to see the connections between different subjects and to develop a deeper understanding of the material.
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