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I was thrilled to get a chance to review Greek Morphemes Lessons (It's NOT Greek to Me!) from Ready to Teach, organized and developed by Alene H. Harris, Ph.D. I received a paperback Instructor's Manual, Student Book, and a CD and a flash drive - both packed with teaching materials.
THIS HAS BEEN MY DAUGHTER'S ALL-TIME FAVORITE CURRICULUM!
What is Greek Morphemes Lessons (It's NOT Greek to Me!)?
Let's start by explaining what a Morpheme is, because I had honestly never heard this word before. A Morpheme is described in the dictionary as:
Greek Morphemes Lessons (It's NOT Greek to Me!) is a vocabulary program, developed by Alene H. Harris, Ph.D., that is based on more than 200 Greek roots, prefixes, and suffixes which form what is called morphemes. In other words - Unlike most vocabulary programs that start with a list of big, long words and give the student a definition to memorize, Greek Morphemes Lessons (It's NOT Greek to Me!) starts with the small pieces and roots of the words and allows the student to build each word.
This study guide comes with everything you need to learn Greek Morphemes. I received a paperback student workbook and teacher instruction book with a CD and a flash drive which covered the bases of any learning/teaching style, giving me options in learning formats and presentation formats for presenting the material to my daughter. Using the CD allowed us to hear the proper word pronunciations and never have to guess at how they are supposed to sound. It also provided Power Point style slides with fun and engaging graphics. These format options even included transparencies to use on an overhead projector, and I was able to send the material to my iPhone as well.
There are 12 lessons in the book. The lessons are broken down with the suggested guide of covering a small portion of learning new sets of words each day that take between 10 to 30 minutes per session:
Monday: Lesson One Instruction and Assignment A
Tuesday: Review and Check Words, Assignment B
Wednesday: Review and Check Words, Assignment C
Thursday: Review Assignment C, Make Study Cards, Assignment D
Friday: Review, Check Matching Exercise, Take The Test
SO WHY TEACH GREEK?
When a child learns Greek or Latin, it opens up the opportunity for higher level thinking skills, not to mention that, according to the creator of this curriculum, 40% of all English words contain Greek Morphemes, and 90% of scientific terms have a combination of either Greek or Latin roots. So, if a child learns Greek, he or she has an edge on academics and other learning that involves vocabulary.
Greek Morphemes Lessons (It's NOT Greek to Me!) is a vocabulary program, developed by Alene H. Harris, Ph.D., that is based on more than 200 Greek roots, prefixes, and suffixes which form what is called morphemes. In other words - Unlike most vocabulary programs that start with a list of big, long words and give the student a definition to memorize, Greek Morphemes Lessons (It's NOT Greek to Me!) starts with the small pieces and roots of the words and allows the student to build each word.
This study guide comes with everything you need to learn Greek Morphemes. I received a paperback student workbook and teacher instruction book with a CD and a flash drive which covered the bases of any learning/teaching style, giving me options in learning formats and presentation formats for presenting the material to my daughter. Using the CD allowed us to hear the proper word pronunciations and never have to guess at how they are supposed to sound. It also provided Power Point style slides with fun and engaging graphics. These format options even included transparencies to use on an overhead projector, and I was able to send the material to my iPhone as well.
There are 12 lessons in the book. The lessons are broken down with the suggested guide of covering a small portion of learning new sets of words each day that take between 10 to 30 minutes per session:
Monday: Lesson One Instruction and Assignment A
Tuesday: Review and Check Words, Assignment B
Wednesday: Review and Check Words, Assignment C
Thursday: Review Assignment C, Make Study Cards, Assignment D
Friday: Review, Check Matching Exercise, Take The Test
SO WHY TEACH GREEK?
When a child learns Greek or Latin, it opens up the opportunity for higher level thinking skills, not to mention that, according to the creator of this curriculum, 40% of all English words contain Greek Morphemes, and 90% of scientific terms have a combination of either Greek or Latin roots. So, if a child learns Greek, he or she has an edge on academics and other learning that involves vocabulary.
How Did We Use It?
I was asked to use Greek Morphemes Lessons (It's NOT Greek to Me!) with my 7-12 Grader at least three times a week during the review. I chose my 7th Grade daughter because she was the one jumping up and down begging me to try it out. She ended up using it every day she "did school" because she decided to integrate it into her everyday learning of subjects.
I started off by opening up the teacher book and reading through the instruction, but discovered that inserting the CD that came with the book into my laptop and sitting down next to my daughter was the best option for us. We went over the first lesson together, following the Power Point screens on the disc. She, filled in the workbook as we learned together, and at the end of the lesson, made review miniature flash cards that she put on a keychain ring for easy access to study. As an alternative to the student creating the flash cards, the Instructor's Manual provides white card stock style tear/cut-out cards in the back of the book which have the actual words written in color coding.
By the way - There are many learning styles, but if you color code something, I'm all for that. I loved how each lesson provided a different color sheet in the back of the book to create mini flash cards for that lesson. I also love how these flash cards are not cumbersome and clumsy to handle, but really handy to carry around and pull out for learning wherever you go.
After the initial couple lessons, she followed the lessons by herself using the disc. At the end of each lesson, there is review practice with the mini flashcards and then a test that she took using the CD in the laptop.
I started off by opening up the teacher book and reading through the instruction, but discovered that inserting the CD that came with the book into my laptop and sitting down next to my daughter was the best option for us. We went over the first lesson together, following the Power Point screens on the disc. She, filled in the workbook as we learned together, and at the end of the lesson, made review miniature flash cards that she put on a keychain ring for easy access to study. As an alternative to the student creating the flash cards, the Instructor's Manual provides white card stock style tear/cut-out cards in the back of the book which have the actual words written in color coding.
By the way - There are many learning styles, but if you color code something, I'm all for that. I loved how each lesson provided a different color sheet in the back of the book to create mini flash cards for that lesson. I also love how these flash cards are not cumbersome and clumsy to handle, but really handy to carry around and pull out for learning wherever you go.
After the initial couple lessons, she followed the lessons by herself using the disc. At the end of each lesson, there is review practice with the mini flashcards and then a test that she took using the CD in the laptop.
What Did We Think?
THIS HAS BEEN MY DAUGHTER'S ALL-TIME FAVORITE CURRICULUM!
I have been super excited to see her excitement for this program, because this particular child of mine has a history of struggling horribly with spelling and vocabulary. The reason for this is because as a young child she suffered from temporary hearing loss due to chronic ear infections. This hearing loss occurred during a pivotal time in her learning how words sound. SHE COULDN'T HEAR when we would pronounce a word, so she struggled with proper spellings and phonetics. Since regaining her hearing and working very hard to get up to and beyond grade level for spelling and vocabulary, I am over-the-top thrilled when she shows any interest in words.
My daughter and I have had an absolute delightful time learning Greek with this curriculum. The CD made it so easy for me to navigate the text as an instructor, and she loves the workbook format. She has had so much fun making up new words even though some are actual words she just never knew existed. We have determined, however, that I may be a bit of a misanthrope while she is a total and complete bibliophile.
I have been super excited to see her excitement for this program, because this particular child of mine has a history of struggling horribly with spelling and vocabulary. The reason for this is because as a young child she suffered from temporary hearing loss due to chronic ear infections. This hearing loss occurred during a pivotal time in her learning how words sound. SHE COULDN'T HEAR when we would pronounce a word, so she struggled with proper spellings and phonetics. Since regaining her hearing and working very hard to get up to and beyond grade level for spelling and vocabulary, I am over-the-top thrilled when she shows any interest in words.
My daughter and I have had an absolute delightful time learning Greek with this curriculum. The CD made it so easy for me to navigate the text as an instructor, and she loves the workbook format. She has had so much fun making up new words even though some are actual words she just never knew existed. We have determined, however, that I may be a bit of a misanthrope while she is a total and complete bibliophile.
Read what other members of the TOS Review Crew thought by clicking on the picture below:
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