1

Resource Bookletby Peter Bowers

The Science of Spelling

Grade 5 Structured Word Inquiry

2

Guides for Structured Word Inquiry

Links & ResourcesWordWorks Literacy Centre

Lot’s to explore here if you are interested.

www.wordworkskingston.com

On-Line Resources So Far!

✦ Etymonline

✦ Word Searcher

✦ Mini MatrixMaker

SWI Investigations Page on Real Spellers

Click HERE to see investigations from Nueva

Some links to highlight:• Click HERE for a video with a conversation with

Douglas Harper of Etymonline helping Pete with an investigation

• Click HERE for the document we worked with on on <mean> <median> and <mode>.

Found an interesting word?Investigate with these *4 questions...

1. What does the word mean?2. How is it built?

• Can you identify any bases or affixes with a word sum?

3. What other related words can you think of? • Etymological relations: Use a word origin dictionary (e.g.

Etymonline) to find members of the “extended family” of your word that share the same root.

• Morphological relations: Try the Word Searcher to help you find members of the “immediate family of your word that share a base element (fit in the same matrix).

4. What are the sounds that matter? • What grapheme/phoneme correspondences can you find that

fit within your hypothesized morphemes?

*Note: While the order of question 1 & 4 is essential, there is no order to questions 2 & 3.

3

Gra

de 5

SW

I Wor

d In

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ion

Ass

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this

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sho

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at is

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ily,

but w

hich

doe

sn’t

fit in

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r mat

rix.

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rixAt

leas

t one

mat

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at re

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you

r sta

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ord.

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plet

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k an

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sta

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par

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abov

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befo

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tarti

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n ne

xt p

art

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grap

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nce

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abov

e ite

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com

plet

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ork

with

you

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m to

co

mpo

se a

par

agra

ph th

at u

ses

at le

ast t

hree

wor

ds fr

om th

e et

ymol

ogica

l/mor

phol

ogica

l fam

ilies

of y

our s

tarte

r wor

d.

Que

stio

ns /

Obs

erva

tions

Eith

er o

n th

e sa

me

page

or a

sec

ond

page

iden

tify

inte

rest

ing

ques

tions

, obs

erva

tions

, you

had

dur

ing

the

proc

ess.

Sha

re q

uest

ions

yo

u st

ill ha

ve a

nd d

ecisi

ons

you

had

to m

ake

alon

g th

e wa

y.

Crea

tive

artis

tic fl

ouris

hes?

Af

ter y

ou h

ave

the

lingu

istic

cont

ent c

heck

ed b

y Pe

te, c

an y

ou th

ink

of a

cre

ative

, arti

stic

way

to p

rese

nt y

our l

earn

ing?

A fi

nal

pres

enta

tion

coul

d be

dig

ital,

inclu

de a

rt, b

e on

a p

oste

r, ha

ve h

ot

links

etc

. Hav

e fu

n wi

th re

pres

entin

g yo

ur le

arni

ng!

See

exam

ples

of a

Dra

ft #1

and

Dra

ft #

2 ba

sed

on <

sens

e> b

ase

on n

ext p

age

as a

re

fere

nce.

4

5Etymological and Morphological Relatives of the Free Base Element <sense>By Pete Oct 27, 2015

sentinel

Paragraph for <sense>It was a sensational night of music at Neil Young’s Bridge Concert. Not only was the music wonderful, the sentiment on stage and in the crowd was so positive given the cause of supporting the cause of sup-porting the children of the Bridge School. You could say there was a consensus of the power of music to bring people together to make the world a better place.

Questions and observations• At first I had just the <sense> matrix, but then I noticed that three of

my words shared the <sent> base, so I added the second matrix. • AtI was not sure how to analyze <sentinel> with a <sent> base. I

didn’t know what to do with the <inal> part, so I left <sentinel> as a base for now.

• The suffixes <-ibility> and <-ibly> made me wonder. It was hard to believe <-ibility> is just one suffix. At first we tried <-ible + ity>, but this doesn’t explain the <i>. The Oxford Dictionary describes <-ibility> as a suffix forming nouns and gives the example of <accessi-bility> which works with a word sum with the base or stem <access>. Until I find a way to analyze <-ibility> deeper, I will treat it as a suffix until I find a deeper analysis.

• I wonder if there are more morphological families that grow from the Latin root ‘sent(ire)’.

• I’m curious to better understand the connection between the idea of “perceive, feel” and the word <sentence>.

• In some of my searches, I found the Latin root “sensus’ for “perceive feel” too. I wonder if that explains the spellings <sense> and <sent>. I’ve heard of ‘twin bases’ and wonder if that might relate here.

Word Sums for <sense> matrixsense/ + or ➔ sensorsense + less ➔ senselessnon + sense ➔ nonsensesense/ + ibly ➔ sensiblydis + sense/ + ion ➔ dissensioncon + sense/ + us ➔ consensussense/ + ibility ➔ sensibilitysense/ + ate/ + ion ➔ sensation

Word Sums for <sent> matrixdis + sent ➔ dissentsent + i + ment ➔ sentimentsent + ence ➔ sentence

Latin ‘sent(ire)’ "to perceive, feel"

Draft #2

6

hyp

er-

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und

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two

form

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fam

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fron

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not s

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on

its o

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as a

wor

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ever

cau

ses c

hang

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spel

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of w

ords

suff

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phem

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at is

fixe

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the

end

of a

bas

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noth

er su

ffix

, or c

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wel

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ects

wor

d m

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can

cau

se sp

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orph

olog

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join

s

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el s

uffix

: beg

ins w

ith a

vow

el le

tter a

nd c

an c

ause

cha

nges

to th

e la

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tter o

f the

bas

e or

stem

to

whi

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re a

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(i.e

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op si

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e>s;

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final

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gle

cons

onan

ts)

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onso

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egin

s with

a c

onso

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lette

r and

doe

s not

cha

nge

the

last

lette

r of a

wor

d to

whi

ch it

is

ad

ded

exce

pt th

at, l

ike

a vo

wel

suff

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t can

cha

nge

<y>

to <

i>-a

ffix

:

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erm

for p

refix

es, s

uffix

es a

nd c

onne

ctin

g vo

wel

lette

rs

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<be

havi

oura

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e pr

efix

<be

->, c

onne

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g vo

wel

lette

r <-i-

> an

d su

ffix

es <

-our

> an

d <-

al>

are

affix

es.

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nect

ing

vow

el le

tter:

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d pa

rt co

nsis

ting

of th

e si

ngle

vow

el le

tter <

i>, <

u> o

r <e>

(Lat

in o

rigin

) or <

e> o

r <a>

(Gre

ek o

rigin

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ed b

etw

een

a ba

se a

nd su

ffix

or a

noth

er b

ase

(nev

er fi

nal)

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epla

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lent

<e>

s lik

e a

vow

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doe

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forc

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oubl

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ub

le t

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efo

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d t

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< y

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re y

ou

ad

d t

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uff

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oe

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e b

ase

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m e

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with

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e l

ett

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be

fore

th

at

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vo

we

l?

is t

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ba

se

or

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m a

m

on

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?

is t

ha

t v

ow

el

lett

er

a

sin

gle

sile

nt

< e

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es t

he

su

ffix

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gin

with

< i >

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is t

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on

e v

ow

el

lett

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ly b

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with

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el

lett

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gin

w

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a v

ow

el

lett

er?

do

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the

ba

se

or

ste

m e

nd

with

< y

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str

ess o

n t

he

sylla

ble

ju

st

be

fore

th

e

su

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in

th

e f

inis

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d

word

?

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e l

ast

lett

er

< l

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do

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ba

se

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the

ba

se

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m e

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< x

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just

ad

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ix

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YE

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ES

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Exce

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ally f

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so

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till

re

pla

ce

a s

ing

le s

ile

nt

< e

>

do

es

the

ba

se

or

ste

m e

nd

with

< ie

>?

NO are

yo

u a

dd

ing

the

su

ffix

< in

g >

?

NO

YE

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rem

ov

e t

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< e

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AN

D c

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AR

Tw

ith

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ord

su

m

This

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all

cases o

f suffix

ing.

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80