All year, students have been building their vocabulary by exploring root words – the core parts of words that carry meaning. This ongoing focus helps students decode unfamiliar terms across subjects and develop a deeper understanding of how language works.

Over the past three weeks, we’ve explored:

 therm – meaning heat
Students encountered words like thermometer, thermal, and thermostat, making connections between scientific vocabulary and everyday life.

: bene – meaning good or well
From beneficial to benevolent, we looked at how this root appears in both academic and literary contexts. Students also enjoyed the link to Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet, whose name reflects his peaceful nature.

 tract – meaning to pull or drag
We broke down words like attract, subtract, and intractable, helping students see how adding prefixes and suffixes can shift meaning and usage.

With each new root, students gain powerful tools for reading, writing, and making connections across the curriculum.