Growing a Forest

We are growing a forest. Seriously. Ms. Leom fourth grade class and Mrs. Lepper's third grade class met today to plant the first seeds.

Our class

One of the skills we need to develop in third and fourth grades is the use of prefixes, root words, and suffixes. If students KNOW what the common prefixes and suffixes MEAN, it can help them read and comprehend. We want our students to be successful, and we need to work together to make it happen.

So the third and fourth grade students in these two classrooms will be reading. As they read, they will be looking for examples of the prefixes "un-" (meaning "not") and "re-" (meaning "again"). When they find a word that uses these prefixes, we will be sharing our findings with our class. We will look up the word in a dictionary. Then we will record the words and the meanings on leaves to be displayed. As we read and recognize new prefixes, we will add these trees and collect more leaves, creating a forest.

the "re-" tree

As our classes become comfortable and knowledgeable in the process, we will "adopt" other classrooms in our hallway and invite them to participate and build our forest. We look forward to the opportunity for our third and fourth grade learners to share our forest and share our learning with the fifth grade, sixth grade, and many other students in our school community! Our forest grows on the hallway as you walk outside to the big playground.

We welcome you to help us collect prefix seeds (for new trees) and leaves (new words) ideas to help us learn and grow.