The main part of a word. Many words are usually derived from the same root.

The awareness of and interest in using new words to become more precise with language.

A term used to describe a student’s increasing knowledge of words and definitions.

A vocabulary strategy created by Haggard in 1986 where students select their own vocabulary words to encourage a greater interest.

A vocabulary strategy where students monitor their own understanding and capability of learning new words. Each student chooses a word from assigned texts that they believe the entire class needs to discuss.

An approach to vocabulary where students select meaningful and challenging words they would like to learn in order to promote discussion.

Understanding how to analyze a word’s structure using prefixes, roots, and suffixes. This structural analysis helps students to understand the definition of a word and determine the definition of unknown words when reading.

A fixed design that is a slight variation from a Semantic Map. A focus word is placed inside of an oval and then several questions are raised about this new word. The questions may be given by the teacher or the students. Each new question is placed inside an oval

A graphic organizer that helps students to make predictions about characteristics related to a word, to sort by qualities, and to set a purpose for their reading and researching.

A strategy that provides an overview of a root word and the words that can come from that root.