I Hominid All Over the Place

So I was teaching my students about the word root of the word human a while back.  You guys, it’s really cool.  Did you know that the words human, humble, humus, hominid, humility, and humiliate all come from the root humus/homo, which means soil? Even linguistically, humanity goes back to the earth. I was waxingContinue reading “I Hominid All Over the Place”

The Fluctuating Fleet of Floating Flotsam and Other Adventures in Word Roots

At Frog Hollow, we often start the day with a word family, sometimes a spelling family but usually a word root. I’ll throw up a big list of words from that root, some familiar, some awesomely new, and then we’ll take five minutes to write a sentence or two using at least one — butContinue reading “The Fluctuating Fleet of Floating Flotsam and Other Adventures in Word Roots”

The Suitcase in the Mirror: cracking The Jabberwock

One of my favorite poems to teach is Lewis Carroll’s “The Jabberwock.” It is fun to memorize, and thrilling to recite. ‘Twas brillig and the slithy toves/did gyre and gimble on the wabe. It’s pure, exhilarating nonsense. To steal the kids’ slang, it’s epic. It’s also one big suitcase of cool lessons. I’ve been teachingContinue reading “The Suitcase in the Mirror: cracking The Jabberwock”