My sincere answer is 2,000. Not 2,000 total words learned both through explicit and implicit means, but 2,000 words just through explicit instruction alone. This is my general take and is quite a bit more than what the experts think.

So what do the experts think? In Timothy Shanahan’s blog, The Six Goals of an Ideal Vocabulary Curriculum, he concludes, “What would be the ideal vocabulary curriculum? One that increases the numbers of valuable words that students know, that increases their ability to define words from morphology and context, that fosters an awareness of meaning and diction, that enhances the ability to use appropriate reference tools, and that encourages metalinguistic awareness and sensitivity when dealing with word meanings.” I concur on each of his points.

Earlier in the article he mentioned he would aim to teach 150 vocabulary words per year. This is far from 2,000. It’s actually 92.5% less. His take is reasonable. Words need to be retained and review takes up instructional time. One hundred fifty words seems like a reasonable estimate. Maybe I am that ambitious outside back trying to strike one from 40 yards out. By the way, I’ve done this once in my playing career left-footed no less.

Let’s turn to the work of experts who have researched vocabulary throughout their careers. An often cited reference is that 400 words can plausibly be taught (Nagy & Anderson, 1984). Biemiller & Boote (2006) suggested teaching 1,000 words to ensure students actually learn about 400 words. Beck & McKeown (2007) push for teaching fewer words with greater intensity suggesting teaching 6-10 words per week. It does not appear the giants in the field would concur with my estimate of 2,000 words.

I’m suggesting that we explicitly teach 400% more words than the giants in the field. This seems a bit irrational. Let’s take the irrational to the rational. Let’s discuss math.

First off, time has to be spent focused on word study. Mapping words into long-term memory requires more than just teaching word meanings. Word study is how words work, their sounds, spelling, structures, meaning, and relationships with other words. We’ve known this for decades, but curriculum development has woefully lagged behind. Shene Templeton wrote a chapter titled, “The Vocabulary-Spelling Connection: Orthographic Development and Morphological Knowledge at the Intermediate Grades and Beyond.” This chapter came out of the book, “Vocabulary Instruction: Research to Practice” in 2004. I’ve gone back to this book dozens of times in the last twenty years. So do we spend enough time on word study throughout the day and are we teaching using ideal methods?

My answer to this is NO. We have certainly not spent quality time on word study nor have we used ideal methods, nor have we ever set the bar ambitiously high. What is possible if we used more instructional time for word study? What would be possible if we used more ideal teaching methods? What would be possible if we set the bar ambitiously high. What would it look like spending more instructional time on word study? What would it look like using ideal methods? What would it look like setting the bar ambitiously high?

Warning: I can’t answer these questions without discussing the Word Mapping Project curriculum, a word study curriculum that I’ve written with these three questions in mind.

The first question is should we spend precious instructional time in word study. The answer to this is yes. Timothy Shanahan has long argued for 30-45 minutes of daily word study. This is what I’ve thought as well. Morphology, spelling, word meanings, and syntax all need a place in the instructional day. The problem is that word study doesn’t generally get a seat at the big kids’ table. Go through your basal program. Go through your HQIM reading program. Is word study getting a seat at the table. Do you see enough time spent on teaching the meanings of words and having ample opportunities for students to practice learning these words or are the words taught mostly one offs? Do you see enough time being spent on learning prefixes, suffixes, and bases (all the meaningful parts in words)? Is enough time given to spelling as spelling helps orthographically map words in long-term memory? What if the curriculum throughout the school day caught up with the reading, learning, and instructional science?

I teach fifth grade so I’m just going to give you a fifth grade perspective. Let’s see how I get to 2,000 words.

First comes the warning. Many words I explicitly teach come from the Word Mapping Project curriculum that I’ve just developed. It is a word study curriculum that tries to link sound, spelling, and meaning. Vocabulary, morphology, spelling, fluency, and sentence composition are all taught in one interwoven “word study” block that approximately lasts 30-40 minutes daily.

My fifth graders are exposed to level C of the curriculum. Level C consists of 19 total units. Level C explicitly teaches students 646 distinct words. I am an admirer of Isabel Beck, Margaret McKeown, and Linda Kucan. Words can’t express how much I believe they have done for teachers and students regarding vocabulary instruction. Bringing Words to Life is one of the most important books ever written in the educational field. They espouse teaching words in-depth. Students need many exposures of words in different contexts to truly embed words in long-term memory. The 646 words I’m talking about in the Word Mapping Project curriculum are learned in depth. There are no one-offs. All of these words are exposed to students at least 10 times or more throughout the curriculum. It is more than just exposure too. Students actively practice using these words in writing and speaking. A sample unit is below.

The words all focus around a specific sound, in this case /or/. Contrasting words are taught at the same time. So a teacher explicitly teaches the words import and export or corroborate and refute as contrasting pairs.

Remember, mapping words into long-term memory is aided by sound, spelling, and meaning. During this explicit instruction routine, students are chorally saying the word. The word export is broken up into syllables and meaningful parts. In this case the syllables and meaningful parts are one and the same. Students learn the meanings of words through a concise student-friendly definition and are exposed to two examples of the words in context. Spelling is brought in at the end when students have to discern the example and write either the word export or import on their mini whiteboards. Sound, spelling, and meaning are all interwoven in one 4-minute explicit lesson.

Students also learn additional words through morphology. In this case import and export are used as an anchor as they were learned the previous day. Students learn words such as portable, transport, porter, and sport as well.

Students learn more words like report, reporter, important, and transportation as well. I just don’t have them in the table as they are not included in fluency passages or independent practice activities.

At minimum, 646 words are taught in an in-depth way to students with a significant number of practice opportunities.

Many of my fifth graders are exposed to 741 additional words. I do want to add that these words do not receive the amount of exposures and practice opportunities as the core words in the curriculum. I admire the work of Elfrieda Hiebert very much. I’ve spent countless hours in the past on her textproject website and her book “Teaching Words and How They Work,” has been a great influence on me.

Additional words are taught through semantic mapping. I truly want students to think about the relationships between and among words and how to group certain words together. One way this is accomplished is through passage reading. Words are organized into a category and students read passages together so they are learning additional words, thinking about how the words are grouped while building fluency as well.

Through the Word Mapping Project word study curriculum alone we are at 646 + 741 = 1,407 total words. Remember, the curriculum is only 30-40 minutes of your instructional day. We are now 593 words away from 2,000.

Novel study is a daily part of my instructional day. My fifth graders are exposed to books such as Bud Not Buddy, Number the Stars, Walk Two Moons, and Inside Out and Back Again. I estimate another 250 words are taught through novel study. Students learn words such as sabotage and rationing while reading texts such as Number the Stars.

646 + 741 + 250 = 1,657

I have to say I’m not sure how many words I explicitly focus on in math instruction. I will keep a running list this year. I estimate about 50. I do focus on prefixes during math instruction. One should know that peri- means around so students don’t mix up the formula for measuring perimeter and area.

646 + 741 + 250 + 50 = 1,707.

We are now 293 words away from 2,000 with science and social studies instruction still left to consider. My class does a fair amount of reading in the content areas. I use Core Knowledge texts for this. In geography, my class learns about United States Geography, World Rivers, and World Lakes. In history, we focus on Ancient Civilizations (Inca, Maya, Aztec), the United States Constitution, and understanding Civics and Economics. In science we review past concepts and focus on the Human Body (skeletal, muscular, respiratory, circulatory, and digestive systems), Earth’s systems, Ecosystems, Matter, and Astronomy. Below is a sample glossary from the Civics unit.

All told there are 378 words that are highlighted and worthy of explicit teaching in the Core Knowledge science and social studies texts.

646 + 741 + 250 + 50 + 378 = 2,065. This is a fairly close estimation on how many words are explicitly taught with opportunities to practice and read them in context in my classroom. Is this pretty ambitious? Probably so. Is it doable? I’m hoping I just demonstrated that it is. So what is the exact number of words that should be explicitly taught in a school year? 150? 300? 500? 1,000? 2,000? I think we should focus on a best-case scenario. We should raise the bar, raise the expectation, raise the standard. Four hundred seems to have been the historical standard. Let’s change history. Let’s get to 2,000.

Nagy W. E., Anderson R. C. (1984). How many words are there in printed school English? Reading Research Quarterly, 19, 304-330.

Biemiller A., Boote C. (2006). An effective method for building meaning vocabulary in primary grades. Journal of Educational Psychology, 98, 44-62.

Beck I. L., McKeown M. G. (2007). Increasing young low-income children’s oral vocabulary repertoires through rich and focused instruction. Elementary School Journal, 107, 251-273.

On October 20th, 2022 the podcast Sold a Story was released. It was hosted by journalist Emily Hanford and quickly became one of the most influential educational podcasts ever produced. It brought national attention to the disconnect between the reading research and the instructional approaches used in many schools, particulary those schools that were influenced by “balanced literacy.” One of the central themes of the podcast was that many schools had neglected explicit, systematic phonics instruction in favor of balanced literacy approaches. What were your reactions to this podcast as a mother, father, teacher, or administrator? Anger? Maybe Regret?

The uproar to Sold a Story seemed to be immediate at a fairly massive scale. Finally, a tipping point occurred and Fountas & Pinnell & Lucy Calkings became the public face of that backlash. In 2022, I had 22 years under my belt working in schools both as a school psychologist and an elementary classroom teacher. I couldn’t have been happier at the time. I struggled in my 8 years working as a school psychologist in a district that was heavily invested in a balanced literacy model. I’ve seen the damaging results of not having a structured phonics program in primary classrooms.

It seems like schools and districts acted fairly quickly to address this problem. My district bought into Fundations. It is probably better than nothing, but this curriculum has significant issues itself. Many others found UFLI. Still others went the speech to print approach and found EBLI, Sounds-Write, or Reading Simplified. Problems still exist with the adoption of programs like Fundations, but we are at least moving in a better direction.

Geting back to Sold a Story. I didn’t have feelings of anger or regret. Fortunately back in the 90’s I was trained as a school psychologist. The focus was more on empirically validated treatments or evidence based treatments. I learned in my school psychology program not to use the word “research” when talking with teachers as they will immediately put up barriers. The consulation professor was right. I ignored that point and yes teachers despised me bringing up the word research. I just couldn’t help myself. I’ve never been particulary good at consultation. I don’t want to beat around the bush. If we are doing something that isn’t helping kids we need to change soooner rather than later. The phrase “education change mooves slowly” has always infuriated me.

After listening to the entire Sold a Story podcast, I thought to myself, “yeah, balanced literacy models really messed up how we teach phonics, but balanced literacy messed up how we teach vocabulary, writing, and comprehension even more.” Do you know how many small group guided reading lessons I had to observe as a school psychologist? Too many. That is the amount. Watching students read a short fictional text with their teacher, getting hit with a club over and over on how to make an inference. Or Lucy Calkins method of sitting through a minilesson on a strategy like good readers blah, blah, blah and then do what good readers do during independent reading time.

Fast forward 4 years. Presently, we are now talking about literacy in grades 3 and beyond. The past few years have been really exciting for me as a 5th grade teacher. The field isn’t just talking about early literacy anymore. We are talking about knowledge building and the importance of teaching science and social studies in elementary classrooms. Gone is the day when teachers said, “I don’t have time for that sh*t,” meaning time for teaching content. Now we’ve made some improvement here, but still have a long way to go.

Vocabulary, morphology, decoding multisyllabic words, fluency, and syntax are now hot topics. They must be, I’ve even been a guest on multiple podcasts lately. Recently, I’ve listened to a bunch of podcasts and the general consensus is that these should be taught AND in an interconnected way. There just isn’t enough time to put all of these in silos. Additionally, the research suggests that teaching these in a connected way improves student outcomes. It seems like everyone is saying lately, sound, spelling, and meaning when discussing how to map words into long-term memory. I’ve been one beating this drum.

Getting back to the title of this piece. I’ve Scaled Up My Knowledge, Now What? So you’ve listened to podcasts talking about the importance of all of this. Maybe, you even read the new book by Paige Pullen titled, “The Canon of Literacy.” In Dr. Pullen’s words, “The Three Sciences Framework helps prevent a common error in literacy reform: narrowing focus to a single strand of evidence. Literacy science explains the development and linguistic foundation of reading and writing. Learning science explains how memory, attention, practice, and feedback shape acquisition and retention. Instructional science explains how to design and deliver instruction so that learners successfully acquire targeted knowledge and skills. Effective literacy instruction depends on the interaction of all three.” The Canon of Literacy book resonates deeply.

So you’ve scaled up your knowledge, now what? This is likely where you stand. It is where I stood years ago and still do to a degree. Here is the issue that teachers have when they really scale up their professional knowledge. They realize that the curriculum they’ve been given doesn’t follow the literacy science. The curriculum doesn’t follow the learning science. The curriculum doesn’t follow the instructional science.

In part 2, I’ll discuss what teachers can actually do about it.

A unique characteristic of the symposium is that presenters (18 in all) are current teachers or recently retired. The commonality between them is their manic desire to read as much of the educational research as they can and to take this research and apply it in their classrooms. I was fortunate to be included as one of the 18 presenters yesterday.

The day started off with a short keynote by Holly Korby from The Bell Ringer. She talked about the importance of teacher knowledge and the “why” of The Teaching That Succeeds Symposium. The goal for the 1/2 day was to briefly discuss the science behind learning, but it was more about taking that science and applying it to classroom practice. The goal was to build teacher knowledge and for teachers to be able to leave with routines that you could use and implement in your classroom the very next day.

My day started off by learning from Andrew Urevig. His presentation was titled: Why Can’t They Solve Word Problems? Schemas as an Evidence-Based Approach to Mathematical Thinking. I’m so glad I began the day off with this one. I’ve been so immersed in literacy and vocabulary for the past 5 years that my math instruction might be stagnating a bit. Andrew discussed how he used schemas with regard to mathematical word problems. This is one area in my math instruction that I can definitely improve upon. I now have a plan for next school year with my 5th graders.

I stuck with math for the next presentation as well. The presentation was titled: How Much Practice Do Students Need in Math Class? It was led by Dylan Kane, a teacher from Leadville, Colorado. Leadville hosts a popular ultramarathon race, the Leadville 100. Leadville is the highest elevation of any city in the United States. I digress. I’m getting back into shape and just finished a run this morning, and ultramarathon racing is intriguing. Ok, so Dylan’s presenation was top notch. I especially liked this data slide.

What a symposium like this offers is connections as well. Dylan has been teaching 7th grade and is moving to 5th grade next year. I was glad to hear this as he will be another 5th grade teacher to bounce ideas off of and learn from. This is one benefit of teaching in 2026. We just didn’t have this twenty years ago. I feel we are less on an island now. If you are a teacher in 2026 and want to learn, the world is your oyster.

The third session I attended was titled: Linguistic Phonics Practices to Benefit Multilingual Learners. The presenter was Tal Most. I was fortunate to meet her a few months back through a zoom meeting. Tal is the deputy director of Coloreado. Tal is brilliant. I wish her presentation was an all-day event. This is exactly why I love symposiums like this one. It makes you realize how much there is to know about education in general. I have so many questions I need to ask her.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see a fourth presentation because I presented during this time slot. I really wanted to see the presentation: JUMP Math in Practice: Micro-Steps, Real-Time Feedback, and Instant Intervention. JUMP math is getting rave reviews within the Science of Learning community. Personally, I’m going to pilot Jump Math next year. The most common question throughout the symposium was if the sessions are recorded. Fortunately, they were and I can play this one back.

My presentation was titled: Cracking the Code of Academic Vocabulary: Linking Sound, Spelling, and Meaning for Word Mastery. I focused on a "teaching words in pairs" routine. It is a routine I use throughout the school day. It is used in the Word Mapping Project curriculum and I also use it during novel study as well. Instead of teaching individual words, I like to pair them with an antonym or unrelated word. Below are some examples.

The routine is simple. I say the word, have students chorally repeat it, provide a student-friendly definition, and use the word in two examples. Students learn the antonym in the same way. At the end of the routine students have to differentiate between the words, a kind of semantic contrast. Here is my script for the words audacious and cautious.

The last part of this routine is honestly my favorite teaching part of the day. Students not only differentiate between two words but also write down more words that are related (semantic mapping). Below is an example. Students were distinguishing between the words conspicuousness and inconspicuousness. In this case, the correct answer was inconspicuousness. This is a great all around word. It contains two prefixes in- and con-, the base spic, a linking vowel -u-, and two suffixes -ous and -ness. Students wrote other related words such as subtle, absond, and humble. How are all of these words related? They aren’t perfect synonyms, are they? Think about this for a second before reading on. They all have to do with not being seen in some way.

Every year I try to set the bar higher for my students and every year they break through that ceiling. Below is a video showing what students (in this case my 5th graders) are capable of. I did present this to teachers as what is possible through a simple vocabulary routine.

The day ended with a panel of brilliant teachers. The overaching theme of the panel discussion is that you can tweak curriculum, but it should be based on research and you should be measuring if what you are doing is actually working.

The best part of this symposium is that is was free. The organizers didn’t pay a motivational speaker (like many districts do) $5,000 to do a rah rah session. A session that when you look back upon, you say what did I actually learn. Yesterday, I walked away motivated to try a few new routines and delve more deeply into the research on several topics. I need to reach out to two presenters, hoping they will meet with me via zoom so I can scale up my knowledge base. All in all it was a fantastic day!

What I’ve found in my own 5th grade classroom is that teaching morphology through matrices can tie phonology, orthography, and meaning together. It doesn’t even have to take too much time. My recommendation is to use a matrix on a weekly basis at the elementary and secondary levels. This would provide students exposure to about 36 matrices throughout the year in different subject areas. If the science and social studies teacher both did this, students would be exposed to 72 matrices throughout a school year. Is it worth 10 minutes of weekly instructional time. I think so.

You could even lessen it if you had students do the inquiry part on their own at home. I will probably begin doing this in the future as I know some of my students would really get into it and most likely have a discussion with parents about words that could be created. Parents would likely become involved as well because there is something inherently captivating about exploring how words are connected.

When teaching elementary students about the differences between carnivores, herbivores and omnivores you open up a lot of language. Below is a matrix from the Word Mapping Project curriculum.

There are many benefits to this matrix. First off, students learn that the base “vore” means to eat. There are other bases that are added to the base vore. Think about carnivore. The base “carn” means meat. A carnivorous animal is a meat-eating animal. The etymology of the word carnival is quite interesting. It was a festival that was a farewell to meat. Some even have stated that during the middle ages, communities would throw massive community festivals before the period of Lent as there was no refrigeration back then and the meat would perish.

Take geovore. The base “geo” means earth so a geovore is a creature that literally eats the earth, rocks, stones, and minerals. Geovores are probably more popular in science fiction books than in the real-world. Now you can discuss words like geosphere, geography, and geothermal. Discussion can now move to the bases “sphere” meaning globe or ball, the base “therm” meaning heat, and the base “graph” meaning write. This can lead to words such as thermodynamics or autobiography. This could become an endless lesson.

Attaching the base “omni” to “vore” creates the word omnivore. The base “omni” means all. So an omnivore eats all things, both plants and animals. An omniscient person would know this as they are “all” knowing.

Now the words voracious or voracity don’t have to specifically relate to truly eating something. Yes, a person with a voracious appetite wants to keep eating. They are never satisfied. You can be a voracious reader. You aren’t literally eating books, but you are devouring them in the figurative sense.

The additional benefit with matrices is always spelling.

In the words carnivorous, insectivorous, and herbivorous you drop the ending e in the base “vore” as -ous is a vowel suffix.

This little matrix packs a punch. It helps solidify the meanings of carnivore, herbivore, omnivore, and insectivore, provides spelling practice, and the structures for more potential learning to occur. It is a springboard for discussion around our English language.

What I’ve found in my own 5th grade classroom is that teaching morphology through matrices can tie phon…

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This past week my 5th graders began learning about the respiratory and circulatory systems. I use the Core Knowledge “Human Respiration and Circulation” text as a base for the unit. Students need to read science texts and Core Knowledge science textbooks are well written and free to download. I also like to show students fun videos which I honestly believe are helpful to learning these systems. Nemours Health puts out videos with Chloe and the Nurb like the one on how the lungs work. One previous student of mine actually dressed up as Nurb for Halloween one year. Mr. Parr has a song about how the respiratory system works. This circulatory system song is one of my favorites. The Heart Anatomy Song gets mixed reviews amongst 5th graders, but some will literally watch this over and over at home so I’ll take it.

The actual title of the unit is “Human Respiration and Circulation.” So let’s breathe life into this word. The base in the word respiration is spire meaning “breathe.” I find it helpful for students to learn affixes and bases within content areas such as science, history, and geography. Using morphology matrices is one way to do just that. The added benefit is the focus on spelling because students are writing out the individual morphemes (meaningful units) in each word.

Here is a matrix I used with my students. Students build words for 5-6 minutes before whole class discussion. Take a minute before scrolling down to think of some words you could make using this matrix. For novices to matrices, the base is spire meaning “breathe.” Prefixes are to the left of the base spire. I’ve included the prefixes a- (to, toward), con- (with, together), ex- (out), in- (in, into), per- (through, completely), re- (back, again), and trans- (across). Suffixes are on the right of the matrix and include -acy, -ed, -ing, -ate, -ion, -al, and -ory. You can attach a prefix with the base in this matrix or attach a prefix to the base to one or more suffixes.

Student Worksheet

I always make sure I have a teaching script printed out. I, like all teachers, have a limited amount of space in my working memory. A script is crucial so as not to overwhelm my working memory. I make sure to have the word sums and definitions of the words and how the words connect in my teacher lesson plan. During this discussion one of my 5th grade students stated that the word expire is figuratively taking your last breath.

As you can see, I have the words students can create in my teacher script. This shows all the word sums as well. Spelling is connected to meaning in this regard. Why not build in a bit of spelling practice here? Spelling helps to map words into long-term memory so I try to make it a part of vocabulary instruction.

In the teacher script, you see that some of the letters are crossed out. An ending e is almost always dropped when adding a suffix beginning with a vowel. In the word inspired, the ending e in the word inspire is dropped before adding the -ed suffix. Understanding and applying the vowel suffix rule to words ending in e is vital for students to understand. There are only a few occasions when this doesn’t happen. For example, in the word courageous, the e remains because it softens the g.

I also have all the words with definitions in my teacher script. At the end of the script I even have questions to pose to students about how these words are related. I’m trying to extend some vocabulary learning here.

Teacher Script

Launch the Inquiry

Show students the matrix.

🗣 “The base is spire. Spire- comes from Latin and means breathe. Keep this in mind as we investigate.”

Investigate

Students work alone or with a partner to build as many words as possible from the matrix. Give students anywhere between 5–6 minutes to build words making sure students are writing word sums on the left and the entire word on the right. The bolded words will come up in the fluency passage and are an area of focus for in-depth learning.

Discussion
Base: spire = breathe

with a- (meaning “to, toward”) + spire
aspire (v.) – to strive toward a goal or ambition

with a- + spire + ed
aspired (v.) – strove toward a goal

with a- + spire + ing
aspiring (adj./v.) – seeking to achieve something

with a- + spire + ate + ion
aspiration (n.) – a strong hope or ambition

with a- + spire + ate + ion + al
aspirational (adj.) – relating to hopes, ambitions, or goals

with con- (meaning “together”) + spire
conspire (v.) – to secretly plan together

with con- + spire + ed
conspired (v.) – secretly planned together

with con- + spire + ing
conspiring (v./adj.) – secretly planning

with con- + spire + acy
conspiracy (n.) – a secret plan made by a group

with con- + spire + ate + or
conspirator (n.) – a person involved in a conspiracy

with con- + spire + ate + or + i + al
conspiratorial (adj.) – suggesting secrecy or plotting

with ex- (meaning “out”) + spire
expire (v.) – to come to an end; originally, to breathe out

with ex- + spire + ed
expired (adj./v.) – ended or run out

with ex- + spire + ing
expiring (adj./v.) – coming to an end

with ex- + spire + ate + ion
expiration (n.) – the end of a period of time

with ex- + spire + ate + ory
expiratory (adj.) – relating to breathing out

with in- (meaning “in, into”) + spire
inspire (v.) – to motivate or encourage; originally, to breathe into

with in- + spire + ed
inspired (adj./v.) – motivated or filled with ideas

with in- + spire + ing
inspiring (adj.) – encouraging or motivating

with in- + spire + ate + ion
inspiration (n.) – something that motivates or encourages

with in- + spire + ate + ion + al
inspirational (adj.) – providing motivation or encouragement

with per- (meaning “through”) + spire
perspire (v.) – to sweat

with per- + spire + ed
perspired (v.) – sweated

with per- + spire + ing
perspiring (v.) – sweating

with per- + spire + ate + ion
perspiration (n.) – sweat

with re- (meaning “again, back”) + spire
respire (v.) – to breathe

with re- + spire + ed
respired (v.) – breathed

with re- + spire + ing
respiring (v.) – breathing

with re- + spire + ate + ion
respiration (n.) – the process of breathing

with re- + spire + ate + ory
respiratory (adj.) – relating to breathing or the lungs

with trans- (meaning “across”) + spire
transpire (v.) – to happen or become known; originally, to pass through as vapor

with trans- + spire + ed
transpired (v.) – happened or occurred

with trans- + spire + ing
transpiring (v.) – happening or occurring

with trans- + spire + ate + ion
transpiration (n.) – the process by which plants release water vapor

Connect Across Words

🗣 “How does spire connect inspire, respire, and expire?”
Answer: “All three words originally relate to breathing—breathing in, breathing, and breathing out.”

🗣 “How are respiration and transpiration related?”
Answer: “Both describe biological processes involving gases or water moving through living things.”

🗣 “How does conspiracy connect to the original meaning of spire?”
Answer: “Conspiracy originally meant people ‘breathing together,’ which came to mean secretly planning together.”

🗣 “Why does aspiration include the base spire?”
Answer: “Aspiration originally referred to breathing toward something and came to mean striving toward a goal.”

I generally follow up with a passage that embeds these words. In this case I focused on the topics respiration and transpiration, but the other words with the base spire were included in the passage as well. Embedding words in passages is essential. It provides students with practice reading words in context. Connecting phonology, orthography, and semantics aids in long-term retention of words. Below is the passage that my students will read on Monday. Students will read 2 to 3 times with partners for fluency practice.

The Amazing Story of Spire: How Plants and Animals “Breathe”

Have you ever noticed that words like respiration, transpiration, inspire, and expire all seem to have something in common? They all contain the base spire, which comes from a Latin word meaning “breathe.” Understanding this base can help us understand how living things survive and how many English words are connected.

Humans and animals stay alive through a process called respiration. During respiration, we breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. Our lungs take oxygen from the air and send it into our blood. Our cells use that oxygen to release energy from food. As a result, carbon dioxide is produced as a waste product. When we expire, we breathe out air from our lungs. In fact, the word expire originally meant “to breathe out.” Today, it can also mean that something has ended, such as when a library card expires.

Plants do not have lungs, but they still need water and gases to survive. Plants use a process called transpiration. During transpiration, water travels from the roots through the stem and into the leaves. Tiny openings in the leaves release water vapor into the air. This movement of water helps cool the plant and carries important nutrients to different parts of it. The word transpiration contains the base spire because the plant is releasing water vapor, almost as if it is “breathing” it out.

Respiration and transpiration are connected in an important way. Animals take in oxygen and release carbon dioxide. Plants use carbon dioxide during photosynthesis and release oxygen. At the same time, plants lose water through transpiration. Together, these processes help keep gases and water moving through Earth’s ecosystems. In a way, plants and animals work together to help life continue.

The base spire appears in many other words as well. When something inspires you, it fills you with ideas, energy, or motivation. Long ago, the word inspire literally meant “to breathe into.” A great teacher might inspire students to work harder, or a fascinating book might inspire someone to learn more about science. If a student wants to become a doctor, scientist, or engineer someday, that student may aspire to reach that goal. The word aspire originally meant “to breathe toward” something.

Sometimes people perspire, which means they sweat. When you run laps in gym class or play a tough basketball game, you may perspire because your body is trying to cool itself down. The word is connected to spire because moisture is leaving the body. Another related word is conspire. Today, conspire often means to secretly plan something together. Long ago, however, the word meant “to breathe together.” People who shared plans would literally talk and breathe together as they discussed their ideas.

The next time you encounter a word containing spire, remember its connection to breathing. Whether you are learning about respiration in animals, transpiration in plants, or words such as inspire, aspire, expire, perspire, and conspire, the base spire can help you unlock the meaning.

Using word sums and a morphology matrix is one way to add vocabulary instruction within the content that you are teaching.

Dear readers,

Last month, I was gifted a pen from one of my students. I guess I wasn’t really gifted it. It was left on my table. The substitute that was in for me couldn’t find a pen so a student gave her one. I never gave it back. Listen, I felt one with this pen the moment I laid eyes on it. It is actually the first pen I haven’t misplaced in 20 years. Every day for the last 6 weeks this pen has stayed right by my side through thick and thin.

All good things have to come to an end I guess. Today, the inevitable happened. The pen ran out of ink. This was my reaction. Man, did I love that pen.

I was in a state of shock. I tried shaking the pen. I tried rubbing the pen back and forth between my hands to get the ink going, but to no avail. Chaos erupted in the room. Suggestions erupted from the room on how to fix this pen. Unfortunately, that pen finally met its maker. My 5th graders could tell I was a bit upset. It was evident.

Student responses below:

“Mr. Morrisey, you look a bit distraught.”

“He looks solemn.”

“Are you filled with melancholy?”

“He’s almost despondent.”

One of my students walked up to me and gave me a pat on the back.

My reply was thanking him for his compassion.

Then an idea was born. One of my students took the ink cartridge out of one of his pens and boldly announced, “We can transplant this!”

An auspicious sign it was. Until I realized that darn pen company didn’t allow for it to be replaced. I even went to the tool box to retrieve the pliers to no avail.

A student summed up this moment of despair with, “Mr. Morrisey, nice exaggerated sense of anguish.”

I think tomorrow morning I will lay this to rest letting my students know that even pens are mortal. A moment of tranquility will follow afterward. I will ask for any parting words.

Little vocabulary moments are the best!

I create a script for teaching the words in pairs. A script is vital in my opinion. It is hard to come up with a student friendly definition and examples right on the spot. This is the script for notable and insignificant.

• Introduce the word notable

• Choral response - this is the beginning of mapping a word in long-term memory. Students need to pronounce the word they are learning correctly.

• Write the word notable under the document camera

• Break the word notable into syllables and have students say the syllables out loud

• Provide a student friendly definition

• Provide two quick examples

• Introduce the word insignificant

• Write the word insignificant under the document camera

• Provide a student friendly definition

• Provide two quick examples

• Then have students differentiate between 4 to 5 examples (notable/insignificant). Spelling words helps with mapping them into long-term memory.

My favorite part of this routine is when students have to differentiate between the words. It isn’t difficult as students were just given student friendly definitions and examples of each word. I encourage students to write related words under the correct word. Related words don’t necessarily have to be synonyms. I’m encouraging students to think about categories here or linking words in unique ways. Below is an example.

Words similar to notable are vital for students to know. These words come up in academic text over and over. This student retrieved previously learned words such as remarkable, crucial, vital, and significant. She added a few interesting words such as superfluous and innocuous that are related to insignificant. Superfluous and innocuous are not synonyms, but both can be related to the word insignificant. We want students to think about words, how they relate to one another, how they are connected, how they are different.

I generally will take a mini whiteboard, show the class, have them turn and talk for about 20 seconds to discuss how the words are related. This is a nice quick retrieval exercise in a unique way. Students are motivated to write additional words as most are excited when I take their mini whiteboard to show to the class.

This example is typical in my classroom at this point in the school year. It is not a remarkable answer. I don’t think you get here without teaching a plethora of words throughout the year though. How can kids make these connections if they don’t have the words to connect it to? Oh, and look at all that additional spelling practice!

I encourage you to try out this routine in your own classroom. It has worked remarkably well for my students over the years.

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First off, my name is Sean Morrisey. I teach 5th grade in a suburban district just south of Buffalo, NY. I’m a pretty simple person. My life really revolves around three basic things. Family, vocabulary, and Buffalo sports. Is there really anything more in life?

I’m on a bit of a high today. Three weeks ago, I successfully launched a vocabulary, spelling, and morphology curriculum called the Word Mapping Project. Yesterday, the Buffalo Sabres just won their first playoff series in almost 20 years. My favorite player, Zach Benson, scored the goal to seal the series for the Sabres. He didn’t disappoint throughout the whole series. This is my new favorite Sabres pic of all time.

Like Zach Benson, I hope this substack doesn’t disappoint. Zach Benson plays with a fire unmatched by most. His puck pursuit is relentless. His tenacity unrivaled. I feel this way in regards to vocabulary. I honestly believe every classroom should be in relentless pursuit of teaching and learning words all day, every day.

You won’t find perfect prose in regards to my writing on here, but you will find my tenacity and relentless desire for teaching vocabulary. I truly want all kids, even adults to become logophiles. I’m hoping to cultivate a little bit of this on this platform. So here is a morphology matrix dedicated to my love for Zach Benson as a hockey player and also my love for words.

I want to create a community of logophiles. All are welcome even educators from Philadelphia, the city of Brotherly Love. I promise not to be too philosophical on here. Hopefully, you will see my tenacious desire in all things teaching vocabulary just like Zach Benson’s love of creating strife or conflict (phile + oneic + ist → philoneicist). No this isn’t a real word, but it should be.

Enjoy the rest of your day. Go Sabres!