Speak Greek! Examine words carefully for spellings and word forms. Origins of hundreds of sophisticated Greek words.

A challenging modified rummy routine card game, where every round will help expand your student's vocabulary.

• Race your opponents as you study common Greek patterns and combining forms
• Create sets of three and four cards that share common characteristics
• Learn dozens of sophisticated words with each hand

104 sturdy whimsical cards - best for readers 10 and up.

10 minute rounds for 2+ players

Extensions and extra activities:

• DECODING MULTISYLLABLE WORDS: Stack the cards so the entire Greek word is facing up. Go through the deck decoding these multi-sylalble words.
• COMBINING FORM SORT: Separate the cards into piles of common word forms: phon, chron, hyper, sym, etc. Discuss the meaning differences.
• GRAMMAR/SYNTAX TO THE MAX: Note the part of speech/suffix information at the bottom of the card. Use the word in a sentence. Do this orally. Have a written sentence as well.
• SPELLING GREEK: Headline a paper/black or white board with the Greek Spelling differences. CH as “k” PS as “s” y as short I y as long I. Then read the words and sort appropriately. Then have a spelling test of these Greek spellings on the sorted words.
• HEARING GREEK: Read a word aloud to students. Have them identify as many parts/morphemes of the word as possible. The person who gets all of the parts gets a point!
• A GREAT MORPHEME AWARENESS TASK - GREEK WORD CHAINS: Put out a line of 10 cards across the table. Divide up the deck among the players. Have students take turns “CHAINING” by making a ladder of words. In order to be added to the chain, the card must have one of the morphemes of the word to which it is chained. Chain can move up or down. First one out of cards wins.
• SAYING GREEK: Then the students can have timed races of reading the chain. Fastest time wins! Any inaccuracy and the person is out (think Project Runway) and must start again in his/her next turn.
• BRIDGING: As students read science and math books in the classroom, invite them to make a list of these words of Greek origin/ combining forms to share with the class. Teach them how to use root hooks to access meaning of the words. They can use the hooks to store words easier retrieval for tests. This is a great bridge from the reading room to the content classroom.
• GREEK GO FISH: Play like classic Go Fish. Deal 7 cards to each player. Pool remaining cards in “the Agean sea.” Ask other players for particular combining forms. A book of 4 gets put down on the table. The winner goes out first!
• GREEK CRAZY EIGHTS/UNO: Deal out 7 cards to each player. Have a draw pile. Turn over a card to start the discard pile. Take turns playing on word parts. You must announce the part and pronounce the word as you play through. First one out of cards wins.