Did you?  I told you not too!  I want you to read the post first.

New words!  I love them.  I'm not sure how or why they have come to bring me such joy, but they still feel like a fun discovery. There is great power in words too.  There is the power to change lives, encourage, love, and unfortunately, to destroy some of the same...with one small word.

As teachers we also know that words, how to choose them, how to research them, and how to appropriately employ them (hopefully and primarily for good), can make all the difference in the successful oral and written communication of our students.  The Idaho Core Anchor standards also emphasize the importance of vocabulary instruction:  CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.4 Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases by using context clues, analyzing meaningful word parts, and consulting general and specialized reference materials, as appropriate.  For many of us, this isn't a new insight, but have we recently considered the strategies we are employing in our classrooms to instill these skills and the excitement of new words?

So, I fell in love with some new words today and I have a challenge for you.  See if you can use the context clues (Including the picture at the end.  It's ok to look now.), analyze the word parts, and (if you must) consult reference materials (Admit it! You just went to Google. So did I.) to determine the meaning of my sentence.  If you are the first to respond to me (Angie) by email, with a very close approximation of what I love to do, I'll bring you a hot beverage of your choice on a morning of your choice next week.  

And then consider, "How might I instill the love and joy of new words in my classroom this year?"

I so love a sobremesa as the komorebi lights the cualacion left from the refreshments and good friends find laughter in my jayus as my nephew and niece find goya in their grandpa's fish stories.