A bound base is a base that does not exist on its own as a complete word in English. It must have a prefix, suffix, or another base attached to appear!
In our case, the word < mortally > came up in our reading of Tatsinda.
but the giant, I am certain, fears it mortally."
The children did not know what mortally meant, but figured it out by looking at the word immortal. Then we brainstormed other words built on this base.
We came up with
- mortally
immortal
mortal
mortality
mortuary
mortician
Morticia
Although, technically, you cannot do SWI with names, Morticia Addams from The Addams Family was a very clear connection!
Words we were unsure about: mortified, mortgage, mortar, and mortise.
Using etymoline, I found out that the root of < mort > is the Latin mortalis "subject to death, mortal, of a mortal, human."
Remember that a morphological relative is based on the same morpheme (word part) so it shares BOTH a modern day spelling AND meaning.
An etymological relative will go back to the same ancient root and have a similar meaning, but we see that the spelling became changed over time.
A word that shares a similar spelling pattern but is completely unrelated in meaning is not a relative. That's a coincidence!
To see if mortified, mortgage, mortar, and mortise are related to the rest of our list, we have to see their historical origins.
< mortar > is itself a base and it goes back to Latin mortarium "mortar, mixture of lime and sand."
The entry for < mortise > is an interesting read. It is of uncertain origin, possibly coming into French from the Arabic murtazz "fastened."
Both < mortgage > and < mortified > are related to < mort > but in ways that may surprise you. Personally, I always thought mortified carried a sense of "so embarrassed you feel like you're going to die," but originally it was used to specifically describe a wound that turned gangrenous (death of one part of the body while the rest is still alive) leading to amputation or death.
This short spontaneous SWI investigation tied in very neatly with our September & October Philosophy study of Death. Although initially surprised that we were "allowed" to talk about Death in the classroom, the children quickly warmed up to being able to share their ideas and ask their questions. We enjoyed Tuck Everlasting as a lunchtime read aloud, which lead to some interesting questions — Would you drink that water? Will she? — and we had the immortal toad as a Halloween Handwork option.
We also discussed the recent NYT article, The Strange Phenomenon of Terminal Lucidity.
We listened to Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings and shared why we thought this piece of music is often chosen for funerals and memorial services. Then we considered the fact that this music is only considered "sad" for those who grew up in the Western European musical tradition. We wondered,
what does funerary music sound like in other parts of the world?
We invited Larry Millard to come into the classrom as a special guest. Larry is a musicologist; he shared musical recordings from his travels, specifically funeral services in Ghana. It was so interesting to hear about funerals there, and to hear the music! We learned a lot. In learning about funerals in other parts of the world, we tried to figure out: what is truly universal?
Several children in our group also visited the General John A. Logan Museum to see the Funerary Practices of the Past exhibit.
We are also pleased to welcome Erin Darnell
into our classroom as a special guest. As our final activity in our Philosophy study of Death, Erin will speak about her work as a professional death doula.
This has been a very rich and beautiful exploration of a challenging topic!
Immersive Experience
Immersive Experience
Immersive Experience
Immersive Experience
