Happy Leap Day!

Thursday Feb 29 was an exciting and busy day.

#1 - The children presented their Early Human reports to parents and grandparents during Living History Day. It was a wonderful event!

#2 - We had snack (including tasting all the Hunter-Gatherer foods) and played a round of Poetry for Neandertals.

#3 - We recalled the biography that we read Wednesday for our final figure from the Harlem Renaissance (Jump at the Sun: The True Life Tale of Unstoppable Storycatcher Zora Neale Hurston by Alicia D. Williams) and how much Zora loved storytelling even as a young child. We discussed the figures she would create out of household objects to be characters in her stories, including Reverend Door-Knob, Miss Corn-Shuck, and Mr. Sweet Smell.

Mr. Sweet Smell was carved out of a bar of "do-not-touch Pears soap," and I happen to have a vintage bar of Pears soap with its unmistakable scent. The original recipe for Pears soap is no longer being made. After all the children got to smell the wonderful soap, they did their own soap carving project!

#4 - At lunch we read a Brer Rabbit story. Jump at the Sun referred to these stories many times, but the children were completely unfamiliar with them. We read an early reader version called All Stuck Up and looked at a jar of Brer Rabbit molasses.

The children asked to hear more folktales -- which Zora Neale Hurston collected as her final anthropology report in college -- so our next lunchtime read aloud book will be Jump on Over! The Adventures of Brer Rabbit and His Family retold by Van Dyke Parks and illustrated by Barry Moser.

#5 - After recess, we did an SWI lesson on the < -ling > suffix. See more below!

#6 - The children all went outside to check on the results of their Archaeology Experiment, started on the first day of our Early Humans block.

#7 - Finally, we ended the day with sewing. Everyone finished up their Story Quilts for our Art History study of Faith Ringgold. Children who needed more time took their sewing boxes home with all the supplies they would need.

So, what is the < -ling > suffix?

To begin this lesson, which was inspired by an email I got a few days ago from Fiona Hamilton, we read Lucky Ducklings: A True Rescue Story by Eva Moore. Then I explained to the class that a person born on Leap Day is called a < leapling >. < -ling > is a little-used suffix, so we spent some time looking for other words that have it, like < duckling >.

Here's their list. Can you think of others? Leave a comment!

leapling

duckling

darling

yearling

sapling

stripling

nestling

fledgeling

gosling

starling

darkling

changeling

This morning I woke up and thought, < spiderling >!

It is so interesting to look at the word sums of these words. We realized that < darling > is built on dear and < gosling > is built on goose. I had to look up < starling > and < darkling > (a kind of beetle) to see if they were really part of this pattern, and they are!

We also looked at all of the words we had compiled and tried to see if the suffix < -ling > brings an additional sense to the word. They hypothesized that it means smaller or younger. Yes! It's a diminutive suffix.

This suffix is now obsolete but we could still create words with it and have people understand them, which is what is so fun about morphemes (word parts). We recalled the story we read at lunch on Wednesday (The Secret Cave: Discovering Lascaux by Emily Arnold McCully). If I told you I found a < caveling >, would you know that I meant a teeny tiny cave?

The children also came up with some words that did NOT have the < - ling > suffix. In these words, the < l > is actually part of the base word. I drew a box around the base so that they could see it more clearly.

I introduced Structured Word Inquiry (SWI) in January as part of the "Story of English" block that the older children did. It really helps children with their reading -- as well as their spelling -- to understand how words are built!

This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!