Words, Words, Words

On of the children's favorite poems recently is Ation by Shel Silverstein.  One reason I think it is so popular is that the children learned many new challenging words in a fun way.  It has been amazing how many words over the last couple weeks the children have been writing that have "tion" in them.  We refer back to the poem and the word's spelling becomes much easier.  

Along with learning great "ation" words, the children continue to think of more homophones.  Every couple days a child will announce the discovery of another word that sounds the same but means two different things.  We have also found out just because they have different meanings does not necessarily mean they are spelled different ways, as in lie,  (you tell something that isn't true) and lie (recline).

Ation 

By Shel Silverstein

If we meet and I say, 'Hi,'
That's a salutation.
If you ask me how I feel,
That's a consideration.
If we stop and talk a while,
That's a conversation.
If we understand each other,
That's a communication.
If we argue, scream and fight,
That's an altercation.
If later we apoligize,
That's reconciliation.
If we help each other home,
That's a cooperation.
And all these actions added up
Make Civilization.
(And if I say this is a wonderful poem,
Is that exaggeration?)