Three Hours of Greek and Latin

Liz Mercier, professor of Greek and Latin at Purdue, came to my classroom yesterday to share some of her knowledge about Greek and Latin. She asked me how long she should prepare for, and I told her I would clear the morning and that we could go until lunch if she was available and the kids were interested.

She was, they were, and we did.

We played with Greek and Latin for three whole hours!

And my kiddos wanted her to teach more after lunch! (We didn't do that.)

I do a lot with Greek and Latin roots, stems, prefixes, and suffixes, and by the time the students leave for East Tipp, they have learned almost 100 of them. Since 60% of the English language is based on those two languages, and 90% of scientific words are, needless to say, it is time and study well spent.

Still, I was surprised that the students lasted three hours! I thought for sure a couple of them would become restless. But that was not the case, and when it was time to leave, Liz told my students, "I wish my Purdue students loved learning like you do. Always keep that joy, and never quit raising your hand to participate."

Bonus of the day was that Lisa ("Miss I") spent the morning with us! (I am kicking myself that I did not get any pictures of her working with students.)

 We transliterated our names into Greek letters.

And wrote sentences after practicing the Greek alphabet.

 JG asked if she could look up a Latin word on the computer and did a little word research.

 EP and AS practice letters of the alphabet.

All of us with some of our practice words and sentences. (That's Liz on the right.)