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School SCRABBLE® Activities: Issue #32

Educators and parents have been asking us for more School SCRABBLE® activities. Here they are! Every two weeks, a new page will be posted. We welcome your questions and suggestions. Send them to Cindy McCaffery.

Tautonyms

December 3-14, 2001

[three tautonyms written on blackboard]

Tautonyms are words formed by a repeating sequence of letters. Tautonyms are fun to learn and can come in handy when you have a lot of double letters on your SCRABBLE® rack. Write the following words on the chalkboard:

hotshots

tartar

froufrou

Ask students what these words have in common. (They have a repeating sequence of letters.) Tell students that these words are known as tautonyms. Write the following list of tautonyms on the chalkboard. Call on students to use a dictionary to find the definition of these words:

bulbul

a songbird

atlatl

a device for throwing a spear or dart

dodo

an extinct bird

tartar

a crust on the teeth

greegree

a bird

chichi

elaborate ornamentation

mahimahi

dolphin fish

lavalava

Polynesian garment

murmur

to speak softly and unclearly

pawpaw

fleshy fruit

Create a bulletin board display of these words and their meaning. Invite students to add tautonyms that they find in their reading. Remind students to look for tautonyms when they have a number of repeating letters on their SCRABBLE® racks.

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Browse our archives for back issues from 2000 (issues #1-8) and 2001 (issue #9 and on).

elsewhere on this web site, you can: find out-of-the-box tips, print score sheets, scorecards and challenge slips or buy a copy of the Official SCRABBLE® Players Dictionary, Third Edition

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