Root Grove

What your child practices

• Prefixes such as un-, re-, pre-, dis-, mis-, in-, ex-, trans-, inter- and sub-, and what each one does to a word (Grade 3 and up).
• Suffixes such as -ful, -less, -able, -ible, -ness, -ment, -ion, -er and -or.
• Latin roots such as port (carry), spect (look), struct (build), rupt (break), ject (throw), tract (pull), vis (see) and dict (say) (Grades 4 and 5).
• Greek roots such as graph (write), phone (sound), scope (look at), meter (measure), cycle (wheel) and logy (the study of).
• Using parts as clues to meaning, the way the Common Core vocabulary standards L.3.4 to L.6.4 describe it, plus the spelling changes that happen when parts join: use + able makes usable, happy + ness makes happiness.

How to play

Tap Grow words and pick a path: the Sapling Path for ages 8 and 9, or the Old Wood Path for ages 10 to 12, which opens the Latin roots right away. The first tree opens straight away, with Hazel the owl as a guide.

Each tree has a root carved in its bark and a clue for every bud, like to carry from one place to another. Your child picks a start, an end, or both from the colored tiles, then taps Grow. The right word blooms into a leaf and a card shows the word, its parts and what each part means, a sentence that uses it, and a spelling tip when the parts change as they join.

Tries that do not grow fizzle gently. Hazel says what the parts mean together and points back to the clue. A second miss names the meaning of the part that needs to change, and a third makes the right tiles glow so your child builds it and moves on. If your child builds a real word that is not on the tree, like display or kinder, Hazel says so and explains, so trying ideas is never wrong.

Some roots have two spellings, like vis and vise or duct and duce. Picking the right one is part of the puzzle, and the game says so when only the spelling is off.

Riddle Walk

The Riddle Walk is six riddles in a row: a meaning appears and your child builds the word from start, root and end tiles. There is no list of answers to pick from, so every riddle is real recall. Missed words come back sooner, words answered well come back later, and a word that is answered right on separate walks turns its leaf golden on the tree.

What grows over time

The grove is the collection. There are four glades: Sapling Glade with everyday words, Latin Hollow, Greek Glen and the Old Wood. Trees fill out as leaves grow, leaves turn gold as words are learned, and when every leaf on a tree has grown it blossoms and a little woodland critter moves in. The Word Book keeps every word with its meaning and parts, plus a page of every start, root and end found so far.

There are no streaks, timers or daily rewards. A session can be a few clues or a whole tree.

How it adapts

Trees open one at a time, and the next glade opens once a good share of the last one has grown. When your child grows words without misses, a few extra decoy tiles join the tray. When several tries in a row fizzle, the tray gets simpler again. The small meaning under each tile (re means again) fades once that part has been used right a few times. Riddle Walks bring back each word on a spaced schedule, and new words in a walk show the root's meaning as a tip.

For grown-ups

Press and hold For grown-ups on the title screen. You will see words grown, golden leaves, riddle accuracy, progress in each glade, and the words that need practice. You can change the starting path, keep the part meanings on every tile, open every tree at once, or start over. The reading voice and its speed can be set there too.

Tips

• Read the clue out loud and listen for the parts: across sounds like trans, again sounds like re.
• Look at the little meanings under the tiles and put them together: not + see + can be is invisible.
• If a word fizzles, read what Hazel says about the parts. It usually shows which part to swap.
• Use the Riddle Walk to turn leaves golden. Words you know well stay gold.

Tips for grown-ups

• Go on a word hunt: look for port, spect or graph on signs, cereal boxes and in books.
• Split a long word together at dinner: un + break + able, trans + port + ation.
• Ask a root question: what do you think geo means in geography and geology?

Privacy and safety

Root Grove is part of our learning games area. There are no ads, no accounts, no chat, no leaderboards and no tracking, and it loads nothing from outside services. Progress stays on the device. Every word was checked to be a real, common word with a kid-friendly meaning.

Questions