As students progress through their academic career, their language abilities must evolve and grow. One way to do that is to help them practice understanding words that contain prefixes and suffixes. Prefixes are morphemes that are attached to the beginning of a word to alter its meaning. Similarly, suffixes are added to the end of a word to change its meaning. Understanding these changes is a key skill in becoming a stronger reader and writer.

Here are some activities to teach students about prefixes and suffixes:

1. Root Detective:

Have students select a prefix or suffix and use a dictionary to find words that contain the selected morpheme. Then, using context clues, they can guess the meaning of the word. This helps them to practice their understanding of how different prefixes and suffixes affect the meaning of a word.

2. Word Buildings:

In this activity, students create as many words as possible from the same root word. They can add a prefix or suffix to the word to create new words. This activity reinforces their understanding of how the addition of prefixes and suffixes can change the meaning of a word.

3. Prefix and Suffix Worksheets:

Printable worksheets are available online where students can practice identifying, choosing and utilizing prefixes and suffixes. These worksheets are a good way to reinforce prefixes and suffixes in a classroom and to check for understanding throughout a unit.

4. Word Mapping:

In this activity, students take a word apart and identify the roots, prefixes, and suffixes. They then create a visual map to show how these different morphemes interact to create the word. This activity helps to reinforce not only the meanings of prefixes and suffixes, but also the importance of breaking down new vocabulary into smaller parts.

5. Jeopardy:

Set up a Jeopardy-style game to help students review prefixes and suffixes. Create categories such as “Prefixes,” “Suffixes,” and “Meanings” and have students choose a category and point value to answer a question. This game encourages critical thinking and helps students to practice combining prefixes and suffixes to get the intended meaning of the word.

Incorporating these activities in your classroom will not only improve your students’ language skills but also their understanding of how morphemes work together to create words. By understanding the function of prefixes and suffixes, they can become more confident readers and writers.