I’ve not always been a huge fan of teaching prefixes and suffixes… I mean a lot of words sound really good if you add -re or -un in front of them. In fact, if you look closely at our prefix chart we had some words that I had to go through and mark out later because they even tricked me! PTL for Google, right?!
I tried really hard this year to spice things up and make them a little more interesting. The main thing is exposing my kiddos to the fact that prefixes can change the meaning of words. We made lots of charts!
My students make these rainbow clouds every year, but this year I decided to incorporate these bright guys into prefixes. My original plan was to have my kiddos just write a word for the prefix on each strip, but then I decided sentences would help me know if they understand the meanings of the words they chose!
We also wrote short stories using at least 3 words with prefixes. I gave each pair of students 2 notecards- one for the story and one for the picture.
My class is Frozen obsessed. It’s a spelling word this week which gives our spelling words a whole new level of excitement. The amount of stories and sentences that I’ve read about Elsa, Ana, and Olaf is kind of crazy! But, if it gets them writing, I’ll roll with it!
I mentioned this chart on Monday, but wanted to give you a better rundown of it. I cut two pieces of butcher paper that were the same size. I only glued them together at the top and down the middle. Then, I made 4 cuts for my 6 flaps on the top sheet of paper. The bottom sheet stayed in tact. It was really simple, it just looks complicated 🙂
Like I said before, I gave each student a root word. They stood up, read their root word to the class, and the class helped decide which prefix should be added to the front of the word. Then, the student placed the word under the prefix.
We have also used these activities for independent work. Gotta take those grades at some point :/
And, that’s it! Do you have any fun activities for teaching prefixes? I’d love to have more things to pull from!!
Hi, I'm Amy
Hey, y’all! My name is Amy Lemons and I am passionate about providing students with both engaging and effective standards-based Math and ELA lessons.
You are always like a week behind me. This KILLS me, because I always see your stuff and go, “Darn that would have been way better than what I did!” lol
Such great ideas for teaching about prefixes and suffixes! ❀Jodi Fun In First
Everything about this post is amazing! You rock girlfriend!
Love all of your ideas! I let my kiddos make Prefix Fortune Tellers to review what they know. It's a hit every year! (There's also a suffix one in my store too!)
10 Responses
You are always like a week behind me. This KILLS me, because I always see your stuff and go, “Darn that would have been way better than what I did!” lol
I really like the rainbow clouds!
Deb
Not very fancy
Such great ideas for teaching about prefixes and suffixes!
❀Jodi
Fun In First
Everything about this post is amazing! You rock girlfriend!
Love all of your ideas! I let my kiddos make Prefix Fortune Tellers to review what they know. It's a hit every year! (There's also a suffix one in my store too!)
Check it out here!
Such good ideas for teaching!
L x
http://workingmumy.blogspot.com
I LOVE the prefix trees and the interactive chart!
Kristin
My Carolina Classroom
I love the prefix ideas! Thanks for sharing!
smart, smart girl! Love the rainbows!
Thank you. I used the prefix anchor chart. My students enjoyed a 3-d look and have gone back to it often.