Roots and Affixes Activity 1 – How Prefixes Change Meaning: There is a student page to download and reproduce for your students. “In this activity we will work with prefixes. Prefixes are word parts that are added at the beginning of root words. These word parts change the meaning of the root word to which they are added. Let’s begin by thinking about the prefix mis‐. Mis‐ means wrongly, so it changes the meaning of the word to mean that word wrongly. For example, misplace means to place wrongly. What other words can you think of that you can add mis‐ to and change the meaning?” As a whole group, brainstorm words with the prefix mis‐. Ensure that you use sentences to convey the change in meaning (e.g., Spend means to use money to buy something. Misspend means to use money wrongly or waste money.). Have the students work in small groups to repeat the exercise using the prefixes on the activity page. Watch for students who simply find words that begin with the letters rather than the prefix, e.g., mission. Activity 2 – How Suffixes Change Meaning: There is a student page to download and reproduce for your students. “In this activity we will work with suffixes. Suffixes are word parts that are added at the end of root words. These word parts change the meaning of the root word to which they are added. Let’s begin by thinking about the suffix ‐ist. The suffix ‐ist means one who studies or creates, so it changes the meaning of the word to mean one who studies or creates that word. For example, artist means one who studies or creates art. What other words can you think of that you can add ‐ist to and change the meaning?” As a whole group, brainstorm words with the suffix ‐ist. Ensure that you use sentences to convey the change in meaning (e.g., Geology is the study of the Earth. A geologist is one who studies geology.). Have the students work in small groups to repeat the exercise using the suffixes on the activity page. You may want to create a bulletin board to collect prefixes and words with prefixes that students encounter in their daily reading and writing activities. Common Core Standard: L.3.4: Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple‐meaning word and phrases based on grade 3 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies. L.3.4b: Determine the meaning of the new word formed when a known affix is added to a known word (e.g., agreeable/disagreeable, comfortable/uncomfortable, care/careless, heat/preheat). ©Learning Plus Associates, 2015 Did you like this resource?
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Activity 1 Directions: Study each prefix. Work together to determine root words that can begin with the prefixes to create new words. mis‐ (wrongly) misplace misspend over‐ (over) sub‐ (under) non‐ (not) de‐ (opposite) ©Learning Plus Associates, 2015 Activity 2 Directions: Study each suffix. Work together to determine root words that can begin with the suffixes to create new words. ‐ist (one who studies or creates) artist geologist ‐ness (state or condition) ‐ment (action or process) ‐er (more, comparative) ‐est (most, superlative) ©Learning Plus Associates, 2015