Tools for Instruction
Prefixes pro-, hyperAs students increase the amount of text they read, they will need to rely on strategies for determining the
meanings of unfamiliar words they encounter. Understanding how new words are formed by adding prefixes and
suffixes can greatly expand both the words that students recognize and the range of strategies they can use to
infer the meanings of words from context. Continue to expand the number of prefixes that students know.
Step by Step 30–45 minutes
1 Introduce and explain prefixes pro- and hyper-.
• Display the word active. Ask a student to use it in a sentence. (I am very active in sports after school.)
• Add the prefix hyper- at the beginning of active. Read the new word, hyperactive, aloud, and have students
repeat it after you.
• Explain that some words can be broken into parts. Word parts that come at the beginning of a word are
called prefixes, and they can change the meaning of a word.
• Say, Hyper is a prefix that means excessive, or an extreme amount. Hyperactive means extremely active. My dog is
hyperactive when I first come home from work. I can tell because she barks a lot, runs around the house, and wags
her tail enthusiastically.
• Then remove hyper- and add the prefix pro-. Say, To be proactive means to do something in advance. When you
are proactive, you do something before it needs to be done.
• Discuss how the meaning of each prefix changes the meaning of active.
2 Model using prefixes and context to determine meaning.
• Display the following sentence.
I want to join a summer camp, so I will proceed with signing up.
• Draw a line between pro- and ceed, and explain that students will read many words that break into parts that
may not make sense to them. Model how they can use their knowledge of the prefix and the context of the
sentence to figure out the meaning of the word.
I don’t know what ceed means by itself. But I do know that pro- means “forward.” And the sentence is about
doing something in the future: the person wants to join a summer camp and will sign up for one. Because the
sentence tells about something to do with going forward, I can guess that proceed probably means to move
forward with doing something—like signing up for summer camp.
3 Guide practice in determining the meaning of words with prefixes.
• Display the following chart.
Prefix
prohyper-
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Meaning
forward
excessive
Examples
proactive, proceed, promote, produce
hyperactive, hypersensitive, hyperbole
Vocabulary I Level 6 I Prefixes pro-, hyper- I Page 1 of 2
i-Ready Tools for Instruction
• Guide students to repeat the previous exercise, using the remaining words on the chart. Provide
context‑based sentences such as these.
• My mother always wears layers in the winter because she is hypersensitive to the cold.
• The man handed out fliers to promote his band’s concert that evening.
•When I heard her say the box weighed a thousand pounds, I knew she must be using hyperbole.
4 Provide independent practice using words with prefixes.
Connect to Writing  Display the words containing the target prefixes, and review that hyperbole is a way of
writing in an exaggerated way.
• Have students write a paragraph about a topic of their choice, using hyperbole. Require them to use words
containing the prefixes pro- and hyper-.
• Invite students to share their work. Ask classmates to identify words containing the target prefixes.
Check for Understanding
If you observe...
difficulty understanding the meaning of a prefix
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Then try...
providing a few examples of words containing the
prefix. Have students look up their meanings, and
then talk about what they have in common. Relate the
similarities back to the meaning of the prefix.
Vocabulary I Level 6 I Prefixes pro-, hyper- I Page 2 of 2