Hey Everyone,

If you are like me, testing is just around the corner. My class this year is fairly strong in reading, but not in math. Since I am spending so much time on math, I want to make sure that I am really focusing on the language arts skills that my kids need.

So what do they need you ask? Writing and vocabulary. A lot of my students do not come from vocabulary rich environments, and I decided to really spend time teaching word parts. We recently spent a week on prefixes.

Erin at Learning to Be Awesome arranged a seller product swap. I got to choose the product I wanted, and the prefix activity was perfect for my ELA plans. 2SpeakRight had a terrific prefix product that fit perfectly into my unit!

Day 1: Prefix Lesson

We use Journeys in our school, and the Florida Test Power book has a great prefix lesson. I did that lesson first. It reviewed dis-, mis-, non-, and un-. I am sure that your ELA curriculum has a lesson on prefixes somewhere.

Day 2-3: Prefix Meanings Lesson

Deb Hanson recently put out an INB companion for her many ELA craftivities. She has a great prefix project where students make a paint palette of prefixes, and she made a matching notebook piece. I used those pages with my students. The pages have paint cans and paint splotches. Click here for her Interactive Notebook Craftivity Companion Freebie.

Step 1: Prep

Before the lesson, I printed a list of common English prefixes and their meanings. Did you know that there are enough prefixes to fill 13 pages?! The list I used can be found here.

I made a list of the 16 prefixes that are used in the center activity (described next). I also added in the prefixes for our first Journeys activity.

I made 2 copies of the paint cans for each student. On the paint cans we wrote the prefix, and we used one splotch for the meaning and the other for example words.

Step 2: Whole Class Lesson

I recommend breaking this up into two lessons. I found it was harder for my kids than I thought it would be. I told the class the prefix, and then they would think of example words and try to guess the prefix’s meaning.
After we completed one page of paint cans, I asked students see if any of the prefixes had similar meanings. They worked with their shoulder partners.

Once they had determined which prefixes could be grouped, we colored the paint. Prefixes with similar meanings were painted the same color.

After that we went on and did the rest of the prefixes following the same steps.

Day 4: Hands-On Prefix Activities

Step 1: Task Card Sort

Now that the students had the prefixes in their grammar notebooks, I had them work on Winter Prefix Practice by 2SpeakRight. I did have kids work with a partner as some of the words can be challenging, and it is always more fun to work with a partner in fifth grade;) I really love this center. It is not a free product, but I will tell you that I liked it so much that I had my own fourth grader do it at home. It comes with four prefix mats and word stems for each prefix, as well as a work sheet for each mat. Students need to sort the stems onto the prefix mats. Each prefix has five word stems that match. Some mats are tricky, because the word stem could fit more than one prefix. Students need to think it through to have five for each. (Blank cards are included so that you can add different word stems.) The work sheet has a place for students to write their words and then apply to word in sentences.

Step 2: Prefix Trees

Now, not to toot my own horn, but the kids loved this and it took about 10-15 minutes of prep time! I really love crafts, and I like to find ways to use crafts with meaning. On the way to school I kept thinking that our prefix study needed something. I had a pile of paper scraps on the counter and I saw brown strips – BAM. Prefix trees. The true beauty of this is that you just need long strips of brown paper, about 4″ x 4″ squares of other colors, and tape. I decided to cut valentine colors and make heart leaves. In March, I could use the Ellison press and cut out Shamrocks for leaves, etc. An on-going, ever changing ELA board!
So as partners finished up, they turned in their task card answers and selected one of their prefixes to use for their tree. I gave each group a small strip of brown to write the prefix and its meaning, then they taped that to the tree trunk. Next, the partners had to work together to find word with their prefix (hint, hint – use the dictionary!) I don’t think my kids had been this engaged all year. I asked each group to find at least 10 words for their tree, and I finally had to tell kids to stop so we could move on. I told them that they could continue adding one words as they had free time. As you can see, each tree was unique – the different groups were explaining to me why they put their leaves the way they did! It was really amazing to see how much they liked this.
Note: I did have to teach how to cut paper hearts. It is a bit shocking to me to see so many fifth graders without these skills, but many of my students do not get to do arts and crafts like I did as a child.

Giveaway time!

The giveaway is now closed.

2SpeakRight and I are each giving away a set of the products we swapped. Enter here and then head on over to their page to read about how they used my Box of Doughnuts book report in their classroom. You can enter again on their blog!

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Do you have any great resources or tips for prefixes?

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5 Comments

Deb Hanson on February 6, 2015 at 5:56 pm

Thank you so much for mentioning my prefix paint cans! I'm so glad that you were able to use them. What a great idea to color the prefixes with similar meanings the same color!! The winter prefix practice looks like fun, too! I like how it includes the sorting activity AND the sentence activity!
Erin Taylor on February 7, 2015 at 12:14 am

Thanks so much for joining in!

Erin
Learning to be awesome
Kim on February 7, 2015 at 1:57 pm

I love teaching figurative language.
Amy Mezni on February 8, 2015 at 10:40 pm

You are welcome, Deb! That was a fun product, and it was great to hold their attention, then color, then get attention, etc.
Amy Mezni on February 8, 2015 at 10:42 pm

Me too, Kim! Last year I did poetry during our testing season. We read and wrote a different poem each day, and the kids had books finished by the end of testing! They liked it so much I plan to do it this year, too:D

Easy Ways to Teach Prefixes

Day 1: Prefix Lesson

Day 2-3: Prefix Meanings Lesson

Step 1: Prep

Step 2: Whole Class Lesson

Day 4: Hands-On Prefix Activities

Step 1: Task Card Sort

Step 2: Prefix Trees

Giveaway time!

Looking for Teaching Resources?

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Easy Ways to Teach Prefixes

Day 1: Prefix Lesson

Day 2-3: Prefix Meanings Lesson

Step 1: Prep

Step 2: Whole Class Lesson

Day 4: Hands-On Prefix Activities

Step 1: Task Card Sort

Step 2: Prefix Trees

Giveaway time!

Looking for Teaching Resources?

Greek & Latin Root Study Week 1 non- FREEBIE 5 Days of Activities!

Greek & Latin Roots 10 Week Study : Lesson Plans, Games+ UNIT 2 Grades 4 5 6

Greek & Latin Roots 10 Week Study: Lesson Plans, Games+ UNIT 1 Grades 4 5 6

Greek & Latin Roots 10 Week Study: Lesson Plans, Games+ UNIT 3 Grades 4 5 6

Greek & Latin Roots 10 Week Study: Lesson Plans, Games+ UNIT 4 Grades 4 5 6

Greek & Latin Roots 10 Week Study: Lesson Plans, Games+ UNIT 5 Grades 4 5 6

Greek & Latin Roots 40 Week Study : Lesson Plans, Games+ BUNDLE Grades 4 5 6

Greek & Latin Roots Card Game Build A Word Prefixes, Root Words, and Suffixes

Latin & Greek Roots Morphology Editable BOGGLE Bulletin Board

Ancient Greece Greek Civilization DIGITAL Interactive Notebook Unit World History

Ancient Greece & Greek Civilization Interactive Notebook Unit 6th Grade INB

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Submit a Comment Cancel reply

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