Greek/Latin Affixes & Roots

Description

Teach your students where words come from with a lesson about Greek and Latin affixes and root words.  Most students will be familiar with prefixes and suffixes, but may not know their origins and meanings.  Understanding the origins will help students increase their vocabulary, define new or difficult words, and give them a new appreciation for the English language and its history.  The lesson includes an activity in which students can apply their new knowledge to creating their own words.  Teachers can aide students’s understanding by distributing an extensive list of the roots and affixes. Relevant vocabulary words like prefix, suffix, root, and linguist are also defined during the lesson.

Sample Classroom Procedure / Teacher Instruction: 

1. Ask students: Where do words come from?
2. Allow for responses and discussion. Ask:  How does a word become a word?  Can anyone invent a word?  Do you believe there are words that once existed, but are no longer used?
3. Allow for responses and further discussion about words. Ask students if there are parts of words that are commonly used?  What are they called?
4. Allow for responses and discussion. Introduce Greek/Latin Affixes & Roots.
5. Distribute Greek/Latin Affixes & Roots content pages. Read and review the information with the students.  Use the additional resources to enhance understanding.
6. Distribute Activity page. Read and review the instructions.  Pair students.  Explain the meaning of changing adjectives to adverbs, verbs to nouns, etc.  Allow students sufficient time to complete the activity.
7. When completed, students share some of their new words, meanings, and sentences with the class. Ask students to describe how difficult or easy it was to create the new words, meanings, sentences.
8. Allow for responses and discussion.
9. Distribute Practice page. Check and review the students’ responses.
10. Distribute the Homework page. The next day, check and review the students’ responses.  Students share the sentences made with the words.

Common Core State Standards: 

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.5.4.B, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.6.4.B

Class Sessions (45 minutes): At least 2 class sessions

Additional Resources: 

• https://www.funbrain.com/roots/ (Interactive)
• http://blog.penningtonpublishing.com/reading/how-to-teach-prefixes-roots-and-suffixes/
• http://www.readingrockets.org/article/root-words-roots-and-affixes
• https://thehomeschoolscientist.com/learning-greek-and-latin-root-words/

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