My oldest {just finished 3rd grade} has struggled to read longer words for some time now. He’s the reason I designed this organizer for reading longer words. And while we spent a little bit of time talking about prefixes and suffixes, we never camped on it for very long…until lately.
I created a bunch of hands-on activities to help him better read words with prefixes and suffixes in them and today, I’m sharing it for FREE!
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**The free printable download can be found at the END of this post. Click on the teal download button.
Learning About Prefixes and Suffixes
I used the supplement books Word Sorts for Syllables and Affixes Spellers and Word Sorts for Derivational Relations Spellers from Words Their Way to define the words as well as pick the most common prefixes and suffixes. While these supplements are meant to help kids spell these words, at this point, I focused more on reading words with prefixes and suffixes. I also did not intend to include every prefix and suffix; this was only an introduction to them. The more difficult affixes will come later.
Try these Word Building Dominoes for some hands-on affix learning!
Here are most of the activities in action:
The first resource isn’t necessarily an activity,
but a one-page chart to help kids remember their prefixes and suffixes by listing them, sharing their definition, and providing a picture and word example. It was SO much fun to create, and I’m sure will be used as much as our Homophone Spelling Charts, Blends and Digraph Chart, and Vowel Chart.
In the pack are affix cards with their meanings and examples. I printed these on cardstock to make them harder to see through as well we more durable.
First, we matched them on our table top pocket chart by the prefix, the meaning, and an word example.
After he understood and knew them well, we played a little memory match. The prefix, prefix meaning and prefix example had to be matched each time {3 matches}. He beat me badly! {Note: there is one solid page of the stripe pattern that you can use to print the cards front and back like we did.}
I did not get around to taking pictures of the suffix matching, but there are cards for those as well in the pack. They are red with strips so that the prefix and suffix cards don’t get confused.
One of my favorite resources is the Match-a pages. I got pictures of the Match-a-Prefix, but there are matching activities for both prefixes and suffixes. Kids cut apart the affixes at the bottom and add them to the words to see how many combinations of real words they can make.
Once they’ve matched them up, they spell the words on the recording sheet, which can be printed front and back.
And my son’s favorite activity from the pack was Chop that Log! He secretly wanted me to go with the title, “Cut the Cheese” and use some cheese clip art, but I said no. 😉 Included are logs for prefixes, suffixes and words that contain both.
Another variation is to laminate the logs and ask kids to draw the division with dry erase markers.
This activity pack was one of the last things he did as a 3rd grader. Sniff, sniff. Where is the time going? He was super excited to finish the school year and this was such a fun way to do it.
More Resources You may Enjoy:
- Strategies for Reading Longer Words
- Baseball Reading Game for Inflecting Endings
- Homophone Spelling Chart
- Single Syllable Vowel Spelling Chart
~Becky
Can’t thank you enough…again!! Thank you so much for sharing your expertise, creativity, and talents so generously with all of us. I am so inspired and humbled by your spirit of generosity…What a blessing you are!! 🙂
Thank you so much, Jody! It’s fun to share. 🙂
THIS. IS. AWESOME. Thank you!!!
You are so welcome. I’m glad you like it!
Thank you so much for the wonderful resources! Even though my daughter is only going to Gr. 1 this September, I can totally see this been a very useful tool!! Thank you again!
You are very welcome! 🙂
It’s so very kind of you to share these resources with strangers! You’ve clearly put so much time, effort, and thinking into them – they’re fantastic! THANK YOU!
I enjoy doing it! For me, it’s relaxing and fun. You are welcome! 🙂
This looks great! My son would love a “cut the cheese” activity, too! ?
Thank you so much! It means so much to me that I have this resource. All of the work you have here is amazing.
You are very welcome! 🙂
You always have the best stuff! We need to start working on prefixes and suffixes here. This will definitely help that journey along.
So thankful to be helpful. 🙂
Thank you so much! It’ very useful for me! You make me a happy teacher!
You’re welcome! 🙂
the suffixes and prefixes list/packet was just what I was looking for. Now I do not have to reinvent the wheel, so to speak. Thank you. .
You’re welcome! 🙂
This was EXACTLY what I was looking for! Thanks so much. Your hard work and excellence will/has helped hundreds of children. God bless you!
Yay! So glad you can use it. 🙂
I love all your cute activities!
Aw, thanks! 🙂
So appreciate all of your hard work and your willingness to share! Your son is one lucky little boy!
🙂
Thank you 🙂
You’re welcome!
Wow. I am repeatedly wowed by your openness and willingness to share so freely.
I appreciate it so so much.
I am very excited about your prefix pack.
Thank you.
Be blessed!