SKILL B UILDER

lesson plan
F
LEVEL

:: Roots, Prefixes, and Suffixes

BEHIND THE SCENES ::
BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Students will define the terms root, prefix, and suffix and will identify each in a

KAPLAN ACHIEVEMENT PLANNER

sample sentence.

1. Vocabulary Terms:
Root: the basic component of a word that contains its meaning
Examples: Magic is the root of magical; glad is the root of gladly; view is the root
of preview.
Prefix: a letter or group of letters placed before a root word to modify the roots meaning
Examples: inter- = between, among; international, interstellar
Suffix: a letter or group of letters placed after a root word to modify the roots meaning
Examples: -ness = state of; goodness, happiness

2. Materials:
paper or student notebooks
pencils/pens
copies of Activity Sheets: Guided Practice and Independent Practice

SETTING THE STAGE :: approximately 5 minutes

OPENING ACTIVITY

1. Write pre- and un- on the board as the heads of two columns. Tell the class they
have one minute to call out all the words they know that begin with these letters.
Write their words on the board.
EXAMPLE ANSWERS: preview, prepay, pretrial; unhappy, unsure, unbelievable

KAPtip To make this activity more manageable, you may want to have a student
Kaplan, Inc.

volunteer record examples on the board.

2. Write -ity and -ness on the board as the heads of two columns. Give the class another
minute to call out all the words they know that end with these letters. Write their words
on the board.
EXAMPLE ANSWERS: equality, ability, believability; sweetness, kindness, happiness

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SKILLB UILDER LEVEL
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lesson plan (contd)

DRESS REHEARSAL :: approximately 15 minutes

INSTRUCTION & GUIDED PRACTICE

1. Hand out the Guided Practice Activity Sheet or have students take notes in
their notebooks.

2. Say,Look at the words in the pre- and un- columns. If you took the pre- and un- off them,
would they still make sense on their own?

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ANSWER: Most of them would.

3. Write the following definition on the board: Root words are the part of compound words that
carry the basic meaning of the word. Root words can be modified by putting letters before
and/or after them. Have students record this definition on the Sheet or in their notebooks.

4. Say,Putting pre- or un- in front of root words like view and happy creates a new word with
a new meaning. But the new word is related to the root word.

5. Write the following definition on the board: A prefix is a letter or group of letters placed
before a root word to modify the roots meaning. Have students record this definition of
prefix on the Sheet or in their notebooks.

6. Say,Look at the words in the -ity or -ness columns. If you take the -ity or -ness away from
these words, has the spelling of the root words that are left changed?
ANSWER: sometimes

7. Say,Sometimes the letters you add to either side of a root word change the spelling of
the root word. An example is happy becomes happinessthe y changes to an i.

8. Write the following definition on the board: A suffix is a letter or group of letters placed after
a root word to modify the roots meaning. Have students record this definition on the Sheet
or in their notebooks.

9. Write the words active, normal, appear, correct, and perfect on the board, and ask students
to create two new words for each of these root words by using prefixes and suffixes.
EXAMPLE ANSWERS: inactive (prefix), activity (suffix), abnormal (prefix), Kaplan, Inc.

normality (suffix)

10. Ask students to explain how the meaning changes in each example.
EXAMPLE ANSWERS: Adding in- to active changes the meaning from describing someone
or something thats moving or changing to describing a state of rest. Adding ity to
active changes the part of speech from an adverb to a noun.

Roots, Prefixes, and Suffixes

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SKILLB UILDER LEVEL
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lesson plan (contd)

11. Say,Generally, prefixes and suffixes are almost invisible to us because we see them used
so frequently. It doesnt occur to us that activity is a root word being modified by a suffix.
We learn it as a whole word and its connection or relationship to the word active isnt
always spelled out.

12. Now write this sentence on the board: Her achievements were legendary because she had an
uncommon ability to show compassion to others and help them reconsider giving up their
goals of perfection just because they had inadequate training. Divide the class into two

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groups. Tell one group to look for words with prefixes in the sentence and underline them
on their Sheets. Have the other group do the same with suffixes. Say,Once you've found
them all, list their root words on your Sheets. Youve got two minutes. Go!

KAPtip For a quick activity like this, there is no need for students to rearrange their
desks to sit with groups.

13. When time is up, have one volunteer from each group go to the board. Have the prefix
representative underline all the prefix words and the suffix representative circle all the
suffix words.
ANSWERS: prefix words = uncommon, compassion, reconsider, inadequate; suffix
words = achievements, legendary, ability, perfection, training

14. Then have another set of volunteers list the root words on the board.
ANSWERS: prefix root words = common, passion, consider, adequate; suffix root
words = achieve, legend, able, perfect, train

SHOW TIME! :: approximately 8 minutes

INDEPENDENT PRACTICE

1. Hand out the Independent Practice Activity Sheet.

2. Say,Your job is to identify all the prefixes, suffixes, and root words in each sentence. You
have six minutes to complete this Activity Sheet. Go!

ANSWERS:
Kaplan, Inc.

1. Root = luck; suffix = y

2. Root = engage; prefix = dis
3. Root = view; prefix = pre
4. Root = believe; suffix = able
5. Root = observe; suffix = ant
6. Root = possible; prefix = im
7. Root = pure; suffix = ity

Roots, Prefixes, and Suffixes

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SKILLB UILDER F
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lesson plan (contd)

8. Root = describe; suffix = tion

9. Root = appear; prefix = dis
10. Root = nation; suffix = al

RAVE REVIEWS :: The Daily News

GREAT SHOW!
ASSESSMENT

KAPLAN ACHIEVEMENT PLANNER

Often students will have trouble differentiating words with suffixes and prefixes from
compound words (like classroom or stopwatch). To many students these different kinds of
words fall into one difficult category:big words. Many students will also have difficulty
separating out prefixes and suffixes in words they have always understood to be whole (like
lucky, gladly, or enjoy). Remind them that all words, big and small, are made up of parts, and
once they know what parts to look for, theyll be able to tackle any words they come across.

1. Ask students to give you some big words you can write on the board. Get about a dozen
words and then ask them to tell you which words have prefixes, which have suffixes, and
which have both. If there are words left over that do not fit these categories, ask students
why they dont fit (for instance, they are compound words). Help students understand how
to spot prefixed and suffixed words.

2. Observe students participation in the group activity. Did all students contribute?

3. Did each student successfully complete the Independent Practice Activity Sheet?

4. End the class with a quick summarizing activity. Have each student give you one prefixed
or suffixed word.

ENCORE! ENCORE! ::
EXTENSION ACTIVITIES

1. If more time is available, students will gain a deeper conceptual understanding of

roots, prefixes, and suffixes by completing the SkillTivity lesson. Kaplan, Inc.

2. As you proceed through your regular curriculum, look for opportunities to have students
use a variety of big words so they can continue to practice identifying and using different
prefixes and suffixes.

Roots, Prefixes, and Suffixes 4

 Name ______________________________________________________________ Date ________________________________

:: Roots, Prefixes, and Suffixes

GUIDED PRACTICE

Root words: ______________________________________________________________

Examples: _______________________________________________________________

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Prefix: __________________________________________________________________

Examples: _______________________________________________________________

Suffix: __________________________________________________________________

Examples: _______________________________________________________________

Find the prefixes or suffixes in the following sentence. Underline the prefixes and circle
the suffixes.

Her achievements were legendary because she had an uncommon ability to show
compassion to others and help them reconsider giving up their goals of perfection
just because they had inadequate training.

Root words:

Kaplan, Inc.

activity sheet

SKILLB UILDER F
LEVEL
 Name ______________________________________________________________ Date ________________________________

:: Roots, Prefixes, and Suffixes

INDEPENDENT PRACTICE

In each sentence, identify the root of the underlined word and then identify its prefix
or suffix.

1. She was lucky to find a good book to read.

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Root word: _________________________ Prefix: ____________ Suffix: ____________

2. If you want the car to roll, you have to disengage the brake.

Root word: _________________________ Prefix: ____________ Suffix: ____________

3. I hate it when movie previews give away the plot.

Root word: _________________________ Prefix: ____________ Suffix: ____________

4. That story isnt very believable.

Root word: _________________________ Prefix: ____________ Suffix: ____________

5. You were very observant to catch that math error.

Root word: _________________________ Prefix: ____________ Suffix: ____________

6. They were impossible to talk to.

Root word: _________________________ Prefix: ____________ Suffix: ____________ Kaplan, Inc.

7. Canadian gold is well-known for its purity.

Root word: _________________________ Prefix: ____________ Suffix: ____________

activity sheet

SKILLB UILDER F
LEVEL
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 Name ______________________________________________________________ Date ________________________________

INDEPENDENT PRACTICE (contd)

8. This Valentines Day card has a description of love.

Root word: _________________________ Prefix: ____________ Suffix: ____________

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9. No one can really disappear into thin air.

Root word: _________________________ Prefix: ____________ Suffix: ____________

10. Please rise as we sing the national anthem.

Root word: _________________________ Prefix: ____________ Suffix: ____________

Kaplan, Inc.

activity sheet

SKILLB UILDER F
LEVEL
2