Word Studies

From this point on we've read children stories, trickster tales, and basic myths. The language of the texts we read is going to get more complex, which means we need to develop strategies for getting "unstuck" while reading.

One of the ways we can get past difficult words is by taking it apart, no gloves and scalpels required!

In order to be successful with this we need to learn the meaning of word parts that make up many English words. These word parts consist of prefixes, suffixes, and roots (bases).

A root word is the main part of a word (that comes from a different language) to which prefixes and suffixes may be added to.

prefix- A letter or group of letters attached to the beginning of a word that partly indicates its meaning.

suffix-a letter or a group of letters that is added to the end of a word to change its meaning or to form a different word

For example, we can determine what invisible means by taking the word apart:

the prefix is in- ("not") + the root -vis- ("see") + the suffix -ible ("capable of") If we know the meanings of each word, we can figure out that invisible means "not capable of being seen."