New! Word Hacks (4th-6th) (Session 2/ Period 1)

Have you ever come across a totally unfamiliar word in a book or article that forces you to stop reading? Most of us skip over the word, thinking “I’ll get back to it.” Others stop and take the time to find out its meaning, and how to say the word, but that ruins the flow of our reading. Have you ever wondered if there’s an easier way to understand the meaning of a complex word just by looking at a little part of it? Fortunately, there is a hack for that!

“Word Hacks” will help students strengthen their reading, vocabulary comprehension, and spelling skills by learning how to break apart complex (multisyllabic) words into smaller meaningful parts. Students will focus on common prefixes, suffixes, and root words, allowing them to understand how words are built. This knowledge will improve their ability to decode, spell and comprehend new vocabulary. Students will apply this knowledge through; class participation, discussion and application, worksheets, games and collaborative assignments.

The following concepts will be covered;

Morpheme Awareness:
Understanding that words can be broken down into smaller units called morphemes which carry meaning ("unhappy" - "un" is a prefix, "happy" is the root word).

Prefixes: Learn common prefixes like "re-", "un-", "dis-", "pre-", "in-", "mis-" with a focus on how they change the meaning of a word.

Suffixes: Learn common suffixes like "-ed", "-ing", "-ly", "-ful", "-ness", "-ment" and how they indicate tense, and adjective form of a word.

Root Words: Recognizing base words within complex words ( "act" in "react", "act" in "actor")