Especially for Mrs. Chalfin's class, Prefixes and Suffixes!

Our reading/tech buddies are from Mrs. Chalfin's class, and they are in second grade.  I noticed they were learning about base words, prefixes,  and suffixes, but were having a bit of trouble. I thought I could make a blog post to help them.

Here are some common prefixes and suffixes:

Prefix: overheat, undo, redo, encounter, subheading

Suffix: reader, helpless, hopeful, searching, friendly

IMPORTANT: Every one of the words that has a prefix of suffix has to have a base word!

Sometimes, you don't know what the prefix or suffix means. Some of the basics are -er, -ful, -ly, -ing, and un-. 

-er means someone who. For example, a farmer is someone who farms. A reader is someone who reads.

-ful means full of. When you make a suffix, you get rid of one L in full. A hopeful person is a person who is full of hope. 

-ly is having the qualities of. One word that goes with it is friendly.

-ing means being a sign of a verbal action, such as scouting.

-un usually means not. Unlike means you are not like ______.

Mrs. Yollis let me borrow some magnetic base words, prefixes, and suffixes to take a picture and build with them. I took the pile of words prefixes, and suffixes. Then I unscrambled them to make words. The left side is the prefixes, the middle is the base words, and the right side is the suffixes. Here is a picture of all of the words that were spellable (I made up the word spellable).

As you may know, words like hop and stop you  have to double the letter at the end of the word if you are going to add a suffix. The eleventh word on the picture is stoped. To make it correct, you would have to double the P, but I didn't have a extra P. Just keep in mind that you still have to double the P. 

With some of the words, I could have added another suffix, such as overdo. Instead of overdo, I could have made it overdoing. 

*       *       *       *       *       *

Now, I have a Step-up-to-Writing paragraph that I want to share with you. It is going to include one topic sentence, three main ideas, and at least two details for each main idea, and one conclusion. 

     Out of all the words that have prefixes and suffixes, I chose three to explain. One of my words is disagreement. I chose this word because it shows a prefix, base word, and a suffix. Dis- means not. It has almost the same meaning as un-. To agree to something means you share the same idea and think it is also correct. A synonym for that is concur. Ment- means forming nouns expressing the means or result of an action. Disagreement is a negative word. If you disagree with someone, you don't agree. Another of my words  is reappear. To reappear is to appear again because re- means again. The base word for reappear is appear. If you take off the re- and replace it with dis- it will make disappear. An antonym for reappear is also disappear. Reappear can be a positive word if you make it one, but it can also be a negative word. If a bee stung you, and another bee reappeared, that would have been using it as a negative word. Finally, I want to share the word midnight with you. As you probably guessed, mid- means middle because the first syllable is spelled mid. Midnight isn't exactly the middle of night because after midnight, the next morning starts. The antonym for midnight would be noon. If you get rid of the mid- and replaced -fall at the end of the word, it would be nightfall. The meaning of that is that the night is beginning to rise and the evening is gradually mixing into the night. Clearly, everyone can have fun changing the prefix or suffix on any base word!

I hope the blog post helped you!

What are some prefixes or suffixes that you are learning in class?

Can you come up with some words that have prefixes or suffixes?

What is your favorite word that includes a prefix or a suffix?

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