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When teachers engage in intentional and ambitious efforts
to build vocabulary and content knowledge, they support students' literacy learning.
In this classroom the teacher supports vocabulary learning by
focusing on morphology (the meaning of word parts).
In today's lesson, the goal is to help students learn the meaning of common prefixes.
Okay, so we've talked about how some words have parts that have meaning
and we've talked about prefixes are parts of words that attach to a base word or a root
and it can effect the meaning of that word.
So, today we are going to talk about some prefixes and their meanings.
In today's lesson, we looked at the example of unicycle, bicycle, and tricycle together
to come to the meaning of the prefixes and then they had words using those prefixes
that they then sorted with a partner to be able to identify the prefix and sort it
and then we came back together to talk through the meaning of those words.
So, I have some pictures here and I want you guys just tell me what these pictures are.
Yeah. [Student]: A tricycle, a bicycle, and a unicycle
Okay. So we have a tricycle down here, a bicycle, and a unicycle.
Can you talk to me?
Looking at these pictures, what's the same about these pictures and what's different?
What do you have Ann Marie? What's the same?
[Student]: They all have wheels.
They all have wheels! Yeah, they do all have wheels!
What's different about them? Lyric?
[Student]: Um, they're all different types of bikes
They're all different types of bikes. What makes them different?
[Student]: 'Cause they have different types of wheels and they are different shapes.
Okay, so the shape of the bike is different and they have different types of wheels.
Let's look at those wheels: a unicycle, a bicycle, and a tricycle.
Looking at the wheels, Gracie, what's different about...?
[Student]: Um, there's three, two, and one.
There's three, two, and one. Which one has three?
[Student] The one on the bottom, the tricycle.
The tricycle. The tricycle has three. Which one has two?
[Student]: The bicycle.
The bicycle. And which one has one?
[Student]: The unicycle.
The unicycle. Okay. So, we have three different ways to get around here, right?
And they all have wheels, but there are a different number of wheels.
We have one wheel on the unicycle, two on the bicycle, three on the tricycle.
So, let's look at the words now.
So, here I have a uniccycle. Here I have a bicycle. And here I have a tricycle.
Okay? So they all have that same base word "cycle."
But the prefix is different, right?
What are the prefixes here? What do you think?
[Student]: Tricyc...tri.
Tri-. Yup, I'm gonna highlight it here.
[Student]: Bi-.
Bi-.
[Student]: U...Un-.
And uni-. Uni- here. Okay. So we have a unicycle, a bicycle, and a tricycle here.
Three different prefixes that are attached to a base word
and change the meaning, right?
So a unicycle has how many wheels?
[Students]: One.
One. So what do you think uni means?
[Students]: One. Yeah, one.
So, uni- is a prefix that means one.
Show me one. Alright.
And a bicycle has how many wheels? Show me.
[Students]: Two.
Two. So what do you think bi means?
[Students]: Two.
Alright, and a tricycle has how many wheels? Show me.
[Students]: Three.
Three. So what do you think tri means?
[Students]: Three.
Three! Alright.
So here, we have prefixes that have a meaning
and then they can attach to words
and kind of tell us more about what those words mean.
Okay? So, we have uni, bi, and tri.
One, two, and three. So I have some words that have these prefixes
and I have a page where you're gonna sort them
and I want you to sort the words by their prefix.
As readers it's really helpful and important for kids to know about
morphology. They need to know that parts of words have meaning
and be able to recognize them. It helps when they're decoding an unknown word
to be able recognize those prefixes and break the word apart.
And also helps them to understand the meaning of words they don't know
by using the meaning of prefix.
Okay, so you sorted them based on the prefix.
Attaching to a word and they all have that same prefix attached, right?
So, we're gonna look at them and we're going to talk about them together
and we're gonna think about how does knowing what the prefix means
help us understand the meaning of that word. Okay? Alright.
So, let's start here. So this word "unicorn"... can you get a picture of a unicorn in your head?
Yeah?
What do you see in your picture of a unicorn?
[Student]: A unicorn.
Okay, so tell me what do you see? Like, what makes it a unicorn and not something else?
[Student]: Makes it like a horse, but it's like magical.
It's a horse that's magical?
Okay, what makes it it a little bit different from most horses you see?
[Student]: Because, it um I don't...
Gracie, do you think? What makes a unicorn different from most horses?
[Student]: It has like something like a party hat that's skinnier from its head.
Okay! So you described it as like a party hat shape, but skinny and it comes out of its forehead.
The horn right? And how many horns does a unicorn have?
[Students]: One.
One! Do you guys all see that in your head?
The horse with the one horn sticking out of its head?
So, a unicorn is a made-up fantasy animal
and it's like a horse, but has one horn coming out of its head.
An corn is like an old fashioned word for horn. 'Kay?
Let's try another one.
Alright, I'm sure you... most of you have probably worn a uniform before.
Or you've seen people wear... What types of people wear uniforms?
[Student]: I played football, we wore uniforms.
Yea! So a lot of sports teams, they wear uniforms.
So, what's the prefix here?
[Students] Uni
And what does that mean? Show me.
It means one. So, what do you think a uniform...
An outfit that everyone wears. What do you think that might mean?
How does it... Think about the prefix.
How does the prefix help you know what uniform might mean?
So, on your football team you all wear that uniform. What are you thinking?
[Student]: It's kind of like one team that wears the same uniform.
Yeah! So one team all wears that same uniform? What were you thinking?
[Student]: Um, one group of people wear the same uniform.
So they all have this, it's one look right? It's one outfit for everybody.
So everybody all has that same look with a uniform.
So if I was working with a student and they came to
a word that they didn't know that had prefixes and suffixes
I would coach the student to look at the word and try to identify any prefixes or suffixes.
For example, if the student came across the word "unimaginable"
I would give them to prompt to check for prefixes and suffixes
with the prefix -un, meaning "not" and the suffix -able "meaning able to"
so then "unimaginable" is something that you can't imagine. Unable to be imagined.
So, that... working through that process will help a student to figure out
the meaning of an unfamiliar where they encounter
Alright, let's look at a word with the prefix bi-
So, here we have bi-weekly.
Bi-weekly. What are you thinking for bi-weekly?
Yeah?
Something that happens every two weeks.
[Student]: Something that two weeks something that happens every two weeks!
So, the prefix bi- there means what?
[Student]: Two.
Two. And then our base word it is...
[Student]: Week
Week. So it makes sense that it's something that happens every two weeks.
Can you think of another way to use "bi-weekly"?
You know we have "two" we have "week" what are you thinking?
[Student]: That happens twice every once a week.
Okay! So something that happens twice a week can be described as bi-weekly too.
So we work on mophology our goal is for students to use it
in their own reading when they encounter unfamiliar words.
They should be able to break the word apart and use the meaning of the
prefix or the suffix to be able to figure out the meaning of that word.
Um, and it's something that they can do on their own
and the words that they encounter every day in their reading
Alright, here's one I'm interested to know if you guys know much about this space word.
So, we have bi-lingual. What do you know about bilingual?
[Student]: I think that it means that you can speak two languages.
You can speak two languages! Right.
So, we know that "bi-" is two and then "lingual" sounds like language.
So, being able to speak two languages means that you're bilingual.
What do you think you might say if someone could speak three languages?
What might we call that? Based on you know about prefixes ?
What are you thinking, Ann Marie?
[Student]: Trilingual?
Trilingual! Yes if you can speak two, three languages you are considered trilingual.
Alright, I think you're ready for tri-.
Mason, can you talk to me about a triangle?
[Student]: A triangle has three, has three corners and three sides.
Okay. Triangle has three corners and it has three sides and has the prefix...
[Students]: Tri-.
Tri-! Makes sense right?
Shape with three sides and three angles is a triangle.
Alright, picture a Triceratops in your head. Do you have a picture in your head?
Triceratops?
Alright, kind of show me with your hands. What does the head do?
[Student]: It has like three horns.
Yeah it has three horns. Does it make sense it starts with the prefix tri-?
[Students]: Yes.
Yeah! So, it's a dinosaur that has three horns.
Alright, triplets!
What are triplets? Mason, what are triplets?
[Student]: Three, um, three babies that are born at the same time.
Three babies born at the same time, yeah.
So, three babies born at the same time are triplets.
When they come to a word that they need to spell, a lot of times the
meaning of the word and the base word really impacts the whole spelling.
So, for example in the word "magician," um if a student is just using phonics
to spell the word they might not come up with the conventional spelling.
Uh, but if they understand that "magic" is the base word and it's related to words like
"magical" they can use that base word and then their knowledges of
prefixes and suffixes to come up with the proper spelling.
So, I want you to listen to these words.
TRIangle, TRIceratops, Triplets.
Do you notice anything about the way that it sounds there? What did you notice?
[Student]: "Triangle" and "Triceratops" are "tri-" and "triplets" is "trip."
Okay, so the "i" here is long and then down here in triplets its short.
And with "tri-" that happens sometimes. Sometimes the pronunciation
is a short "i" instead of a long "i" but the meaning stays the same
and we don't spell it any differently. It's still "tri-" but just keep that in mind
that sometimes that sound will be a short "i" instead of a long "i".
Sometimes we're working together, especially when things are new or unknown
but as they get more comfortable and they have more working knowledge
they do a lot more together.
Um, working with each other and then they also apply it more
independently in their own reading.
So, as you're reading I want you to pay attention
um, to words that have prefixes and think about what the prefix means.
And then how can that help you understand the meaning of that word?
Because remember prefixes attach to other words and they help you
understand the meaning because they have meaning too.
So you have to think about what the prefix means and what the word means
and then what the bigger meaning is, okay?
Learn more at literacyessentials.org
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