Teaching prefixes and suffixes is so important in a 2nd grade classroom. Once students recognize prefixes and suffixes and know their meaning, it opens so many doors for them when it comes to understanding words. It helps build their vocabulary skills so much. I find that once you teach students about prefixes and suffixes they love to point out when they find a word with one. I like to play off this when I teach prefixes and suffixes to my 2nd grade students. Today I’m sharing with you how to teach prefixes and suffixes to students so they actually use that knowledge.

 

How to Teach Prefixes and Suffixes

 

I first introduce what affixes are. I give students a simple definition and then I hang up a little chart up on a wall in our classroom. It’s our affix wall. I explain the definitions of prefixes and suffixes. I hang up those charts under our affix definition because prefixes and suffixes are subcategories to affixes. I want to help students understand that. Then I actually introduce the common prefixes and suffixes to my students. 

When it comes to teaching a new prefix or suffix, I like to make a chart with them. You can have them draw it or use printed copies you can find here. Basically, it’s a box in the middle of the paper and then you draw a line up to the edge of the page, a line down, and a line left and right.

I then have my students write the prefix or suffix in the middle box. In the top left we write the definition of the prefix or suffix. In the top right, we brainstorm some words with the prefix or suffix. Students are pretty good with knowing words with the prefix or suffix. But sometimes I’ll add in common words as well. In the bottom left, we choose one of the words and write the definition of the word. In the bottom right, we write a sentence with the word. If I want to make it a little more fun for students, I have them draw a picture to go with the sentence. I have students take home their paper, but I hang up a printed one that matches what we did.

I like hanging it up on the wall because then whenever we come across a word with that prefix or suffix in our readings we then refer to the chart and talk about the meaning of the word. It turns into a really fun game for students. I even leave out little sticky notes for students to write down words with prefixes and suffixes in their own silent reading. We hang them up on our affixes wall and it makes the wall interactive for students. Find these student worksheets and posters I use in my classroom here.

Now you are probably wondering which common prefixes and suffixes I use in my 2nd grade classroom. No worries, I’ll give you a list.

 

List of Words With Prefix and Suffix

 

For prefixes I teach: re-, un-, dis-, mis-, fore-, pre-, sub-, under-, de-, in-, super-, trans-, mid-, over-, ex-

And for suffixes I teach: -ful, -less-, -able, -wise, -y, -dom, -ish, -ity, -ious, -ment, -some, -tion

 

All of these are included in my Prefixes and Suffixes Posters resource. Find it to use in your classroom here. 

 

Students love to learn about word meanings and word parts. It’s fascinating to them as they discover more and more meanings and words. Using this method on how to teach prefixes and suffixes gets students involved and engaged in their learning.

 

Wondering how to motivate students to read so they can actually discover words with prefixes and suffixes? Check out this blog post here: Motivating Students to Read