FOR-PD’s Reading Strategy of the Month

Students need strategies to independently acquire new words. Teaching students to use word parts to figure out the meanings of words in text can be beneficial to their vocabulary development. "Knowing some common prefixes and suffixes (affixes), base words, and root words can help students learn the meanings of many new words " (Armbruster, Lehr, & Osborn, 2001). Morphemic analysis uses roots and affixes to derive meaning from an unknown word. Researchers suggest that teachers explicitly teach affixes and suffixes, along with common prefixes and derivational suffixes (Baumann & Kame’enui, 2004). The Word Builder strategy is a simple way to teach and build students ’ morphemic analysis and vocabulary knowledge and skills. The basic parts of a word are: Root or base word Prefix Suffix A root or base refers to the essential part of the word and is where the word derives its meaning. A prefix can be considered a syllable that is attached to the front of a word that can alter or change the meaning of the root word. A suffix can be considered a letter or letters added to the end of a word that can change its tense and/or meaning of the roo