Common Content Area Roots and Affixes
About this printout
This printout offers 50 or so common roots, prefixes, and affixes that give students access to hundreds of key concepts across the content areas.
This printout has been reproduced from the following book: Ellery, V., & Rosenboom, J.L. (2011). Sustaining strategic readers: Techniques for supporting content literacy in grades 6-12. Newark, DE: International Reading Asssociation.
Teaching with this printout
If your students are unfamiliar with the process of analyzing a word for its roots and affixes, you may need to begin by defining prefix, root, and suffix (using examples from the science, social studies, and mathematics section of the Common Content Area Roots and Affixes). Point out to students that once they are familiar with a root or affix, they can use that knowledge in multiple situations, increasing their vocabulary exponentially.
Use the chart as an inquiry tool by covering the “Meaning” column and asking students to determine the meaning of the common root, prefix, or affix based on the content of the other columns. Students may be surprised at how much they already know and encouraged by the number of words their background knowledge gives them access to.
More ideas to try
- When students have a handle on the function and structure of these word parts, model the process of dissecting words into prefixes, roots, and affixes and using knowledge of word parts to make meaning of unfamiliar words based on prior knowledge.
- Have students explore the systematic effect certain suffixes have on roots. The suffix “-ism” for example, can turn an adjective into a noun, while “-ful” transforms nouns into adjective. Have students generate a list of such modifying suffixes and look for examples of them in their reading.
- Ask students create a blank version of the Common Content Area Roots and Affixes chart to keep in a notebook they take with them throughout the day. Challenge them to look for roots and affixes across content areas. Keep a chart in the classroom that students are invited to add to throughout the school year, demonstrating their expanding word knowledge and know-how.