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Educators and parents have been asking us for more School SCRABBLE^® activities. Here they are! Every two weeks, a new page will be posted. We welcome your questions and suggestions. Send them to Cindy McCaffery.

Prefixes

February 12-23, 2001

Prefixes are letter groups that, when added to the beginning of a base word or root, change the words meaning.

Write the word happy on the chalkboard. Add the prefix un- to make unhappy. Ask students how adding the prefix un- changed the word's meaning. Point out to students that knowing the meaning of a prefix can help them unlock the meaning of other unknown words. It will also help them in their writing and in comprehension.

Write the following prefixes and their meanings on the chalkboard.

Call on students to suggest words that contain these prefixes. Have them give each word's meaning. Have students work in groups of four. Distribute SCRABBLE^® tiles and racks to each group. Instruct students to find the letters that make up each of the prefixes above. Then challenge each group to use the tiles to make as many words as they can using the prefixes. Have one student in each group write down the words made. Allow students 15 to 20 minutes to complete the activity. Have one person from each group write the words on the chalkboard. Review those words and their meanings with students. Remind students that when playing the SCRABBLE^® game they can often score points by hooking a prefix to a word already on the board.

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Browse our archives for back issues from 2000 (issues #1-8) and 2001 (issue #9 and on).

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