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School SCRABBLE® Activities: Issue #25

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.

SEE YA, SUMMER!

August 27 - September 7, 2001

Summer vacation is over, so let's take a look at how the word OVER is used as a prefix. The ability to recognize a prefix among the tiles on the rack and to connect them to root words can greatly increase a score. There are hundreds of words that begin with the common prefix OVER-. While the prefix is common, many of the words are not.

[image of schoolhouse]

  • Write the following words on the chalkboard: OVERBEAT, OVERDARE, OVERGROW, OVERHANDED, OVERSMELL, OVERMELTS, OVERSAUCE, OVERTAX.

  • Tell students that at least one of the words is not a real word.

  • Discuss each word, asking students what they think it means. With a show of hands, have them vote on whether the word is real or not. (OVERSMELL is not a word.)

  • Then, call on volunteers to look up the words in The Official SCRABBLE® Players Dictionary, Third Edition and to read their definitions. Note: Classroom dictionaries may not contain all the words. Have students work in small groups.

  • Challenge groups, without using a dictionary, to come up with as many words as they can that contain the prefix OVER-.

  • When they are done, have them share their lists with the rest of the class. Look up any disputed word in the dictionary.

  • Suggest students keep a list of words containing the prefix OVER- in their word journals. Remind them to look for the prefix OVER- when they play the SCRABBLE® game.

MISSED AN ISSUE?

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

elsewhere on this web site, you can: find out-of-the-box tips, print score sheets, scorecards and challenge slips or buy a copy of the Official SCRABBLE® Players Dictionary, Third Edition

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