The Learning Works: Prefixes and Suffixes, Grades 4-8: Teaching Vocabulary to Improve Reading Comprehension

The national standards require that sutdents beginning at 4th grade use their knowledge of prefixes and suffixes to determine the meaning of words. Each of the 30 units in this book includes a word list, vocabulary sort words, review game cards, and a vocabulary quiz. Students will learn over 300 vocabulary words and become more comfortable "disecting" words and defining their parts.

I am using this for those students in my class who breeze through the Language Arts spelling words every week. I give a pretest on Monday. If a student misses fewer than five out of twenty of the spelling words, they study these vocabulary words instead. The book is organized wonderfully well, so that you can assign one prefix or suffix each week. The author gives you a list of ten words with the pre- or suffix (for visual learners), a page with the words and meanings mixed up so they have to cut it apart and match them up again (for your tactile learners) and then a multiple choice test where the students must determine which word fits into the sentence (very difficult - student needs to apply their knowledge and comprehension of the word to determine in which sentence the word would work.) I highly recommend this book for grades 4 through 6 - it is a challenge for my highest students! Mainstream students in higher grades (7 -8) would still find it challenging.