Happy #morphememonday! The three morphemes featured this week are all ones that younger students can have fun learning.
Origin: Latin
Definition: over, above, besides, exceedingly
Examples: superstructure, superficial, superstition, superhuman, superlative
<super> + <vise> = supervise
<super> + <sede> = supersede
<super> + <ior> = superior
<super> + <sonic> = supersonic
<super> + <im> + <pose> = superimpose
- This prefix is fun to teach younger children in context when talking about superheroes and their superhuman abilities. They can have fun thinking of different superpowers a superhero could have. It will allow you to scaffold in other words that have the prefix <super> into the lesson.
- There are several children’s books that talk about superheroes. Reading one of these books to your class or with your student would be a fun way to naturally scaffold teaching this prefix.
- It should be reviewed with older students to ensure they understand some of the other definitions associated with super.
Origin: Latin
Definition: Water
Examples: aqueous, aquanaut, Aquarius, aqualung, aquarium
<aqua> + <farm> = aquafarm
<aqua> + <cade> = aquacade
<aqua> + <plane> + <ing> = aquaplaning
<aqua> + <tint> = aquatint
<aqua> + <cul> + <ture> + <al> = aquacultural
- This root can be scaffolded into lessons with primary students about aquatic life. If you list a series of familiar words containing the root <aqua> such as aquatic, aquarium, aquamarine, and aquanaut, they may be able to come up with the meaning on their own.
- When you are in the library with your students, you could pick a book from the non-fiction section and ask them to each find a book that contains the root <aqua> in the title. They can search through the book with a friend to try and find the different words in the book that contain the root <aqua>.
Origin: Old English
Definition: without
Examples: pitiless, merciless, pointless, nameless, sleepless
<speech> + <less> = speechless
<hope> + <less> = hopeless
<taste> + <less> = tastelss
<shame> + <less> = shameless
<thought> + <less> = thoughtless
- This suffix forms an adjective
- When introducing this suffix, I would talk about how in mathematics, the word ‘less’ means ‘take away’. I would discuss how when there is a word that has <less> attached to it, it means without.
Last week, November 11, 2019, the morphemes were the prefix <deca>, the root <rupt> and the suffix <ist>.
Next week, November 25, 2019, the morphemes will be the prefix <auto>, the root <dict> and the suffix <al>.
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