3.9 Dictation with Prefixes
Prefixes Skill Explainer
Spelling words with prefixes can be tricky for students. When you do your daily dictation (or spelling practice) after you've taught a new prefix, you'll want students to be able to clearly hear the base word, identify it, write it, and then accurately add the correct prefix. This helps build both spelling and morphological awareness.
You can support students by explicitly asking them to identify the prefix and the base word after you dictate a word with a prefix.
It might look something like this:
Today we're going to use prefixes in our dictation words. Remember, a prefix is a word part that we add to the beginning of a base word, and it has its own meaning.
Our first word is unwell.
What is our word?
unwell
What is our prefix? ['un-']
What is our base word? [well]
Write the word unwell.
We took the base word well and added the prefix 'un-', which means "not." So our new word means "not well."
Teacher Tip
Word Choice Considerations
When you select words for dictation, use base words that are free morphemes. Free morphemes are words that can stand alone; for example, the base word do in redo is a free morpheme. As students become more proficient with adding prefixes, then you can use bound morphemes, ones that cannot stand alone. Bound morphemes are typically Greek or Latin roots, like the Latin root dict in predict. This root must be added on to a prefix and/or suffix. It is not a word on its own.
Word Choice Considerations
When you select words for dictation, use base words that are free morphemes. Free morphemes are words that can stand alone; for example, the base word do in redo is a free morpheme. As students become more proficient with adding prefixes, then you can use bound morphemes, ones that cannot stand alone. Bound morphemes are typically Greek or Latin roots, like the Latin root dict in predict. This root must be added on to a prefix and/or suffix. It is not a word on its own.
