4. Videos: See Suffix Instruction in the Classroom

Taurra Dorsey: Let's do this one.

Students: Suffix 'ing'.

Taurra Dorsey: What does suffix '-ing' ... what does that do? What does that mean when we add that? Go. Sophia?

Sophia: Makes it ... makes it happening now.

Taurra Dorsey: Happening now. Okay. Do we agree?

Students: Yes.

Taurra Dorsey: Yes. Let's go back to suffix 's'. So let me tell you about suffix 's'. Suffix 's' makes the noun more than one. Is suffix 's' a part of the base word?

Students: No.

Taurra Dorsey: We add it on just like we add on suffix '-ing'. Suffix '-s'..

Students: Suffix '-s' ...

Taurra Dorsey: makes the noun ...

Students: makes the noun ...

Taurra Dorsey: more than one.

Students: more than one.

Taurra Dorsey: Suffix 'ing' ...

Students: Suffix '-ing' ...

Taurra Dorsey: means happening now.

Students: means happening now.

Taurra Dorsey: Awesome job. Awesome job. Everybody. Kiss your brain.

Carla Miller: And I have a little cheer for us. You ready for a little cheer?

Students: Yes!

Carla Miller: Okay. Here we go. Okay, so the cheer goes like this, 'sh', 'ch', 'x', 's', 'z', add '-es' and you'll please me! We're going to do the first part first and then the second part. Let me hear you say ...

Together: 'sh', 'ch', 'x', 's', 'z', add '-es' and you'll please me!

Carla Miller: So we have talked about suffixes before, right?

Students: Yes.

Carla Miller: Who can tell me what a suffix is? Raise your hand. Lorelai, what's a suffix?

Lorelai: A suffix is a letter or letters that you add to a word to make it plural.

Carla Miller: A suffix is a letter or a group of letters that we add to what part of the word? Who can raise their hand and tell me what part of the word? Caroline.

Caroline: The end.

Carla Miller: You add it to the end of the word and it changes the word just a little bit. Today we're going to talk about two different suffixes. We're going to talk about suffix '-s' and suffix '-es'.

Voiceover: Knowing which suffix to use to make a word plural can be tricky for young writers. Is it '-s' or '-es'? In this lesson at Burgess-Peterson Academy in Atlanta, instructional coach Dr. Carla Miller teaches her first graders when to use each one.

Carla Miller: We're going to start with suffix '-s'. So we know when we add suffix '-s' to the end of the word, it makes a word plural, but I don't know what that word plural means. Who can help me out? Let's see. Some new hands. Clementine. What's it mean to make a word plural?

Clementine: More than one.

Carla Miller: More than one. Good. So when we could have the word cat, but when we add the suffix '-s', what does that do?

Students: Cats.

Carla Miller: Now we have more than one cat. Okay, so let's do some more.

Voiceover: After Dr. Miller models how adding '-s' makes a word plural, her students jump in to practice together.

Carla Miller: Who can read the next word for me? Charlie.

Charlie: Sock.

Carla Miller: Sock. Good. So we're going to go ahead and add suffix '-s'. Charlie, what word do we have now?

Charlie: Socks.

Carla Miller: We now have two socks. Good. Let's do the last one. Who can read the word for me? Gianna, what's the base word? What word do we have here?

Gianna: Clam.

Carla Miller: "Clam." Very good. Can you read the word now that we've added suffix '-s'?

Gianna: Clams.

Carla Miller: That's good

Voiceover: Now that they've practiced with the suffix '-s'. It's time for the next challenge — learning when to add '-es' instead.

Carla Miller: So we add suffix '-es' to a word to make a word plural. If the word ends in 'sh', 'ch', 'x', 's', or 'z'. Okay, and I have a little cheer for us. You ready for a little cheer?

Students: Yes!

Carla Miller: Okay, there we go. Okay, so the cheer goes like this, 'sh', 'ch', 'x', 's', 'z' ... add '-es' and you'll please me! We're going to do the first part first and then the second part. Let me hear you say 'sh', 'ch', 'x', 's', 'z' ... add '-es' and you'll please me! So we have a word who can raise her hand and read the word for me. I would like Lao to read the word.

Lao: Box.

Carla Miller: Box. I'm going to add suffix '-es' to that word. Lao, what did I do to that word?

Lao: Make it plural.

Carla Miller: I made it plural. What word do we have now?

Lao: Boxes.

Carla Miller: Boxes. We have more than one.

Voiceover: After a couple more examples as a group, dictation is up next. Here students will practice what they just learned, choosing the correct suffix to make a word plural. '-s' or '-es'.

Carla Miller: I'm going to remind you while we're writing these words, we're going to make a lot of these words plural. Remind me one more time. Bennett, what does it mean to make a word plural? What does it do to the word?

Bennett: Makes it more than one.

Carla Miller: It makes it more than one. So we're really going to listen for the ending sounds of words when we make them plural. Okay? So the first word I want you to write is ship. What word?

Students: Ship.

Carla Miller: Tap it.

Students: /s/, /ĭ/, /p/. Ship.

Carla Miller: Excellent. Make the word plural. Elliot, what did I need to do to make that word plural?

Elliot: Put an 's' at the end of the word.

Carla Miller: Excellent. Can you tell me why you decided to use an '-s' and not an '-es'?

Elliot: Because ship doesn't end with an 'sh', 'ch', 'x', 's', or 'z'.

Carla Miller: Excellent. Good work. Make sure yours looks like mine. Pencils down, tappers up. The word is rash. What word?

Students: Rash.

Carla Miller: Tap it.

Students: /r/, /ă/, /sh/. Rash.

Voiceover: Dr. Miller picked the word "rash" for a reason. It not only lets students decide which suffix to use, but it also opens a window to talk about word meaning, an essential component of comprehension.

Carla Miller: Before we go on, who can tell me what's a rash? Bennett?

Bennett: Rash is like a red spot on your leg and hurts a lot.

Carla Miller: Does it have to be on your leg?

Bennett: No. It can be anywhere on you, like on your arms. Anywhere.

Carla Miller: So a rash is, it's a group of red dots that you can find on your body, but rash can also mean if you do something quickly without thinking about it. Like if you make a rash decision. A rash decision. If I was at the top of that slide right there and I decided to jump off the top of the slide without thinking that it could hurt me. That would be making a rash decision. I want you to make that word plural. Ashton, what did you write? What did you add?

Ashton: '-es'.

Carla Miller: '-es'. So our choices ... we could have either added suffix '-s' or suffix '-es'. Let's think about our cheer. 'sh', 'ch', 'x', 's', 'z' When do you add '-es'?

Ashton: Because I see 'sh'.

Carla Miller: Yes. Very good. So since the word ended with that digraph, 'sh' we had to add '-es'. If your paper does not look like mine, make sure you fix it now. Next word.

Voiceover: And after the heavy lift of dictation is done, it's time for the final step of the lesson for these first graders — celebrating their work by reading what they wrote.

Carla Miller: Okay, friends, we're going to go ahead and read back. First word?

Students: Ships.

Carla Miller: Good. Next word.

Students: Rashes.

Carla Miller: Go ahead and read this one for me.

Students: Wishes. Girls ...

Carla Miller: Let's try this again. Grills. Everyone.

Students: Grills.

Carla Miller: Good.

Students: Blocks. Brushes.

Carla Miller: Very good.

Voiceover: Reading Universe is made possible by generous support from Jim and Donna Barksdale, the Hastings/Quillin Fund, an advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the AFT, the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, and anonymous donors. Special thanks to Burgess-Peterson Academy and Atlanta Public Schools. If you enjoyed this video, please subscribe to our YouTube channel @RUTeaching. Reading Universe is a service of WETA, Washington D.C., the Barksdale Reading Institute and First Book.

Carla Miller: I'm Dr. Carla Miller and this is Reading Universe.

Khadija Williams: All right, now we have our suffixes. Okay.

Narrator: Warming up with flashcards is a fast, easy way for students to review their letter-sound correspondences. It helps them develop automaticity and gets their brains ready for new content. Watch as Khadija Williams leads her second graders through a deck on suffixes.

Khadija Williams: '-er', /er/.

Students: '-er', /er/.

Khadija Williams: Someone.

Students: Someone, something, or more.

Khadija Williams: Very good. Teacher.

Students: Teacher. Marker.

Khadija Williams: Bigger. 

Students: Bigger.

Khadija Williams: Very good.

Narrator: Notice how Ms. Williams uses the same routine for each suffix. She spells it, says it, defines it, and gives examples.

Khadija Williams: Suffix '-ing'.

Students: Suffix '-ing'.

Khadija Williams: /ing/. Happening now.

Students: Happening now.

Khadija Williams: Running.

Students: Running.

Khadija Williams: Jumping.

Students: Jumping.

Khadija Williams: Very good. Suffix '-ed'.

Students: Suffix '-ed'.

Khadija Williams: /d/, /t/, /ĭd/.

Students: /d/, /t/, /ĭd/.

Khadija Williams: In the past.

Students: In the past.

Khadija Williams: Very good. Cleaned.

Students: Cleaned.

Khadija Williams: Danced.

Students: Danced.

Khadija Williams: Very good. Suffix '-ful', /ful/.

Students: Suffix '-ful', /ful/.

Khadija Williams: Full of.

Students: Full of.

Khadija Williams: Very good. Helpful.

Students: Helpful.

Khadija Williams: Thoughtful.

Students: Thoughtful.

Khadija Williams: Wishful.

Students: Wishful.

Khadija Williams: Very good. Suffix '-s'.

Students: Suffix 's'.

Khadija Williams: /s/ or /z/.

Students: /s/ or /z/.

Khadija Williams: Plural, more than one.

Students: Plural, more than one.

Khadija Williams: Teachers.

Students: Teachers.

Khadija Williams: Girls.

Students: Girls.

Khadija Williams: Chairs.

Students: Chairs.

Khadija Williams: Very good. Suffix '-less'.

Students: Suffix '-less'.

Khadija Williams: /lĭs/.

Students: /lĭs/.

Khadija Williams: Without.

Students: Without.

Khadija Williams: Thoughtless.

Students: Thoughtless.

Khadija Williams: Harmless.

Students: Harmless.

Khadija Williams: Hopeless.

Students: Hopeless.

Narrator: Building a consistent flashcard routine like this one helps students focus less on the process and more on mastering their suffixes.

Khadija Williams: Very good. Awesome.

Narrator: Reading Universe is made possible by generous support from Jim and Donna Barksdale, the Hastings/Quillin Fund, an advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the AFT, the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, and anonymous donors. Special thanks to Hope Hill Elementary, Reading Is Essential For All People, and Atlanta Public Schools. If you enjoyed this video, please subscribe to our YouTube channel @RUteaching. Reading Universe is a service of WETA, Washington D.C., the Barksdale Reading Institute, and First Book.

Khadija Williams: My name is Khadija Williams, and this is Reading Universe.

Lidra West: My first word is unprepared. Unprepared. I have a prefix 'u-n' here. My base word is here and then I have a suffix 'e-d'. I can take my word and I can break it apart to help me as the reader know what that word really means. So Orion, I have prefix 'u-n'. I have my base word prepare and then I have suffix 'e-d'. I know prefix 'u-n' means not. I know prepare, Hudson. That means that I have to get ready for something, right? And then I know suffix 'e-d' means that it happened in the past. So unprepared tells me that this word is, it means not ready in the past. I wasn't ready for something. I was unprepared for school because I didn't pack my backpack last night. I was unprepared for dance class because I left my tap shoes at my friend's house. So unprepared means I wasn't ready in the past.

Let's look at another ...

Carla Miller: Okay friends, we're going to start with some listening games. Are you ready?

Students: Yes.

Carla Miller: Okay. Did everybody bring their listening ears? Put 'em both on. One, two. Okay.

Narrator: First grade teacher Carla Miller has been teaching her students all about suffixes. Today she's getting ready to review the suffix ‘-ing’. She begins with a listening game.

Carla Miller: For listening games today, I'm going to give you a word and this word has a suffix at the end. Okay. I want you to give me the base word. What are you going to give me?

Students: The base word.

Carla Miller: Okay. Now I want you to listen and think about these words and see if you can think of something that all of these words have in common. Okay? The word is swimming. What word?

Students: Swimming.

Carla Miller: Base word?

Students: Swim.

Carla Miller: Good. The next word is flying. What word?

Students: Flying.

Carla Miller: Base word?

Students: Fly.

Carla Miller: Good job. The last word is flocking. What word?

Students: Flocking.

Carla Miller: Base word?

Students: Flock.

Narrator: Next, they warm up with flashcards including letter sounds and the suffixes they've been working on.

Students: /ch/.

Carla Miller: Good.

Students: /o͞o/

Carla Miller: Good job.

Students: /ē/.

Carla Miller: Sound.

Students: /ō/.

Carla Miller: Good.

Together: Suffix '-s'. /s/. /z/.

Students: Plural. More than one.

Carla Miller: Excellent.

Together: Suffix '-es' is ...

Students: Plural. More than one.

Carla Miller: Next one.

Together: Suffix ‘-ing’. /ing/. Happening now.

Carla Miller: Very good. Very good. Okay. Are you guys ready to read some words?

Students: Yes.

Carla Miller: Okay. During our listening games today, all of our words had suffix ‘-ing’. Right? So we're going to read some words that have suffix '-ing'. What word?

Students: Duck. Ducking.

Carla Miller: Good.

Students: Snack. Snacking.

Carla Miller: Good job.

Students: Splash. Splashing.

Narrator: Next up is word dictation, where they'll be spelling and writing their suffix ‘-ing’ words.

Carla Miller: First word. The word is snacking. What word?

Students: Snacking.

Carla Miller: Base word?

Students: Snack.

Carla Miller: I want you to write snacking.

Narrator: Notice how Dr. Miller follows each '-ing' word with its base word. This helps students to spell the base word correctly before adding the suffix.

Carla Miller: Jude, can you spell snacking for me?

Jude: S-N-A-C-K-I-N-G. Snacking.

Carla Miller: Jude, when is this happening?

Jude: Now.

Carla Miller: It's happening right now. Good. If I'm snacking, I'm doing it right now. Okay. Next word. The word is wishing. What word?

Students: Wishing.

Carla Miller: Base word?

Students: Wish.

Carla Miller: Write "wishing." Can everybody spell wishing for me?

Students: W-I-S-H-I-N-G. Wishing.

Carla Miller: Excellent. Excellent. When is this happening? When am I wishing?

Students: Right now.

Carla Miller: Right now I'm wishing. Good job. Good job. Make sure your paper looks like my board.

Narrator: After students have worked through the full list of words, Dr. Miller asked them to read what they wrote.

Carla Miller: Okay, let's go ahead and read back our words.

Narrator: This gives students a chance to check their work against the board, and reinforces the sound spelling connection.

Carla Miller: First word.

Students: Snacking.

Carla Miller: Good.

Students: Ducking.

Carla Miller: Good.

Students: Helping.

Carla Miller: Excellent.

Students: Wishing.

Narrator: Now it's time to discuss meaning.

Carla Miller: I want you to look at these words. I want you to circle the word that means to cover for safety. You're going to cover your head for safety. Circle that word. What am I doing? Arla, what word did you circle?

Arla: Ducking.

Carla Miller: Ducking. Good. Can you say that one more time for me?

Students: Ducking.

Carla Miller: Ducking. Can you say ducking?

Arla: Ducking.

Carla Miller: If I'm ducking for cover, I'm going to cover my head for safety, right? If there was a ball coming at my head, I might have to duck. So if I'm doing it right now, the word is what?

Students: Ducking!

Carla Miller: Ducking. Ducking. I should have circled ducking.

Student: Not this duck. Quack, quack, quack.

Carla Miller: And not that duck. Good, good, good. Okay. One more word that I want you to think about. Okay. I want you to underline the word that means you're doing something to make a job easier. You're doing something ... you might do it for someone to make their job easier. Think about that for a second. Think about that for a second. Azaya, what word did you underline?

Azaya: Helping.

Carla Miller: Helping.

Narrator: All of these words were chosen intentionally. Dr. Miller chose "helping" to show that some words can have multiple meanings.

Carla Miller: Friends, can I tell you something about the word helping? There is another definition for helping. So as I underline that word, because we know that if I'm helping somebody, I might be making their job easier, right?

Student: Yeah.

Carla Miller: But I could also use the word helping in a different way. Last week during Thanksgiving, last week, I asked for an extra helping of turkey. I wanted an extra helping of turkey. Who can tell me what do you think helping means if I wanted an extra helping of turkey? Aurora?

Aurora: You wanted another piece?

Carla Miller: I wanted another piece. Exactly. I wanted another serving. So helping could mean making something easier for somebody or helping could mean I want another serving. When I like something and it's super yummy, I want another helping.

Narrator: Next, during the fluency section of the lesson, Dr. Miller takes the opportunity to weave in some elements of grammar. They'll be talking about who or what each sentence is about. This helps students build the skills they'll need to understand more complex sentences later.

Carla Miller: We're going to look at some sentences that have suffix ‘-ing’ in them. Eyes on the board. Let's go ahead and read.

Together: "The kid is snacking."

Carla Miller: Very good. Next sentence.

Students: "I am snacking."

Carla Miller: Good job. Eyes on the board, please. Next sentence.

Together: "The kids are snacking."

Carla Miller: Okay, so we have learned that every single sentence has a who or what, and it has a does what, right? All of my sentences have two parts. I have a who or what and a does what. What do all of these sentences have in common? I'm going to call on my friend over here, Monroe. What do they all have in common?

Monroe: They all have the word snacking.

Carla Miller: They all have the word snacking. Thumbs up if you see that. Thumbs up if you see that they all have snacking. Very good.

Narrator: By keeping the action, the did what, consistent for each sentence, Dr. Miller is able to focus students' attention on the subject. The who or the what each sentence is about.

Carla Miller: We know snacking is our does what? That's what's happening in the sentence. I want everybody to tell me, who is this sentence about?

Students: The kid.

Carla Miller: The kid. Good. The next sentence. I am snacking. Who is this sentence about? I. Very good. Thank you to all my friends that I can hear. I want to hear everybody. The last one, let's see who can get this one. The last sentence is the kids are snacking. Who is this sentence about? So good. The kids, you got it.

Narrator: Now Dr. Miller points out something special in sentences that have a suffix ‘-ing’ action. The helping verb.

Carla Miller: I want everybody to notice there's a little, small little word in each sentence right before snacking. Does everybody ... Touch your nose if you see that word. Touch your nose. It's a little word here right before snacking. That word is helping out the verb, which the does what is our verb, right? Snacking is our verb. That word is helping out our verb. That little word is called a helping verb. Everybody say helping verb.

Students: "Helping verb."

Carla Miller: These ... snacking needs a little help to show that it is an action. Okay? So in this sentence, the word is is our helping verb. So when we see "is snacking," that is our does what. That's what's happening in the sentence. That's what we're doing in the sentence.

Narrator: On top of the steps that anchor every phonics lesson — the listening game, warming up with flashcards, word dictation and fluency — Dr. Miller also worked in word meaning, words with multiple meanings, sentence structure, and the helping verb.

Carla Miller: You guys did such a great job. I think we deserve an "oh yeah!" What do you think?

Students: Yeah!

Carla Miller: One, two, three.

Students: Oh yeah!

Carla Miller: Oh yeah! Good job guys.

Narrator: Reading Universe is made possible by generous support from Jim and Donna Barksdale; the Hastings/Quillin Fund, an advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation; the AFT; the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation; and anonymous donors. Special thanks to Burgess-Peterson Academy, Reading Is Essential for All People, and Atlanta Public Schools. If you enjoyed this video, please subscribe to our YouTube channel @RUTeaching. Reading Universe is a service of WETA Washington D.C., the Barksdale Reading Institute, and First Book.

Carla Miller: I'm Dr. Carla Miller and this is Reading Universe.