If you teach your student common prefixes, you will quickly expand his ability to spell and read longer words.
Here are five things your learner needs to know about prefixes:
1.Prefixes are word parts like pre- and un- which are added in front of base words. Teach common prefixes like re, non, un, mis, over, pre, and semi.
2.We just add the prefix to the word-we don't change the base word. Prefixes are much simpler to deal with than suffixes, which often require a change to the base word.
3.The spelling of the prefix never changes. For example, if you learn to spell the prefix poly , as in polygon, you can depend on poly to be spelled the same in the words polygraph, polyester, and polygram.
4.Be aware that double letters can occur. If you add the prefix un to natural , you'll get unn atural with a double n. That is correct.
5.Watch out for prefix look-alikes. Some words contain the same string of letters as a prefix, but they actually aren't prefixes. The un in uncle is not a prefix, for example.
Prefixes are simple to learn and once your student has mastered them, many of those longer words won't be tricky anymore!
