Teaching Morphemes
Descriptor: This language strategy helps children look for patterns in word and/or word
parts to help them determine word meaning. It will assist them in the understanding of
more words so their vocabulary is increased.
Example:
-- ish
childish, greenish, brutish, mannish
-- spectspectator, spectacles, specter, introspection, circumspection
Hospit (Latin stem)
hospital, hospitality, hotel, host, hostess, hostel, hospice
Examples:
1. Give the students one word that has known word parts and have them break it into
its separate morphemes and then brainstorm related words that can be formed
from each of those separate word parts.
geography:
geo
geometry
geologist
graph
telegraph
seismograph
y
symphony
topography
2. Have students keep a morphology notebook
 Record the new root or affix, its meaning and function.
 Write several words with the same morpheme.
 Underline the prefix and suffix and circle the root.
 Beneath the word, write what the prefix, root, and suffix means.
intractable = in tract able
not to pull capable of (adj.)
synchronize = syn chron ize
same time to make (verb)
3. Compare and contrast two similar words to pinpoint the meaning.
How are dermatology and psychology the same?
Same
different
Adaptation for Age levels would involve an increase in the complexity of words and/or
the number of word parts.
For EAL students, choose words that the students are familiar with and gradually
increase level of difficulty and add unfamiliar words.
Morpheme Compare and Contrast
How are ____________________ and ____________________ the same?
Same
Different