English lesson plan · 4th grade (Year 5 in England) · 30 minutes

Prefixes and suffixes

Vocabulary

CCSS L.3.4.BCCSS L.4.4.BEngland: Y3/4 GPS (prefixes)England: Y5/6 GPS (suffixes)England: KS2 SATs GPS

Objective and success criteria

Students will: Prefixes and suffixes.

I can answer questions on today's skill on my own, without help.
I can explain each step and say why it works.
I can check my answer and spot a mistake.

Before and after

Needs first: Synonyms

Leads to: Word families and word classes; Greek and Latin roots; What prefixes mean: pre-, sub-, inter-, trans- and more

Materials: Word cards, A thesaurus or dictionary, A short text with the target words, Mini whiteboards, A short model text on the board, Printed student sheet (below).

Warm-up · 4 min

Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Synonyms). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

Which word means the SAME as "shut"? (open / lift / bend / close) → closePrompt: A synonym has the same or nearly the same meaning.
Which word is closest in meaning to "vacant"? (empty / fierce / gloomy / occupied) → emptyPrompt: One of the choices means the opposite. Don't be tricked!
Choose the word that best fits the clue in brackets. The ___ dog barked at the gate. (large) (quiet / thin / huge / tiny) → hugePrompt: Read the clue in brackets carefully.

Hook · 3 min

Show an interesting word in a sentence and ask what it might mean from the clues around it.
Share the objective: Prefixes and suffixes. Read the success criteria together.

I do: model it · 7 min

Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
Example: Which prefix makes a real word from "spell", meaning "not" or "wrongly"?
Step 1: A prefix is added to the start of a word to change its meaning.
Step 2: 'mis-' means 'wrongly'.
Step 3: So the answer is: misspell
Answer: misspell
Pause after each step and ask a student to say what comes next.

We do: guided practice · 6 min

Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.

Which prefix makes a real word from "visible", meaning "not" or "wrongly"? (invisible / disvisible / imvisible / unvisible) → invisiblePrompt: un-, dis-, mis-, in-, im-, il- and ir- can all mean 'not'.
What does this prefix mean? re- (as in rewrite, replay) (not / before / after / again) → againPrompt: Look at the example words. What do they have in common?

You do: independent practice · 7 min

Students work on the student sheet. Circulate and check the first two answers of every student early.
Students who finish: write a question of their own for a partner, with the answer.

The 6 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.

Exit ticket · 3 min

Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.

What does this suffix mean? -able (as in washable, readable) (before / a person who / able to be / without) → able to bePrompt: Look at the example words.
What does this prefix mean? over- (as in overcook, overflow) (too much / under / again / not enough) → too muchPrompt: Look at the example words. What do they have in common?

Watch out for

Picking a "bigger" synonym that doesn't fit the meaning.
Ignoring the clues in the rest of the sentence.

Support and stretch

Support

Review first: Synonyms.
Use concrete materials: word cards.
Give the first step of each question, or a partly worked example to finish.
Pair with a confident partner for the guided practice.

Stretch

Move on to: Word families and word classes; Greek and Latin roots; What prefixes mean: pre-, sub-, inter-, trans- and more.
Explain a common mistake in writing and how to fix it.
Write a word problem that uses today's skill, then solve a partner's.

Homework and more practice

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/english/grade-4.

Free lesson plan from eurekami.com/lesson-plan-builder