Working on morphological awareness can actually be fun!
If you're a regular reader of this blog, you'll know that I am a speech-language pathologist who fancies a healthy dose of morphology work with many of my students, starting around second grade. In fact, I don't think there's an upper age limit for good morphology instruction!
So many different kinds of learners can benefit from this work. As I have mentioned, working on morphological awareness gives students a meaningful and tangible boost in the areas of:
vocabulary
reading comprehension
decoding (reading), and
encoding (spelling)
(If you want to understand more about what morphology is, including a variety of activities to target morphological awareness - and a free download! - read this post.)
Lately, I've been using a great workbook called Improving Morphemic Awareness, 2nd Edition by Sandra Donah, Ed.D. I've already posted about a cool activity I do with it here.
Inspired by the affixes and roots Donah has gathered in her book, I created a game using a selection of affixes and Latin roots. I'm pretty psyched about it!
Want to try this free morphological awareness game?
Follow the directions below:
Click on the image of the game (above left) and it will open the game for you.
Click on the image of the scoresheet (above right) to download a free word list for your students to record their words.
When it's a student's turn, spin the wheels (you can see the button that does this in the gif above). Have them read the word when the wheels stop spinning. It may be a real word or a nonword. If it's a nonword, move to the next player. If it's a real word, have the student write the word on their scoresheet, as well as its definition. Scaffold as needed; students might need help determining if it is a real word, or to state or research the definition. (Sometimes I do too! Take this opportunity to show your students what you do to find out if a word is real and what it means.) Once the student has recorded their word on their scoresheet, they get an additional chance to spin.
First player to 10 words wins!
I'd love to hear if you try this game, and if your students like it. Please share your thoughts in the comments!
Let me know if you have any requests for similar games.
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Enjoy!
