As we read through our novel, “From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler” we have been learning new vocabulary words. Part of our novel study is learning how to find vocabulary word meanings, summarize chapters, and make predictions and connections with chapters.

This week as we looked at our vocabulary words, we saw that many of them use suffixes and prefixes! We discussed how to find the root word to look up in a dictionary and where in the dictionary we could locate words like, “abnormally”. Then we began a discussion on how prefixes and suffixes can help us solve the meaning of the word. We wrote out the word “distrustful”. We talked about how the suffixes and prefixes can add to the meaning of the word “trust”. Students were able to share that “dis” means “not” and “ful” means “full of”. Using those word clues a student was able to solve the meaning of the word distrustful and excitedly proclaimed, “Full of no trust!”

Once we had witnessed the helpfulness of these word clues, we were able to decipher  the meaning of other words that had prefixes and suffixes as we continued practicing this skill. We were able to use these clues to help us discern the meaning of vocabulary words based on what we know!