Educational Songs with Free Worksheets
Prefixes, Suffixes, Roots
An engaging rap song for teaching Latin and Greek meanings and etymology to students. Includes fun worksheets and multiple versions of the song to assist with scaffolding.
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This song presents common prefixes, suffixes and roots as linguistic units, and helps students understand their role and placement in word construction. Each verse focuses on a different aspect of building words using common prefixes, suffixes and roots. The additional materials including worksheets and online resources, help teachers, parents and students understand word construction and meaning. Students will enjoy building words and increasing their vocabulary.
This song is suitable for elementary school, middle school, and high school students, as well as ESL, ELL or any students experiencing difficulty with the English language.
This song is suitable for elementary school, middle school, and high school students, as well as ESL, ELL or any students experiencing difficulty with the English language.
Chorus
Words are power, and that’s the truth
Prefixes, suffixes, and they all got roots
Words are power, they run this town
So let’s run the track back, and break ‘em on down
Verse I
Let me break this down, we start with root words the truest
Not a full word, just a linguistic unit
You get a lot of room here to improvise
Visualize words of small size as I summarize
“aqua” means water, “ami” means love
“bio” means life, “hemo” means blood
“geo” means earth, and “vita” means life
Let’s hit the next topic so y’all can get it right
Chorus
Verse II
You want to know what’s next, it’s the prefix step
The initial portion of a term or object
Look at the word itself, it’s a two-part patch
“pre” means before, and “fix” is to attach
“anti-” means against, “inter-” means between
“poly-” means many, while “homo-” means the same
“pseudo-” means false, and “trans-” mean across
Prefixes start words, you should never take a loss
Chorus
Verse III
If prefixes come before, then what’s the next chapter
Suffixes follows root words, so they must come after
And while this may sound absurd
A suffix can also change the grammar function of a whole word
“Wait, from adjectives to adverbs?” Like clear into clearly
“But then child into childish?” It’s semantics, can you hear me?
“-ology” means study of, “-ism” is belief in
“-cide” means killing, and “-or” and “-er” mean demonstration
“-phobia” means fear of, “-kinesis” means movement
And that’s what it is, now you’re getting some improvement
Words are power, and that’s the truth
Prefixes, suffixes, and they all got roots
Words are power, they run this town
So let’s run the track back, and break ‘em on down
Verse I
Let me break this down, we start with root words the truest
Not a full word, just a linguistic unit
You get a lot of room here to improvise
Visualize words of small size as I summarize
“aqua” means water, “ami” means love
“bio” means life, “hemo” means blood
“geo” means earth, and “vita” means life
Let’s hit the next topic so y’all can get it right
Chorus
Verse II
You want to know what’s next, it’s the prefix step
The initial portion of a term or object
Look at the word itself, it’s a two-part patch
“pre” means before, and “fix” is to attach
“anti-” means against, “inter-” means between
“poly-” means many, while “homo-” means the same
“pseudo-” means false, and “trans-” mean across
Prefixes start words, you should never take a loss
Chorus
Verse III
If prefixes come before, then what’s the next chapter
Suffixes follows root words, so they must come after
And while this may sound absurd
A suffix can also change the grammar function of a whole word
“Wait, from adjectives to adverbs?” Like clear into clearly
“But then child into childish?” It’s semantics, can you hear me?
“-ology” means study of, “-ism” is belief in
“-cide” means killing, and “-or” and “-er” mean demonstration
“-phobia” means fear of, “-kinesis” means movement
And that’s what it is, now you’re getting some improvement
Reading
PrefixSuffix.com: English Language Roots ReferenceEnglish Language Roots, Suffixes and Syllables
This site provides comprehensive detailing of prefixes, suffixes and roots, two games, a great chart and links to other resources. Highly recommended!
Grades 5-9
Virtualsalt.com
Root Words and Prefixes
This site explains in excellent detail how words are formed. A good template for teaching root words, prefixes and suffixes. A table of prefixes and word roots with definitions is attached.
Grades 5-9
AncientHistory.about.com
Greek and Latin Roots
This site has several pages with interesting information about root words, prefixes and suffixes based in Latin and Greek with accompanying lists of words. Lots of really good information.
Grades 5-8
Lesson Plans & Activities
International Reading AssociationFlip-a-Chip: Examining Affixes and Roots to Build Vocabulary
This classroom game focuses on filling in stories with the proper prefixes and suffixes. This could be fun and expanded on with more words.
Grades 6-8
Improve Comprehension Using a Word Card Game with Root Words and Affixes
In this lesson, students practice analyzing word meanings by learning root words and affixes. They work in a variety of ways with a list of about 20 common but challenging words to learn the definition and spelling of each. Then they get in small groups to design and play the Make-a-Word card game.
Grades 6-8
Scholastic
Bill Klepper, Fat Cat (PDF)
This PDF worksheet focuses on prefixes and root words. Quite clever and fun.
Grades 5-8
bingo lingo (PDF)
This clever but challenging bingo game enforces a strong knowledge of root words.
Grades 7-8
