Word form for kids

Word formation is of crucial importance in language learning. It gives a chance to enrich the vocabulary with the help of already-known roots and words. In this article, we will discuss affixation (adding suffixes and prefixes to the root) as a great word formation tool.

1. It is important for learners to know how to form nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs. If the teacher intends to devote the lesson to noun formation suffixes, he/she may prepare a poster activity with a chart of different noun formation suffixes.

Learners are given a pack of verbs and they need to classify these verbs according to the appropriate noun formation suffIx (e.g. move, friend, revise, appear). This is a very useful activity since the learners work in groups and they come up with the forms rather than being provided with them. See an example of the chart below.

The same activity can be applied while teaching adjective or verb formation suffixes or prefixes.

2. A maze, aimed at recapping suffixes and prefixes, is a great revision activity of word formation. Students try to exit the maze looking for words which follow the same word formation rules. The task might be the following:

• find the right path choosing adjectives whose opposites start with the prefix in-.
• find adjectives which form nouns by adding ance/ ity, etc
• find the words with the correct word formation.

Students are timed and it adds extra competition spirit into the activity.
See an example of the maze activity here.

3. 3. The teacher prepares two sets of word card: prefixes/suffixes and words that fit the chosen prefixes/suffixes to create new words. Students select one card from the Words pile and try to match it with the appropriate prefix /suffix to make a new word, note the new word down, put the Words card aside, and continue until they have no Words cards left. They can play individually/in pairs, in groups, against the clock or against each other to make as many correct words as possible.

The example provided here is targeted at revising noun suffixes -ment, -tion, and -sion.

Parts of Speech Bingo is an old but a tried-and-tested way of not only teaching but also revising word formation. Teacher selects words he/she intends the students to revise and prepares bingo cards. The game can be played either in this way when learners call out names of parts of speech (noun, verb, adjective, adverb), students cross out one word at a time (even if they have several nouns on their bingo card) or read out a sentence with a gap. Students who have the fitting word say it out loud and cross it out.

5. Students stand/sit in a circle, you (or any other student) select a category (word building suffix or prefix), students pass the ball around saying the words without repeating them and you monitor whether they are correct. The first person to say the wrong word/not say anything at all is eliminated (leaves the circle). The game goes on until there are two players left. Change suffixes/prefixes for each new round. It is a super engaging game and helps the learners dig deep to find a word which fits the category.

All these games are nice tools to help learners memorize word formation affixes. In order to reinforce the material, learners may be asked to come up with sentences where they need to use some of the given words, make up stories, ask questions to their partners. In this way, the knowledge of these words seems more purposeful to them and they enjoy this great way of expanding their vocabulary.

This compilation of printable standard and expanded word forms worksheets is best suited for students of grade 1 through grade 5. Learners are required to convert numbers in standard form to expanded word form and vice versa. These pdf worksheets are classified into place values of units, thousands, millions, and billions to enable an easy download environment. Begin your practice with our free worksheets!

If you want to teach your children how to read then word families are a good place to start. I have designed a large set of word family worksheets, flashcards, and even a free workbook for you to download.

The word family materials included can be used as worksheets or as flashcards by laminating them and cutting them out. I have also designed some simple sentences using the CVC words which means after children can read the word families, they can practice reading them in sentences!

Word Families Workbook
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I have made a printable workbook that can be used as a structured way to improve your child’s reading. The workbook contains word family CVC sentences that are easy to read. The word family workbook is a great resource to use at home or at your kindergarten!

CVC Sentences PDF DOWNLOAD HERE!

If the workbook is too difficult, I recommend practicing the word family sheets below. you can use the sheets for practicing reading each of the word families.

-ad, -ag, -am, -an, -ap, -at, -ack word family worksheets PDF

-ed, -en, -et, -eck, -ell, -est word family worksheets PDF

Here are all the CVC word family worksheets containing ‘e’. Just like the previous word family, try to avoid teaching the 4 letter words until later. You will notice that names like ‘Ben’ are capitalized. I recommend laminating the worksheets so that they can be traced and reused.

-ig, -ip, -it, -in, – ip, -it word family worksheets PDF

With the ‘i’ word family worksheets, I have not included any 4 letter words. Please let me know if you would like some and I can add to this collection as time goes on. Remember that children don’t have to know all of the words, they just need to learn the skill of decoding.

-ob, -og, -ot word family worksheets PDF

Here are the ‘o’ CVC words. Feel free to teach only the easier words from the word family. If I was to teach this word family to younger students, I would probably choose Bob, dog, and pot. When discussing the meaning of words, its always easier to use nouns.

-ub, -ug, -un, -ut, -uck, -ump word family worksheets PDF

Finally, we have the ‘u’ word families. Remember with all of these flashcards and materials, you don’t have to do them all in order for your child to read. If a student can read at a reasonable speed, on around 70 percent of the 3 letter CVC word, then you can start using the word family workbook!

Easy reading word family sheets PDF

If it feels like there are too many sheets to print out, I also prepared some more sheets that are designed specifically for reading. These flashcards will work well if you have many students and not enough materials : )

If you need any help downloading the flashcards, or would like to see a step by step guide of how to print the flashcards, click here!