Shining a Spotlight on Morphology Instruction

The Science of Reading is at the forefront of many conversations these days, which is absolutely fantastic! However, everyone seems to be hyper-focused on phonemic awareness and phonics (both of which are absolutely crucial) but, at times, other important components of reading aren’t getting quite the attention they deserve.

Today, we want to shine the spotlight on a sometimes overlooked component of the Science of Reading: morphology.

Morphology is the study of word parts and their meanings. When students understand that words are made up of morphemes (prefixes, suffixes, and bases/roots), the words available to them expand tremendously! Not only does your students’ vocabulary expand when you study morphology, but listening and reading comprehension improve, decoding longer words becomes easier, and spelling also makes a lot more sense. 🙌🏻

So how can we teach morphology? Let’s talk about it…

Word Families

Typically, when we think of word families, we think of words like cat, mat, sat, chat, etc. 

We want to challenge you to think of word families in a different way! Instead of thinking that word families are made up of words that rhyme, consider that word families are made up of words related through MEANING! Here’s an example:

Write the following words on the board: cycle, unicycle, bicycle, tricycle, motorcycle. Ask students what each word means. Do they notice a similarity in all of the words? Have a discussion about the root “cycle” and how all of the other words are related. Discuss how the prefixes uni-, bi-, tri- and the root “motor” change the meaning of “cycle.”

Coding

Coding words is often used in phonics lessons, but it can also be a beneficial tool in morphology and vocabulary development. Teach your students that when they see a prefix or suffix, they can put a box around it, and then underline the base. This naturally breaks the word apart, making it easier to decode and understand the meaning.

Flashcards, Word Lists & Passages

Help students put their new knowledge into practice! Discover a new morpheme together through lots of examples and discussion, then give your students an opportunity to see and use that morpheme. Use flashcards, word lists and passages to reinforce learning.

Interactive Activities

Make it interactive!  Play games. Make real words and fake words with puzzle pieces, matching games, or sliders. Make sure to focus on the meaning, and discuss why each new word built makes sense (or doesn’t!)

Another fun way to encourage your students to think about morphemes is to look for them “in the wild!” Tell your students to be on the lookout for any words containing the new morpheme, and encourage them to write words they find on post-it notes to share with you and/or the class. Then, you can have the class discuss the meaning of each! You could even create a display of these post-its in your classroom.

Word Matrices

Show your students how to create a word matrix. This is a really concrete way to show how one base/root can create so many different words. Model how to use the word matrix to build new words with the base word in the middle. In the “joy” example below, SO many words can be built, including: enjoy, enjoyable, joyful, joyous, joyfulness, overjoyed, enjoying…… and the list goes on!

Etymology

Studying where words originated can be fascinating! A few ways to do this include:

• Using the website Etymonline when you're teaching a new affix, or your class comes across a word they're wondering about: www.etymonline.com
• If you have access to Brainpop, there is a great video explaining etymology in a kid-friendly way
  
• For those who want to geek-out on etymology, get the book Dictionary of Word Origins: The Histories of More Than 8,000 English-Language Words by John Ayto. It's so fun to look up where certain words have come from!
  

Remember, understanding morphology isn’t going to happen through osmosis. Just like phonics, morphology needs to be explicitly taught. It doesn’t have to take long, but I encourage you to fit it into your day and continuously review the morphemes you’ve taught throughout the year.

Alright teacher friend, you can do this! You’re an awesome teacher and your students are lucky to have you in their corner. Now, go expand those minds and vocabularies!

As always, we’re here to support you at Up & Away Literacy with information and resources that you can use right away. If you’re looking for quality morphology materials, we’ve got you covered! You can check out some of our resources below:

Digital Morphology Lessons

Morpheme Flashcards

Word Building Sliders

Morphology Write The Room

If you'd like to learn more about the Science of Reading, check out our Science of Reading Revealed course HERE. We've even included a module on morphology!