January 29, 2019 : Can You Crack the Word Code?

The Mini Page is a syndicated, four-page tabloid written for young children found each Wednesday in The Denver Post. This issue of The Mini Page is available through the eEdition Archive to registered eEdition subscribers

Click here to download the PDF for this lesson

Activities:

1. Many prefixes make a connection to numbers: uni = one, bi = two, tri = three, quad = four and quint = five. Look in the newspaper for words that start with a number prefix. Write down the word and explain what the number tells you about the item (for example , a bicycle has two wheels).

2. With a friend, go through the newspaper and circle all the prefixes and suffixes you can find in three minutes. Make a list of the prefixes and suffixes you find.

3. Collect seven newspaper headlines. See if you can change any of the words in the headlines by adding a prefix or suffix. How did your prefix or suffix change the word?

4. Look up Latin and Greek roots, prefixes and suffixes on the internet or in a book. Now make three columns on a piece of paper. In t he first column, write seven prefixes you found. In the center column, write seven roots you found. In the right column, write seven suffixes. Now make new words by using a prefix, a root and a suffix. Write the word and what it means. See if your friends can figure out your new word. Don’t make existing words - - make all new words.

5. Look up five state mottos that are written in Latin. Try to guess the meaning of the mottos. Then check yourself – how close were you to the real meaning of the mottos?

Mini Page activities meet many state and national educational standards. Each week we identify standards that relate to The Mini Page content and offer activities that will help your students reach them.

This week's standard:
Students use knowledge of word identification strategies to comprehend texts. (Language Arts)

(standards by Dr. Sherrye D. Garrett, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi)