Word Recognition: Understanding Morphology

Dear Parents,

All our students from Prep to Year 6 are learning about morphology during their literacy block, from the basics of plural "s" to the more complex nature of words. Our Year 3-6 students focus on this for 30 minutes each day, as it is vital for helping them read and spell longer, more complex words.

What is Morphology?

Morphology is the study of the structure of words and how they are formed. It involves understanding the smallest units of meaning in a language, known as morphemes. For example, the word "unhappiness" can be broken down into three morphemes: "un-" (meaning "not"), "happy" (the root word), and "-ness" (indicating a state or condition). This knowledge helps students read, spell, and understand these words better.

Fun Morphology Activities to Try at Home

1. Word Families: Think of a simple base/root word and come up with as many different words that include that word by adding one or more morphemes. For example, with "happy," you can create "unhappy," "happily," "unhappily," "happiness," and "unhappiness." Or with "do," you can create "redo," "undo," "doing," "undoing," and "redoing." You can even extend it to past tense like "did." This can be a collaborative game or a challenge to see who can come up with the most words.
2. Morphology Scavenger Hunt: Work with your child to think of a morpheme they have learned at school and hunt for words around the house or in a book that contain that morpheme. Start with simple ones like "ing," "ed," or "ly," and then make it more challenging with morphemes like "tract," "or," "tion," "ible," or "able."
3. Silly Words: Use morphemes your child has learned to create made-up silly words. For example, combine "un+neighbour+hood+ly" and use their knowledge of each morpheme to guess what it might mean.

These activities make learning morphology enjoyable and help children understand how words are constructed and how their meanings can change with different morphemes. We hope you and your children have fun exploring the world of words together!

Happy Learning! 

Melissa Cox

Instructional Specialist

Forest’s Hot Reads – Year 5 Edition

Zane Shelverton – Weirdo Series

Here is a kid called Weirdo, he and his family are weird and funny. Weirdo has girl troubles at school and he is a little nervous sometimes. I recommend you join Weirdo on his funny adventures because the storyline is unique and hilarious.

Amber van Norden – Dairy of a Whimpy Kid

There is a kid called Gregory and he has a diary where he writes about his life in a silly way. He loves to play video games and struggles being the middle child with his two brothers. I like these books because they are an easy and entertaining read.