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7th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 10 of 13

Roots & Word Parts

Greek and Latin roots, prefixes and suffixes

What your child practices

Children work out the meaning and spelling of new words from their roots, prefixes and suffixes, and meet figures of speech.

Alabama Course of Study content standard: 7.29 · Greek and Latin roots, prefixes and suffixes

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Roots carry meaning: tele (far), therm (heat), graph (write), bio (life).
  2. Prefixes change meaning: mis- (wrongly), re- (again), un- (not). Suffixes change the word’s job.
  3. Idioms are figures of speech that don’t mean exactly what they say.

Example: The prefix mis- means “wrongly.” What does misspell mean? Take the base word: spell. Add the meaning of mis-. Answer: spell wrongly

Roots & Word Parts in Alabama

In the Alabama Course of Study, this is unit 10 of 13 in 7th grade English Language Arts, after Whose Story? and before Research Skills.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Which word is closest in meaning to friendship?

    • rivalry
    • distance
    • camaraderie
    • silence

  2. Question 2

    The prefix inter- means “between”. International means…

    • inside one nation
    • between nations
    • without a nation
    • against a nation

  3. Question 3

    A teacher dictates a sentence. What does she do?

    • reads it silently
    • erases it
    • writes it on the board
    • says it aloud for students to write

  4. Question 4

    Which word contains the root port, meaning “carry”?

    • vision
    • magnet
    • transport
    • planet

  5. Question 5

    The prefix sub- means “under”. A submarine travels…

    • above the clouds
    • over the sea
    • beside the sea
    • under the sea

  6. Question 6

    Which word is spelled correctly?

    • receed
    • recede
    • resede
    • reseed

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