Home My Classroom About Me My Store TeachersPayTeachers Facebook BlogLovin' Pinterest Instagram Image Map

Wednesday, June 30, 2021

Teaching Prefixes and Suffixes in SPANISH

Hello friends! One of my favorite things to teach is vocabulary in SPANISH. Prefixes and suffixes in SPANISH are a great way to increase our students' vocabulary. I'll be sharing a few helpful resources and ideas so keep on reading. Feel free to leave a comment below with your favorite vocabulary building strategy. Don't forget to sign up to receive my email newsletter and download this FREE Prefixes unit just for joining! 

Why teach prefixes and suffixes? ¿Por qué enseñar los prefijos y sufijos? 

Research shows that one of our EL's biggest challenge in reading is due to the lack of sufficient vocabulary. Think about when our students are reading and they come across a difficult word. Some students may just skip right over it, and then the context and comprehension becomes even more of a challenge. Other students may try to break down the word and infer it's meaning. By teaching our students about word parts such as prefixes and suffixes, we are equipping them with strategies to decipher the meanings of new words.  

3 steps to teach Prefixes and Suffixes in SPANISH!

Step 1: Create an anchor chart with your students. 

It is important to teach the most common and grade level appropriate prefixes and suffixes. First, create an anchor chart or word family chart for each prefix and suffix. You can create anchor charts using these Post-it Super Sticky Easel pads. They will be posted all year round as a reference for your students. On the anchor chart, make sure to include: 

  • prefix or suffix
  • meaning
  • plenty of examples

Step 2: Review in small groups

After a whole group lesson, it's time to review prefixes and suffixes in small groups. Students can come to your teacher table and practice hands on activities like the ones mentioned in this blog post. You can use expo markers, sentence strips, highlighting strips, post its, pretty much anything that will get the students excited about deconstructing and reconstructing words. 

What does deconstructing and reconstructing words mean? 

When deconstructing words use these question prompts:

  • What parts do you see in the word? 
  • What does that part mean? 
  • Can you find it on the anchor chart? 
When reconstructing words use this question prompt: 
  • Now put this part together with the rest of the word. What does the entire word mean?


Step 3: Independent vocabulary building activities

When you are working in small groups, have students work on their own or in centers. Some of these centers can include the prefixes and suffixes worksheets I have in this bundle. This bundle includes: anchor charts, interactive notebook pages, fluency sheets, coloring the prefix/suffix word part, matching games and an assessment. TRY A FULL UNIT FOR FREE - JUST CLICK HERE!

Another activity you can have students work on is this digital and printable Find the Prefixes and Suffixes activity.

Finally, in a reading center have students create these handy prefixes and suffixes bookmarks. Super useful for students to keep track of words that have prefixes and suffixes. 

BONUS TIP! When you are doing a read aloud, point out how the author is using prefixes and suffixes and add them to an anchor chart. (This helps students make relevant connections and know that prefixes and suffixes are used everywhere and not just doing vocabulary time)!

Thanks for reading to the end friends! If you'd like a free unit on the SPANISH prefix multi-, JUST CLICK HERE. Until next time friends. ¡Hasta luego! 

*Please note: this blog includes affiliate links and I do earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for your continued support!

Friday, June 11, 2021

Reading Tips to Avoid the Summer Slide in the Bilingual Classroom

Are you looking for ideas and ways to help our bilingual students avoid the summer slide? Reading, reading, and more reading can definitely help. Here are a few of my favorite tips to engage our bilingual students with reading activities during the summer. 

At the end of the year, many teachers are looking for end of the year gifts and ideas. In my opinion, the best gift we can give our students is a book! I still have books my teachers gifted me years and years ago. I love collecting books and instilling this love for books in students. Quick tip: check out Scholastic Book Clubs for special promotions like their monthly $1 book. You can also check out some of my favorite books on my IG or on my Amazon storefront. 


Along with a book, you can also print one of these Reading Summer Bingos (available in English and Spanish). You can have students complete a line or complete the entire page. The best thing about this is that it is available as a printable page AND you also get access to the Google Slides version in case you want to assign it virtually. Once you have your own copy in your Google Drive, you can share it with parents as needed! Wooohooo lots of summer reading activities to keep your students motivated and engaged. 

Bilingual summer bingo

Finally, I like to print and send home a Summer Activity packet. I have a PreK-1st grade version and a 2nd-4th grade version. These packets have 6 weeks worth of activities your students can work on at their own pace. Each week follows the same routine and there's plenty of reading, writing, and vocabulary skills your students can practice in a fun, engaging way! Quick tip: You can also assign these AFTER summer and use them as warm ups during back to school season! Win-win!


What are some of your favorite reading activities to avoid the summer slide? Let me know! 

Have you signed up to receive my email newsletter? I send EXCLUSIVE FREEBIES right to your inbox. I also host surprise giveaways. JOIN HERE! Until next time friends. ¡Hasta luego!