Current research shows that addressing Morphology (the patterns of words and word meaning), using affixes (prefixes and suffixes) and Greek and Latin roots, markedly improves reading and spelling. Your child will learn about the bigger “chunks” in many words and how they affect the meaning. With this knowledge, your child will read and spell more fluently. Another important benefit is the establishment of vocabulary building blocks, which greatly aid reading skills, comprehension and college SAT performances. Morphology is usually most appropriate for children 10 years of age and older and should be learned after phonological processing and phonics skills are strong.
They begin by learning the most common prefixes and suffixes as they apply to Anglo-Saxon words. Anglo-Saxon words can stand alone as true words. For example, run can be changed to running, rerun, and runner. Then they progress to Latin roots which usually require affixes in order to become meaningful words. For example, the root word struct is not a word on its own. A real word can be made by adding the prefix con to make construct. Finally, children learn about Greek roots, which are commonly referred to as combining forms and do not necessarily need affixes to be true words. For instance, auto and graph make autograph.
Your child plays an active role in discovering meanings and uses of roots and affixes in order to successfully claim ownership of this new knowledge. Upon completion of Morphology, your child will also have tangible resources (such as Think Charts, lists, et cetera) to help them in the future.
A more detailed program description can be found on the NOW! Programs website
