Greek and Latin Roots Worksheets and Activities
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We have been studying Greek and Latin roots in our homeschool for a longtime. We have books and flashcards to assist us in our learning. It has really helped us all to understand the meaning of words. Today I want to share with you some Greek and Latin roots worksheets and activities to help you with your teaching.
Why Learn Greek and Latin Roots?
The English language is made up of a mix of many languages. The background of words in our language really are varied, but Greek & Latin play a huge role. If you can learn the meaning of the root of a word, it is easy to figure out the meaning of the word you are trying to understand.
Root words are usually types of affixes in our language- meaning they can be at the beginning as a prefix or at the end of the words as a suffix. Â Understanding this will help them know the meaning of more complex words.
Learning root words helps kids to understand the meaning of a word that may be unfamiliar to them. Â Words that have a common root word will have similar meanings. Knowing root words or base words will help them to learn new words.
For instance the Latin Root word pre means before. If you know this any word with the prefix of pre will be easier to interpret. Some examples of words that start with the latin root word of pre include: preschool, prefix, previous, preface, etc.
Another example is the Greek root word astro. Astro means star. Some examples of worst that use this prefix are astronomy, and astronaut. Â If a child wanted to know what the word astrophysics meant, and knew their root words, they could deduce that it was about stars and have a general grasp of the meaning already!
I found that my son, when he took the ACT had such a firm grasp on the English language, that he excelled in the English portion. Â That’s the power of root words! Knowing the meaning of words helps you to be a better reader and a better writer.
Tools we have used to learn Latin and Greek Roots:
We studied a little latin with Prima Latina as well as Song School Latin early on in our homeschool. These were fun, but we didn’t stick with them for very long.
What worked best for use were these Latin and Greek words flashcards/books: English from the Roots Up. It looks like these are out of print now, unfortunately! Try and find a used copy.
​Greek and Latin Roots Worksheets and Activities
I created a Printable set to help you teach Latin Root Words and Greek Root Words. This includes 40 of the most common Greek root words, meanings and examples as well as 40 of the most common Latin root words, meanings and examples.
I made them into three part flashcards or puzzles. They could be folded and kept as a one piece study guide, or cut apart to use as a matching game or activity to match the root word to the meaning of each root word and the to the example words.
There is a root word matching activity with the first column containing the root word and the second column containing the root word meaning. They need to draw lines matching the root words and meanings.
You can use these Greek and Latin root words as vocabulary words, teaching a root word each week and focusing on words made up of that root word. You can teach kids how to deduce the meaning of unfamiliar words using these roots. It could essentially be a year-long vocabulary program for students in any grade.
Download the Latin & Greek Roots Worksheets Now!
See More of My Language Arts Activities:
Draw and Write: Creative Writing for Kids
