Prefix pre- Before
Practice the prefix pre- meaning before: preschool, preview, preorder, prefix.
Session summary (SOAP)
Stays on this screen. Nothing is saved or sent.
Mark a card Correct, Correct with cue or Incorrect and the summary writes itself here.
How to run it
Cover the prefix and read the base word first, then add it back and ask what changed. Heat becomes preheat, view becomes preview, and the meaning shift is the same every time. Prefix is the item worth noticing — it is a word about words, and a student who sees that prefix means the part fixed before has understood the term and the concept together. Ten minutes covers the set.
Cueing ladder
Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.
- IndependentPresent the item and wait 5 seconds of quiet before helping.Log as correct
- HintStress the part of the sentence that changes, or point to the word ending.Log as cued
- Sentence starterSay the first half of the sentence and let the student finish it.Log as cued
- ModelSay the correct form in the whole sentence; the student repeats it.Log as cued
Adjust it
Give a sentence starter every time, and do fewer cards.
Ask for a new sentence of the student's own with the same form, with no card to lean on.
Matching IEP goal
Given sentence cards, Student will produce the target grammatical form in sentences in 8 of 10 opportunities across 3 consecutive sessions, given no more than an indirect cue.
Send it home through the parent portal →About this activity
Twelve words built on pre- meaning before: preschool, preview, preorder, prefix, prepay, preheat, prewash, precook, pregame, prehistoric, predict, preteen. One prefix with one clear meaning across twelve words, which makes it among the easiest morphology to teach and one of the most useful.
What to listen for
Watch whether the student can predict a new word. Asking what prepay means before they see it tests the rule; asking what preheat means after seeing it tests memory. Notice predict, where the base is not an English word on its own — that is where the pattern stops being transparent, and it is worth naming rather than pretending it is regular.
Carrying it home
Pre- words are on packaging and in instructions constantly — preheat the oven, prewash, preorder. Asking what the pre- is doing takes five seconds and makes the pattern concrete.
What's in this activity
- preview = to see before
- prepay = to pay before
- prewash = to wash before
- precook = to cook before
- pregame = before the game
- +7 more
Questions
- What grades is this for?
- Third through sixth, as explicit morphology instruction.
- Is it free?
- Yes, all twelve words play with no account.
- Why teach one prefix at a time?
- Because a single consistent meaning is easier to generalise. Pre- means before in all twelve of these, which lets a student predict the meaning of a pre- word they have never seen.
Use this board with your caseload
With a free account, every correct, cued and incorrect mark is saved to the student and scored against their IEP goal, with the data written up for you. Assign it as home practice through the parent portal.
Track progress freeFree for SLPs. No card, no trial clock.