The Suffix -ER (a person who): A FREE Morphology Lesson
- Cate O'Donnell
- Feb 29, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: Jun 28, 2024
Morphology is a powerful tool for teaching older students both decoding longer words and understanding new vocabulary words. We use the suffix -er to change the meaning of a word. The suffix -er changes a verb into a noun. The noun is a person who does the action. For example, the word teach becomes teacher. A teacher is someone who teaches.
Adding a suffix to a word may change the spelling of the word. Here are the rules for spelling words with the suffix -er.
most words, add -er to the end of the word
if a verb ends in e, add -r to the end of the word
if a verb ends in a short vowel and one consonant, double the consonant, and add -er to the end of the word
It is helpful for students to know the parts of speech as they work on morphology. If your students need to work on parts of speech, I highly recommend this writing program. It teaches writing complete sentences based on parts of speech. If you need to, you can even use these two programs at the same time.
Teaching the Suffix -ER (a person who)
To teach your students about the suffix -er, display the presentation below. You can access the presentation from this website for free. You can also purchase the slideshow for use at school.
Since suffixes can change both the spelling and meaning of words, I recommend focusing on the meaning of the words by having students write or say sentences.
You display a base word from the presentation.
Students write the word with the -er suffix in their writing notebooks or on a whiteboard.
You display the words with the -er suffix from the presentation (the next slide).
Students check their spelling.
Students say or write a sentence using the base word. Then, say or write a different sentence using the word with the prefix.
This is a spiral review lesson. On day one, your students will learn how to add the suffix -er using the -er pattern. On day two, your students will learn how to add the suffix -er when the root word ends in the letter e. On day three, students will learn how to add the suffix -er to words with a short vowel and one consonant. The next two days are review practice. You also get 25 mixed review practice slides to use later in the year.
Check out this list of words with the suffix. You can use this list to build your own activities for your classroom. You can also get a printable .pdf.
Do you love this lesson? You can access all of the morphology lessons for FREE on this website! You can also purchase the presentations!
