Compound Word Lessons and Practice
As students explore new words, they will encounter compound words like "sunflower" or "rainbow", made up of simpler, familiar words they know, but with different meanings when combined. Students learn that compound words are made up of two or more whole words, providing clues to their meaning. As they continue to explore, they may identify compound word families that use the same base word, such as ball (baseball, football, racquetball). Practicing compound words in context through game-based activities contributes to a foundation of vocabulary, spelling, and fluency.
Three Types of Compound Words
There are three different types of compound words:
- Closed form: Compound words include the kind of closed form words that are joined together to form a new word with a new meaning, like doghouse, playground, birthday, or ponytail.
- Hyphenated form: Hyphenated words like jack-o-lantern or father-in-law are also compound words.
- Open form: Open form compound words, like crescent moon or guest house, are not joined or hyphenated, but they still have a new meaning when read together.
Vocabulary A-Z provides extensive, categorized word lists, and both pre-made and customizable vocabulary lessons to make it easy for teachers to promote exploration of vocabulary and spelling, including compound words.
Vocabulary A-Z Resources
VocabularyA-Z provides ready-made word lists from popular reading series and interactive game-based activities to aid in compound word study. Compound word lessons can be paired with activities like Word-O-Rama, to build compound word practice and mastery.
