Why study words?• All words are made up of prefixes, roots, and/or

suffixes. They are the meaningful chunks in every word you read. Too often, people skip words they don’t know as they are reading. This breaks down their understanding of the text. For this reason, you need to learn how to break down the meaningful parts of unknown words so you won’t skip them. By learning how to “dissect” words, you will learn how to comprehend multisyllabic words, not just decode them.

What do you notice?• Biped• Centipede• Impediment• Millipede• Pedal• Peddler• Pedestrian• Pedicure• Quadruped• Tripod

Common Link - Root Word “ped”• A word or part of a word from which other words are

formed• Biped• Centipede• Impediment• Millipede• Pedal• Peddler• Pedestrian• Pedicure• Quadruped• Tripod

Infer Meaning: What does “ped” mean?• “ped” = foot• Biped = a creature with two feet• Centipede = a creature with 100 feet• Impediment = something that stands in one’s way; an obstacle• Millipede = a creature with 1,000 feet• Pedal = a lever that is moved with one’s foot• Peddler = a person who goes from door to door on foot trying

to sell a product• Pedestrian = a person who walks across the street on foot• Pedicure = a foot treatment that could including soaking the

feet and polishing the toenails• Quadruped = a four-footed creature• Tripod = a three-footed stand often used to balance a camera

Ped

BipedA creature with two feet

Centipede• Has 100 feet

Impedimentsomething that stands in our way

Millipedehas 1,000 feet

Pedal• A lever you move with your foot

Peddlera person who sells things on foot

Pedestrian

Pedicure

Quadrupeda four footed creature

Tripod• A three footed stand often used to balance a

camera

Create a Web

PedDefinition

Illustration

Sentence

New Word

Discussion

How can learning new word parts help you understand

what is read?