Overview of Compound Words
There are two sections in this resource:
Overview of Compound Words
Video Demonstration
The estimated time to complete this resource is 15 minutes.
You may download and print the following documents by clicking the links below.
Lesson Plan
Lesson Materials
Word List
Video Transcript
Compound words are made up of two smaller words. Each smaller word must be a real word, not an affix or a partial word.
For example, snowflake is a compound word because snow and flake are both words. However, reptile is not a compound word because rep cannot stand on its own as a word. Teaching students to look for compound words will help students to read larger, more complex words in the future.
Make sure that students have learned the words (or the concepts they represent) that form compound words. For example, if a student had not learned the soft c and the word space as a sight word, the compound word spacecraft would not be appropriate for a lesson.
Scaffold instruction by reading compound words from the same family (e.g., fireman, firefly, firewood, fireworks).
Video Demonstration
This video demonstrates how to teach students to read and form compound words.
Click play on the video when you're ready to begin.
