STACK 4 (for 2 players) is lots of fun and brings high levels of engagement to learning suffixes. It can be played with the whole class if you have enough six-sided dice. The throw of the die will make it a different game each time it is played. The target skill is reading with the focus on the word endings. This will enhance deconstruction as a reading strategy and should reduce guessing the word based on looking at the first letter or syllable. The morphological value transfers to comprehension and fluency.

There is a short version of the game that will take about 15 minutes. The throw of the die will identify a column. The player choses a word in that column to read. If read correctly they claim that word. The aim of the game is to have four words in a column (with no spaces between). The opposing player can block if they throw the same number. If you have more time you can extend the game to see who has the most stacks in a game. It is an ideal worksheet/game for independent activities.

The suffixes included are:

Board 1 - s, es, ed, er, ing

Board 2 - er/est (degrees of comparison), en, ly, y

Board 3 - ful, less, er (one who), ing, ed (doubling final consonants)

Board 4 - or, ist, ous, ent, ly

Board 5 - able/ible, ish, ify, ness, al

Board 6 - tion/sion, cian, er/est (degrees of comparison), ity

Board 7 - ive, REVIEW

Board 8 - ment, REVIEW

Board 9 - ic, age, REVIEW

Board 10 - way, ism, REVIEW

Board 11 - ance/ence, ery, REVIEW

Board 12 - REVIEW