Virginia SOL 5.RV.1.C
The Standard
Determine the meaning of complex words using frequently occurring root words and inflectional affixes (e.g., -s, -ing,-ed).
Virginia Standards of Learning for English · Vocabulary Development and Word Analysis
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students split an unfamiliar word into its root or base and its inflectional ending. They use both parts, plus the sentence, to work out the word’s meaning and what the ending signals.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can mark the root or base in an unfamiliar word and separate its ending. For constructed, the student explains that construct means build and -ed places the action in the past. The student checks that meaning against the sentence.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may treat the ending as part of the root, so they miss the core word. They may strip letters mechanically and write studi from studies or runn from running. They may assume -s always means plural, even when it marks a verb in runs.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: In “The workers constructed a shelter before dark,” underline the root in constructed, circle the ending, and define the whole word. Then state what the ending tells you.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Pairs combine construct and transport cards with -s, -ing, and -ed cards, then act out each completed word.
Compare “The crew constructs, is constructing, and constructed a bridge”; explain what stays the same and what each ending signals.
Run a suffix sort with cards like studies, studying, studied, packs, packing, and packed, sorting by base word and time or number.
Students mark roots and endings in five verbs from a sports recap, then rewrite one sentence to change when the action occurred.
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Related Standards
- 1.RV.1.E
Determine the meaning of an unknown word using frequently occurring root words and inflectional affixes (e.g. -s, -ing, -ed).
- 4.RV.1.C
Determine the meaning of complex words using frequently occurring root words and inflectional affixes (e.g. -s, -ing, -ed).
- 2.RV.1.C
Determine the meaning of an unknown word using frequently occurring root words and inflectional affixes (e.g. -s, -ing, - ed).
- 3.RV.1.C
Determine the meaning of complex words using frequently occurring root words and inflectional affixes (e.g. -s, -ing, -ed).
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