Assign every student a letter from A to Z, including common two-letter clusters such as "th" "sh" or "ch" if you have more than 23 students in a class. Students should use dictionaries to find a root word beginning with their letters. Instruct students to make display sheets for their words, following the format of "A is for Aqua" or "B is for Bio." This should also give the meaning of the root word and an example of a word that uses it. After, have students share their sheets and practice reciting the root words in alphabetical order as a class for several days after.
Split students into three teams. Each team will send one student to the front of the class. Show all three students a root word on the overhead projector. Students will have bells, which they will ring if they know the meaning of the root word, which will get their team one point. If the student is correct, he can also give an example of a word using the root for an extra point. The point of this activity is to help students memorize roots they have already learned, so only use those students have already gone over in class.
Give students a list of 20 root words they have already studied and a dictionary. Ask students to write a short story using as many sentences as there are words on the list. Each sentence should have one word that uses each of the roots, which they will use the dictionary to look up. This activity requires students to think about root words in the context of real sentences, which will help to reinforce their definitions.
Give students a sheet of paper with 20 blank spaces. Ask students to fill in 10 of these with root words they have been studying and 10 with the words' definitions. Students will cut out the squares and use them to play a matching game with a partner. In this game, the squares will be laid out in a four-by-five grid face down. Each turn, one student will flip two cards to match a root word to its definition. If a student does not get a match, he must turn the cards back over; if he does get a match, he will take them off the desk. The student with the most matches is the winner.