This term, I had to teach my students about the re- prefix. Understanding that it means again would help them unpack the meaning of unfamiliar words.

Last weekend, my family and I went to IKEA. I was struck by its focus on environmentally sustainability as I saw a lot of words with the re- prefix. I then realised one thing. Many of these words also take on the -able suffix. Take these words for example:

This suggests that some base words can be attached to both the re- prefix and -able suffix. When a word comes in this form, my students can infer that it is able to (meaning of base word) again.

Who ever knew that word attack strategies could be applied so authentically at IKEA?