Break It, Build ItScience Word Parts
Break It, Build It: Science Word Parts. Decode the word. Connect the science. Apply what you know. The word photosynthesis splits into the parts photo and synthesis, above three steps — Decode, shown as sunlight on a leaf; Connect, shown as linked molecules; and Apply, shown as a growing plant releasing oxygen and taking up water.

Break It, Build It — Science Word Parts

Printable science word-part activities for grades 3–8, with Biology and Chemistry starter sets now open for 9–12. Students predict what an unfamiliar science term means from its Greek and Latin parts, then test that prediction against a diagram, a passage, or data.

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Word parts
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Science terms
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Activities
3–12
Grade bands
Browse activities Explore word parts Teacher guide

Choose a grade band

Grades 3–5 and 6–8 are complete and validated. The 9–12 band now has Biology and Chemistry starter sets; Physics and Earth / Environmental Science are next.

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Grades 3–5

High-frequency, concrete word parts: BIO, GEO, HYDRO, THERM, MICRO, SPHERE, METER, VORE. Twelve activities from a first Break It sheet through an end-of-year transfer task.

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Grades 6–8

Adds the more abstract terminology of middle school science — CYTO, CHLORO, LITH, TROPH, ENDO, EXO, ISO, LYSIS — on the same activity pattern. Fifteen activities from Break It through an end-of-year transfer task.

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Grades 9–12

Biology and Chemistry starter sets available — chromosome, mitosis and meiosis, genotype and phenotype, homeostasis, plus compound naming, the -IDE / -ATE / -ITE endings, electrolysis, and isomers. Physics and Earth and Environmental Science collections are next.

How it works

One routine runs through every activity. Students can learn it in a minute and use it all year.

  1. 1Spot ItWhat part looks familiar?
  2. 2Break ItWhat pieces can you find?
  3. 3Predict ItWhat might the word mean?
  4. 4Check ItWhat does the science evidence say?
  5. 5Use ItCan you apply the idea somewhere new?

The teaching point. Word parts give students clues. They do not always give a complete scientific definition. Several activities are built so that the first prediction has to be revised once the evidence arrives — that revision is the goal, not a mistake.

SST readiness

Beginning in 2027–2028, the Student Success Tool replaces STAAR with beginning-, middle-, and end-of-year checkpoints. Activities here are tagged to a progression that grows in cognitive demand across the year.

BOY · Articulate

Recognize a word part and say what clue it gives you.

MOY · Connect

Combine word structure with science evidence and explain why they fit.

EOY · Extend

Use what you know to interpret an unfamiliar term, and justify it with evidence.

Read this carefully. The BOY / MOY / EOY progression on this site is a local instructional approach for SST readiness. It is not a TEA requirement, and nothing here is an official, approved, or reproduced SST item. See Standards & SST.

One from each checkpoint, so you can see how the demand changes across the year.