Question: Is there an easier way to enter prime notation

To enter prime notation in Math-2D I currently do

k^2 + `k'`^2 = 1;
                           2     2    
                          k  + k'  = 1

To enter a back tick (left single quote symbol) this requires with my keyboard shift+(key for `) followed by hitting the space bar.

The output looks nice

However to enter k' in a new input line, dragging and dropping k' (which normally works for other expressions) from a former output does not work. The result is

Instead of changing default typesetting rules, I made k' atomic and dragged it to the favourite palette. This is an acceptable solution to avoid keyboard acrobatics. The only drawback is that the favourite palette gets crowded after a while.

I was wondering whether there are other ways to enter prime notation in a less complicated way as I have described above?