Word Family Spelling Fun

Families can do two important things to help children learn to read. One is to talk and read to them and have them read to you daily. The second is to regularly practice their very special weekly spelling lists. They are sight words and word families.  Sight words are frequently used words that must be recognized immediately for children to read fluently. There are about 220 basic sight words like ‘the”, “where,” and “here” that cannot be sounded out because they don’t follow rules. Go to lincs.ed.gov for a list.

  The other words in early spelling lists are word families that can be easily sounded out once children learn the code.
Word Families
   English has about 35 word family endings. They can make over 300 words by changing the consonants in front of them. Some examples include: at, am, an, ap, and it.
When children add consonant sounds like b, c, f, h, to “at “they start a word family of rhyming words. As they learn the 35 endings and how to use them to sound out (decode) and spell words, the door to reading opens. If they know cat, they can spell bat, fat, hat, mat, rat, sat, and flat.
   These word families are also syllables of larger words. Flat is the first syllable of flatten and flatter. Children then use the syllable clue plus the rest of the sentence (context) to understand new words.
Family Support
  How can families support their young children? Be able to recognize word families yourself. The list is on http://grandparentsteachtoo.org/ .
  Every night spend five-six minutes studying your children’s school spelling lists with them by spelling out loud and printing the words. Show them how to turn one family word like bat into mat just by changing the first sound (phoneme). Teach children to silently or whisper sound -out (word family) words as they print them. However, sight words cannot be sounded out. They must be memorized. Then, give practice tests. Practice that is like the test is efficient studying.
   Show children when they write stories if they know a rhyming word like fat they can probably write flat. They will get closer words they want to write if they use this method.
Study Fun
  Learning is easier when fun.

fly - sky

While traveling or waiting in line, take out the list of word family endings and play a rhyming game. Pick a word family like ab. Teach kids to go through the alphabet of consonants, making new words or syllables in larger words and putting them in sentences.  Make up silly stories with rhyming words. Use Scrabble tiles or paper cards of letters to play the game above. You can play for minutes of a special activity or technology.
 sketch: Mark Nowicki, photo: Fran Darling
More Ideas and Activities....See the authors’ book “Learning Through the Seasons” at area bookstores and grandparentsteachtoo.org. For more help to prepare young children for success in school see the authors’ web site: www.grandparentsteachtoo.org. Also check our audio Podcasts WNMU Radio 90; Youtube video activities; and join us on Pinterest