WordWay

Word Way: Word Family Activities

Click on one of the links below to explore activities that support the understanding of onset and rime (chunks).

Please visit my three other sites:

www.alphabetavenue.net

www.carlscorner.us.com

www.littlebooklane.com

Digraph Wd Families	Diphthong Wd Families
Long and Short A	Long and Short E
Long and Short I	Long and Short O
Long and Short U	R Controlled
Stationery Set of 81	Penny Push Directions The Penny Push is a strategy for developing and practicing one phonemic awareness task: phoneme segmentation. During the activity the children say, hear and push a penny for each sound they hear in a word. There are no symbols or letters involved. Research shows that the more senses you use to teach something, the more likely it is that the at-risk learner will grasp the concept. This document provides an in-depth look at Elkonin boxes and the Penny Push.
Word Family Chart This colorful chart is perfect for the beginning writer to use as a reference. Duplicate, laminate and place one in each student's writing folder. The illustrations all depict children who are busy and involved, an attribute that will be sure to appeal to your students.	Perseverance This song details what young children experience when they begin to learn about decoding and chunking parts of words.
What's It Worth? Set One Set Two	Configuration Station 78 pages
Wd Family Posters 72 pages	Mini Books 80 pages
Cloze the Gap 62 pages	Wd Building Mats 49 pages
Wd Family Kid Cards 107 pages	Recording Sheets 81 pages
Score With Scrabble 73 pages	Word Family Lists 105 pages (zip file)
Crossword Puzzles 44 pages	Word Search 61 pages
Word Slides Set of 82 Word Slides II Set of 24	See, Say, Spell & Write 65 pages
Definition Derby Set of 21 (more to come)	Student Dictionary Zip File Set of 5 To make and use these little books: Duplicate a set and fold each of the word family pages in half with the blank pages on the inside. Fold the cover in half and tuck the word family pages inside with the fold on the right. (Keep in alphabetical order.) Bind or staple on the left. Students may record their own word family words inside to form a personal reading and writing dictionary.
Read and Write 62 pages	Partner Puzzles 49 pages
Simple Sentences 45 pages	ABC Order 64 pages
Welcome to the Neighborhood Sorting Mats and Cards Set	Memory Game 106 cards Use an assortment for playing Concentration or Go Fish
Letter A Family Delivery (Car Carrier)	Word Family Cut & Paste (Matching Words and Pictures) 63 pages

Word Families, Onsets and Rimes, Phonograms:
They're all the same!

Literacy teachers like to say that using onsets and rimes teaches children through analogy. I like to think that the process enables children to take ownership of their reading and writing. "I can write at, so I can write cat and lots of other words." It makes believers out of young children who previously said, "I can’t!" when asked to read or write such words. I started teaching in 1967 (the dark ages) and we used what we called word families. Now we call them rimes and linguists prefer to say phonograms, but to the classroom teacher they are a tool to move their children into literacy. In 1970, Wylie and Durrell outlined 37 commonly used patterns in their book, Teaching Vowels Through Phonograms. Those words will be in a red font in the list below. Many authors have published lists for facilitating the use of rimes in their phonics, phonemic awareness and spelling programs. Fountas and Pinnell have made things easy for us. They have a complete list in Word Matters: Teaching Phonics and Spelling in the Reading/Writing Classroom (Heinemann). Their list contains single syllable words that would be appropriate for young learners. For multisyllabic words, older readers and writers may spell one syllable at a time.

The list that I have here is in alphabetical order from left to right. If some word families appear twice, it’s because they should be (i.e. -ome as in home and in some). Unfortunately, some of these rimes do have lengthy word lists. I am only developing activities for the most common rimes and for those that are frequently requested by teachers and parents to support spelling and decoding programs.

-ab	-ace	-ack	-act	-ad	-ade	-aff	-aft
-ag	-age	-aid	-ail	-ain	-aint	-air	-aise
-ait	-ake	-ale	-alk	-all	-alt	-am	-ame
-amp	-an	-ance	-anch	-and	-ane	-ang	-ank
-ant	-ap	-ape	-ar	-ard	-are	-arge	-ark
-arm	-arn	-arp	-art	-ase	-ash	-ask	-asm
-asp	-ass	-ast	-aste	-at	-atch	-at	-atch
-ate	-ath	-aught	-aunch	-aunt	-ave	-aw	-awl
-awn	-ax	-ay	-aze	-ea	-each	-ead	-ead
-eak	-eal	-ealth	-eam	-ean	-eap	-ear	-ear
-east	-eat	-eath	-eave	-eck	-ed	-edge	-ee
-eech	-eed	-eek	-eel	-eem	-een	-eep	-eer
-eet	-eeze	-eft	-eg	-eigh	-eld	-ell	-elp
-elt	-em	-en	-ence	-ench	-end	-ense	-ent
-ep	-ept	-erge	-erk	-erm	-ern	-erve	-esh
-est	-et	-etch	-ew	-ex	-ey	-ib	-ibe
-ice	-ick	-id	-ide	-ie	-ied	-ief	-ield
-ier	-ies	-ife	-iff	-ift	-ig	-igh	-ight
-ike	-ild	-ile	-ilk	-ill	-ilt	-im	-ime
-imp	-in	-ince	-inch	-ind	-ine	-ing	-inge
-ink	-int	-ip	-ipe	-ir	-ird	-ire	-irk
-irt	-irth	-ise	-ish	-isk	-isp	-iss	-ist
-it	-itch	-ite	-ive	-ix	-o	-o	-oach
-oad	-oak	-oal	-oam	-oan	-oar	-oast	-oat
-ob	-obe	-ock	-od	-ode	-oe	-og	-ogue
-oil	-oin	-oint	-oist	-oke	-old	-ole	-oll
-oll	-olt	-ome	-ome	-omp	-on	-ond	-one
-ong	-oo	-ood	-ood	-oof	-ook	-ool	-oom
-oon	-oop	-oor	-oose	-oot	-ooth	-op	-ope
-orch	-ord	-ore	-ork	-orm	-orn	-ort	-ose
-oss	-ost	-ost	-ot	-otch	-ote	-oth	-ouch
-oud	-ough	-ought	-ould	-ounce	-ound	-oup	-our
-ouse	-out	-outh	-ove	-ove	-ow	-ow	-owl
-own	-own	-owse	-ox	-oy	-ub	-ube	-uch
-uck	-ud	-ude	-udge	-ue	-uff	-ug	-uke
-ule	-ulk	-ull	-ull	-um	-umb	-ume	-ump
-un	-unch	-une	-ung	-unk	-unt	-up	-ur
-ure	-url	-urn	-urse	-urt	-us	-use	-ush
-uss	-ust	-ut	-utch	-ute	-utt	-y	-ye