Word Families

What do bake, take, brake, and shake have in common? Children might say that these words rhyme, and teachers might observe that they are all part of the –ake word family. This type of spelling pattern is often called a rime or a phonogram.

Working with word families helps children develop their skills in word identification, phonological awareness (rhyming), and word study.

Learning the spelling patterns in word families can help children identify and spell words. Did you know that the 37 most common phonograms enable children to identify and spell over 500 words (Wylie & Durrell, 1970)?

Word families can be especially helpful when teaching children how to read and spell words with long vowels. Phonogram spelling patterns are often more reliable than the spelling “rules” (or generalizations) that are traditionally taught in elementary school classrooms. (See spelling “rules” for more information.)

What It Looks Like

Word sorts
Making words
Find the rhyme
Decoding by analogy
Using words you know

Teacher Tips

How do you use word families with your students? Submit your ideas here!

Resources and Links

Websites for Students

Word family sort – interactive activity for kids (short vowels)
http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/wordfamily/

Magnetic Word Board (interactive) - students can make words using an online "magnetic" board.
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/Games/mag/spelling.html

Word Build -- Students build words after selecting a word family. Students can print out the words that they build and use the printout to make a word sort.
http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/wordbuild/

Starfall Make-a-Word - Emerging readers select a word family and use picture cues to build words. They can also read online books that correspond to each word family.
http://www.starfall.com/n/level-a/learn-to-read/load.htm?f

Websites for Teachers

Literacyconnections.com – information about word families, including helpful links and books available for purchase
http://www.literacyconnections.com/WordFamilies.html

Common Word Families
http://www.literacyconnections.com/Phonograms.html

Word Family Sort – lesson ideas and an interactive online activity for students
http://www.readwritethink.org/student_mat/student_material.asp?id=52

Word Build – Teacher resources and lesson plans: http://www.readwritethink.org/student_mat/student_material.asp?id=3

Word Families in Nursery Rhymes
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/rhymes/wordfamilies/

Click, Clack, Moo: Reading Word Family Words
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=847

Spelling Cheerleading: Integrating Movement and Spelling Generalizations
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=233

Articles

Aiken, A.G., & Bayer, L. (2002). They love words. The Reading Teacher, 56, 68–74.
Fresch, M., & Wheaton, A. (1997). Sort, search, and discover: Spelling in the child-centered classroom. The Reading Teacher, 51, 20-31.

Rasinski, T. (1999). Making and writing words. Reading Online, September, 1999. Available online: http://www.readingonline.org/articles/art_index.asp?HREF=/articles/words

Reference

Wylie, R. E. & Durrell, D. D. (1970). Teaching vowels through phonograms. Elementary English, 47, 787-791.