Students have been learning a tool to help them decode new words and to help them spell words at a more fluent pace. This strategy - recognizing familiar chunks in words - has been helpful to students who are at all levels of reading and writing. Whether they're working on words that are 1, 2, or 3 syllables, students are learning to look for familiar chunks inside of these words. Over the last few weeks, we have been using word families to help us with this strategy and to begin looking closely at differentiating short vowel sounds. Often the short vowels can sound similar, so students have been practicing tapping out each sound in order to correctly identify what short vowel it is. Word families, often called phonograms or chunks, provide predictable patterns in words and help us to decode a wide range of new words. The english language is unpredictable and confusing to early readers so it is important for us to help them understand the patterns seen across words. After students learn the most common 37 word families, students will have essentially been able to decode 500 words.
Students have been using books and songs to help them practice reading new word families. Other friends have been working on building these words with magnetic letters, writing them on white boards, making and completing word searches, and solving riddles. It has been fascinating for children to discover new words in their own reading as they learn new word families! Our friend, Juliet was part of the word family, -et, and she even found a new -ig family word in the Danny book she was reading - igloo! Students are enjoying learning new word families and independently going above and beyond to extend their own learning.
Students have been learning a tool to help them decode new words and to help them spell words at a more fluent pace. This strategy - recognizing familiar chunks in words - has been helpful to students who are at all levels of reading and writing. Whether they're working on words that are 1, 2, or 3 syllables, students are learning to look for familiar chunks inside of these words. Over the last few weeks, we have been using word families to help us with this strategy and to begin looking closely at differentiating short vowel sounds. Often the short vowels can sound similar, so students have been practicing tapping out each sound in order to correctly identify what short vowel it is. Word families, often called phonograms or chunks, provide predictable patterns in words and help us to decode a wide range of new words. The english language is unpredictable and confusing to early readers so it is important for us to help them understand the patterns seen across words. After students learn the most common 37 word families, students will have essentially been able to decode 500 words. 
Students have been using books and songs to help them practice reading new word families. Other friends have been working on building these words with magnetic letters, writing them on white boards, making and completing word searches, and solving riddles. It has been fascinating for children to discover new words in their own reading as they learn new word families! Our friend, Juliet was part of the word family, -et, and she even found a new -ig family word in the Danny book she was reading - igloo! Students are enjoying learning new word families and independently going above and beyond to extend their own learning. 