| When we consider all the elements that go into | | | | the sound. Then show the word "ball" and |
| becoming a skilled reader it seems a monumental | | | | demonstrate how you can "read" the word by |
| task and yet some how young children learn the | | | | first making the "b" sound and then the "all". |
| many different decoding skills necessary to them | | | | Repeat it slowly and then more quickly. Now |
| and most become proficient readers within the | | | | continue with some other members of the "all" |
| first few years of school. | | | | family such as call, fall, hall, mall, stall, tall, wall. |
| However not all young children learn to read with | | | | Can you see how much easier this method of |
| ease and even those who will eventually succeed | | | | using "chunks" of letters is compared to sounding |
| face struggles on the road to success. One easy | | | | out one letter at a time? We break words into |
| way that parents can help smooth the path to | | | | chunks naturally as skilled readers and teaching |
| reading success for their children is through the | | | | children this skill can help them learn to read. |
| use of word families. | | | | What is even better is that once children learn the |
| Word families, sometimes called phonograms or | | | | 37 most common word families in English they will |
| chunks, can really help emergent readers begin to | | | | be able to decode 500 words. That puts |
| understand our complicated, and often | | | | emergent readers well on their way to mastering |
| inconsistent, language by providing some | | | | the entire decoding process. The most common |
| predictable patterns within words. As you and I | | | | word families include: ack, ain, ake, ale, all, ame, |
| learned to read, we picked up these patterns | | | | an, ank, ap, ash, at, ate, aw ay, eat, ell, est, ice, |
| effortlessly, and they still help us when we try to | | | | ick, ide, ight, ill, in, ine, ing, ink, ip, it, ock, oke, op, |
| decode new words. When we direct our students' | | | | ore, ot, uck ,ug, ump, unk. |
| attention to these same patterns, they too will be | | | | Word families are indeed an efficient way to get |
| able to untangle the seemingly unrelated sounds | | | | children reading. Once children learn these |
| of English. | | | | one-syllable phonograms then they will more easily |
| When learning to read, patterns are important. | | | | be able to decode longer words, too. |
| Children recognize word patterns and this makes | | | | Exposing your child to word families, teaching the |
| it easier when sounding out words. | | | | use of these language patterns, and reinforcing |
| For example, let us consider the "all" word family. | | | | the knowledge with rhyming games and activities |
| First, show "all" to the child and have them repeat | | | | will help your child learn to read. |