January 2007
Literacy Idea Booster:
Activities to Practice Word Families (Rhyming Patterns)
To find words in the same family as: black, introduce a poem or rhyming story such as: Miss Mary Mack:
"Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack
all dressed in black, black, black
with silver buttons up and down her back, back, back..."
Encourage the child to point out words in a text that have similar spelling patterns. Help the child think of other words that have this pattern. You may have to write a few words for him or her:
sack
pack
stack
and then have the child read the whole word and underline the repeated part of the word: "ack."
Using magnetic letters or scrabble pieces form a word with the "ack" pattern. Ask the student to change the first letter of the word (for example: 's' in sack) to make a new word such as: "pack." You should be sure to provide a limited number of letters (two or three at first) for the child to choose from.
Remember to choose a word pattern that is useful and important to the student and that relates to something that he or she has read or will read. If possible, start with a word he or she already knows in the word family. After reading a book about being sad, start with the word "cry" and then followed with "fry", "try" and "wry".
Be sure to give the student a chance to go back to a book, poem, or other texts where he or she can apply this new reading skill. Poems, nursery rhymes and jump rope jingles are a great resource for early readers.
Adapted from Bank Street’s Guide to Early Literacy
