When we consider all the elements that go into becoming a proficient reader, it seems like a monumental task, and yet somehow young children learn the different decoding skills necessary for them and most become proficient readers in the early years. of school.
However, not all young children learn to read easily, and even those who will eventually do so face difficulties on the road to success. One simple way that parents can help pave the way for their children’s reading success is through the use of word families.
Word families, sometimes called phonograms or snippets, can really help emerging readers begin to understand our complicated and often inconsistent language by providing some predictable patterns within words. As you and I learned to read, we learned these patterns effortlessly and they still help us when we try to decode new words. When we direct our students’ attention to these same patterns, they too will be able to unravel the seemingly unrelated sounds of English.
When learning to read, patterns are important. Children recognize word patterns and this makes it easier for them to pronounce words.
For example, consider the word family “everyone.” First, show the child “everything” and ask him to repeat the sound. Then show the word “ball” and show how you can “read” the word by making the “b” sound first and then the “all” sound. Repeat it slowly and then faster. Now move on to some other “all” family members like call, drop, hall, mall, stand, stop, wall.
Can you see how much easier this method of using “chunks” of letters is compared to pronouncing one letter at a time? As skilled readers, we naturally break words into chunks, and teaching children this skill can help them learn to read.
What’s even better is that once children learn the 37 most common word families in English, they will be able to decode 500 words. That puts emerging readers on the way to mastering the entire decoding process. Common word families include: ack, ain, ake, ale, all, ame, an, ank, ap, ash, at, ate, aw ay, eat, ell, est, ice, ick, ide, ight, ill , in, ine, ing, ink, ip, it, ock, oke, op, ore, ot, uck, ug, ump, unk.
In fact, word families are an effective way to get children to read. Once children learn these one-syllable phonograms, they can also more easily decode longer words.
Exposing your child to word families, teaching them to use these language patterns, and reinforcing knowledge with games and rhyming activities will help your child learn to read.