Word Family Books

I was reviewing my Curly Girlie's spelling list with her today.  She's in 1st grade.  I noticed that all the words, except for 2 sight words, ended in "ay".  And it occurred to me that we could make a Word Family Book! 

I love ideas that have us doing something different than workbooks.  Especially when it's a quick and easy project to pull together on a moments notice.  I always get my best ideas at the last minute, so if it's not quick and easy - or I don't have all the necessary supplies - it just doesn't happen around here.  But this project was doable -





even on a moment's notice!  So, while my Curly Girlie finished up her workbook page, I began cutting some scrap construction paper for our Word Family Book.  Yup, I said SCRAP paper . . . because that's all you need! 

I cut one background sheet to be 5" x 2-1/2".  Then I cut my pages to be 2-1/2" x 2", I cut 10 of these.  I stacked the pages on the left side of my background sheet and stapled them on the left.  I wrote my word family ending - in this case, ay - on the right side of the background sheet.  Then I filled in the pages with the beginning of each word.  For instance, I put a "d" on the first page "d" + "ay" = day.  Actually, I did this part along with my daughter.  I quizzed her on her spelling list and she spelled the words as I wrote them in the word family book. 

This works with any word family: "at", "op", "ide", "ock", "um", "ip", etc.  You get the idea! Just pick a word, like "night", take the ending "ight" and see what other words you can make by changing the beginning - "sight, right, bright, might, tight, Wright".  These are great for a beginning reader.  They think they are showing off their reading skills, but you know it's extra practice to help them acquire fluency!  You could even give your child a word family ending and have them come up with the words that would work for it.  Have them fill in a pre-made book on their own.  A letter dice, like the one in the Scattergories game, would be fun to use with this.  Roll the dice to see if the that letter would work at the beginning of their word family ending. 

I hope you enjoy making your own Word Family Books!