What Are Word Families in Phonics

Phonics word families are groups of words that have similar letter patterns. By learning just one pattern your child can learn many words at the same time. When two vowels are placed side-by-side, in most cases the first vowel says its name and the other is silent. Take for example the word rain.

What is a word family in phonics?

Word families, also called phonograms or “chunks,” provide us with groups of words that have a predictable pattern or “chunk.” We teach these patterns as word families- groups of words that have a similar pattern, making them appear to be part of a “family.” By grouping words in this way, students can learn to read …

What order do you teach word families?

There is no particular order to the word families that one chooses; however, short a families make a good starting point because they are so common in the reading materials of young children, and studies of children’s invented spellings show that this is the short vowel least likely to be confused (Henderson, 1985).

Alexander Ross

Alexander Ross

Gaming, Esports & Interactive Media Writer

Alexander Ross has covered the video game industry for a decade, writing deep dives on game design, esports tournaments, VR developments, and gaming culture.

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