Word Families Worksheet 1 - Lesson Plan

Aim:

To teach word and phoneme recognition strategies using familial similarities between words as a mnemonic; to enable the student to recognize and spell or pronounce new words by reference to the atoms of phonemes and word families they are already familiar with; to teach a basic level of awareness of homophones and different soundings of the same character group or word, and the use of context to identify the correct spelling and pronunciation. The student will be able to demonstrate a comprehension of the strategy outlined above by giving examples of words using common phoneme or word components, will be able to make a reasonable approximation to the spelling or pronunciation of unfamiliar words using this technique, and will be able to suggest these in relation to word families with which they are familiar, showing awareness of the construction of complex or composite words from smaller atoms within the same familial grouping of words. Recognition of phoneme groups; recognition of sub-groups as word or phoneme atoms; recognition of similarities between atoms in different words by spelling and/or sound; strategies for deconstructing words into phonemes or smaller word atoms. Worksheet; Example sheet, paper and pen; optionally, a dictionary; prepared text for reading.

Outcome:

Skills:

Resources: Session Plan:

Introduction -

Phonemes; what they are (in practical terms), and how they occur and re-occur across word families; how to construct pronunciation of words by recognition of phonemes within a word, by recognizing similarity to other words using the same atom. Given by the tutor; student encouraged to suggest further members of the word family. Student is given a phoneme or word atom, and must list as many words within that family; the student is encouraged to also suggest composite words based upon these words, e.g. from the word family using the "ere" atom they might suggest "here", "there", "where", and so on, and from these construct composite words such as "nowhere", "somewhere", "elsewhere", and so on. Walk the student through recognition of words of the same family using a pre-prepared text; how to break up unfamiliar words into likely atoms based upon known atoms and smaller sub-words, and reiterating the possibility of different sounds existing for the same letter group, e.g. "read", and different letter combinations producing the same sound, e.g. "here" and "hear"; possible mnemonics for remembering which letter group is correct for a given word, e.g. "You hEAR with your EAR" and "HERE and tHERE". 1

Examples: Task:

Strategy:

Task :

Student reads from a short prepared text, using the above strategy; student then writes down a short dictation including words from the same family as others they are familiar with, and words using the same phoneme produced by different letter combinations.

Reinforcement: Brief reprise of key points of the above; student encouraged to continue use of the strategies taught when reading or writing, with reminders of key mnemonics for some of the more common word families, and for differentiating between different ways of spelling a word to produce a given phoneme, and different ways of saying the same letter group, using context to assist recognition of which is the correct choice. Homework: Tasks set may include - making lists of words of the same family found between sessions; spending time reading, during which the student looks for words of the same family, and for homophones using different letter combinations to produce a given sound; making a list of composite words and words using atoms the student already knows. Possible sources of text for these may include the student's own reading materials, text subtitles on television, newspapers and magazines, and advertisements. Homophones; the concept of rhyme in poetry; phonetic and "look-and-say" spelling techniques; mnemonics for word families; the use of music and singing in relation to spelling - the student may be familiar with e.g. hymns where words are broken up into phonemes and sub-words, e.g. "In the bleak mid-winter..."

Links:

Word Families Worksheet 1 - Example Sheet

Example 1 - The "ere" Family: Add an "h" at the beginning - you get or Add an "m" at the beginning - you get or Add a "w" at the beginning - you get Add "th" at the beginning - you get or Add "wh" at the beginning - you get here mere were there where this is a "place" word this is a "place" word this is a "place" word (see below)

You can join letters or words onto these, at the beginning, or after. Join "any" and "where" - you get or Join "else" and "where" - you get or Join "no" and "where" - you get or Join "some" and "where" - you get or Join "here" and "by" - you get or Join "mere" and "ly" - you get or Join "there" and "in" - you get anywhere elsewhere nowhere somewhere hereby merely therein this is a "place" word this is a "place" word this is a "place" word this is a "place" word

. . . and there are many more words you can make like this that include "ere", such as cereal, steered, wanderer . . . using words and letters added before and after the "ere" part. You can find many groups of words that can be made in this way, sharing a group of letters - think how many words you know that end with the letters "ion" or "tion" for example, or start with the letters "un" or "anti". "Place" words are words about where someone or something is - another family, which also includes words like "in", "out", "under", "by", and many more.

Word Families Worksheet 1 - Worksheet

Task 1: Find as many words as you can with the letters "ou" in them. Think about the sound of the words, and try to make families of words that sound alike, as well as having the same letters in. Different groups of letters that make the same sound even though they are spelt differently are called "homophones", for example "ee", like in "beer", and "ea" in "near". You don't usually need to know this special name, but it is often used in books that teach spelling when they teach you about words that people mix up, like "here" and "hear", or "there" and "their", or "stationary" and "stationery". Task 2: There are words which you can make mean the opposite by adding letters, such as "happy" and "unhappy". How many pairs of words can you find that work like that? (Words that mean the opposite of each other are called antonyms. Words that mean the same as each other are called homonyms. It isn't important for most people to know these special names, but they are often used in dictionaries, to explain the meaning of the words, or in a thesaurus, which helps you find other words that are similar, like "happy", "joyful", "glad", and so on.) Task 3: There are words which are spelt the same way, but mean different things if you say them in a different way, for example, "I read a book yesterday" and "I read the paper every morning". You found words in Task 1 where the same collection of letters could be said in different ways in different words. Try to find some possible rules that will help you decide how to say a new word which you don't know, but which includes a letter group from word families you do know. Task 4: Some families of words change spelling a little bit more when you add letters on the end, for example, "heavy", "heavier", "heaviest", "heavily", and so on. Here the "y" on the end of the word changed into an "i". See how many families of words you can find that work in this way. Is it only words that end in "y" that change, or can you find others?