Expanding Reading and Spelling Using Word Families: Word Maker VCE Long I

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How We Learn to Read

Our brains learn to read using a consistent process. The speed at which people learn how to read may differ, but the process is the same. We learn to associate symbols (letters) with sounds. We then learn to combine these symbols that represent sounds (phonemes) into words.

Just like we have to learn that 2 + 2 = 4, we have to learn that the letter f makes the /f/ sound. I would argue that reading is even harder than math because each symbol can represent more than one sound. As a result, just like we have to practice to memorize 2 + 2 = 4, we have to practice to memorize all of the sounds letters can make.

Luckily, there are lots of ways to practice decoding. Decoding is the process of turning the letters on a page into the sounds we use to read.

Word Families

Word families are groups of words that all have the same ending. We call the end of a one-syllable word the rime of the word. The beginning of the word is called the onset. The rime always starts with the vowel sound. For example, in the word fox: the onset is f and the rime is ox.

Word Maker uses onset and rime to teach students many words at once!

Word families are a powerful way to exponentially increase the number of words a student can read and spell because once they learn the rime, they simply add onsets. Onsets are much easier to sound out because they don’t have a vowel sound. Vowels are the trickiest part of reading and spelling because the same letters can make so many different sounds.

Remember, word families only work for one-syllable words. Around 25 to 30% of English words have only one syllable. However, one-syllable words are a much higher percentage of the words most commonly used.

Word Maker Game for VCE Long I Words

Word Maker is an activity I created to bring routine to working with word families. You can print the Word Maker pages and use it in your classroom, or you can have students work along with my video. Here is a video showing how to use the Word Maker program in your classroom.

Want the Word Maker set for VCE Long I? You can find it here!

Learning Sounds

If your student or child doesn’t know all of the English phonemes yet, you will want to check out our Learning to Read program. You can work with both the Word Maker program and the Learning to Read program at the same time. They are addressing different specific skills and practice, but have the same goal of developing automatic decoders!