Dr. Seuss Word Family Hats

Teaching reading and spelling via word families has always been a favorite teaching tool for me.

That’s why these Dr. Seuss word family hats from The Pleasantest Thing excited me so much. With her permission, I created a free printable pack for both short and long vowels that you can download! {Click on the teal download button towards the end of this post to download the freebie.}

Dr. Seuss Word Family Hats

This activity is quite simple to do once you know which of the vowel patterns your kids need to work on. Included in the pack are patterns for these short vowel word families: -at, -an, -ap, -et, -en, -ed, -it, -ig, -ip, -ot, -og, -op, -ug, -un, -ut and these long vowel families: -ake, -ate, -ace, -ail, -ain, -ee, -eep, -eal, -eak, -ite, -ile, -ice, -ight, -ope, -one, -oat, -ow, u_e {because there are few u_e word families, I included just the pattern of u with silent e}, -ue, -ew, and -oom.

This week, MBug tried out just the -at family hat, as that’s all she’s ready to try at this point. Since we have done the -at family lesson of Reading the Alphabet {lesson 7}, I knew she had some background knowledge in reading the -at family words.

 

First, I set out the base of the -at hat. We read at together. Then I showed her how all the other words in the hat had at in them, too. I read each word like c-at, separating the first sound {onset} from the rest of the word {rime}. I built the hat first.

 

Then, I took all the words away, mixed them up and she took a turn reading the -at words and re-building the hat.

 

When we were finished building the hat, I challenged her to read the -at words as quickly as she could.

 

Dr. Seuss Word Family Hats for Older Readers

The beauty of this activity is that you can differentiate easily for older readers. For example, our short a hats include three different short a rimes {-at, -ap, and -an.} While my daughter was only ready for one, older readers may be ready for more.

 

Lay out all three rimes {base of the hats}, mix up all the word cards and ask readers to read and sort words by their word family pattern. And remember that you can also mix up different vowel patterns, too. For example, you could ask kids to sort short a and long a patterns at one time. Just print off the pages you need.

 

After you feel your child has more of a grip on the patterns, make them self-checking by adding a certain color or sticker to the backs of matching patterns, like you see above, and let your child try it with independence {or set them out at a literacy center, if you’re in the classroom.}

 

Download these Word Family Hats below.

 

Enjoy teaching!
~Becky