Learn How to Spell with a Word Family Dictionary

Download this FREE Word Family Dictionary page to help kids with spelling “related” words.

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Very young children like to explore spelling with familiar words. These words may include mom, dad, cat, or most importantly- their own name. Many young spellers can do this, even if they do not know all the letters and letter sounds. But because they do not possess a solid understanding of the alphabet, their spellings are very limited.

Once young children begin to grasp letters and their corresponding sounds, they can learn how to spell even more words. Helping spellers see the connections and patterns that certain words (word families) share is a great place to start.

Just recently, I introduced the strategy of using word families to learn how to spell other words with my 5 year old son. He has already been reading word family words through my curriculum, Reading the Alphabet, and Set 1 of BOB Books, but now it was time to apply that knowledge to spelling.

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What is a Word Family?

I like to explain word families in this way: “You know in our family, mommy and daddy have the same last name- Spence. You also have the same last name because you are in our family. Who else has the same last name?” He names those in our immediate family.

“Well, words can be in the same family, too. Look at this word. You already know it.” I show him cat and he reads it. I show him fat. “This word {fat} has the same last name as cat: at.” I show him a few more words with -at and we read them together. If your child has trouble seeing the “-at last name” a good tip is to highlight it, circle it, or underline it in a visual way.

Learn How to Spell with Word Families

I pulled out one of my favorite books for introducing the -at family: Cat On the Mat by Brian Wildsmith. We looked through the pictures first and talked about the cat’s expressions on each page. Then we read it together, just for pure enjoyment. {It really is such a cute book! The pictures tell such a great story.}

Once we’d read through it, we looked for -at words in the text. He found them in the title and on each page. {Shorter texts like these work for my young fellow because he has a short attention span.}

Then, I introduced the Word Family Dictionary to him.

“We are going to start a notebook together where we collect word family words that can help as you learn how to spell more words. Let’s do a few today and then we can add more tomorrow.” Up in the left-hand corner, I wrote AT for the -at family. We went back through Cat on the Mat and he wrote down the -at words he found on the page.

On day 2, I pulled more books from his independent reading bin. I purposely used books that contained several -at words to make his search a little easier. After we looked through them, and re-read a couple, he added to his -at family page.

After we were finished on day 2, I hole-punched the page and stuck it in a 3-ring binder to start a Word Family Dictionary.

Benefits of a Word Family Dictionary

• As he grows in his understanding of how words work, he can add to his -at family page. For example, he discovered one of the labels on our wall: mats. He was excited to add it to his -at page.

• He can use the dictionary as a resource when he wants to spell other -at words. If he wants to spell flat in his writing, I could say something like, “I hear that flat has the last name of -at. Can you find your -at page? How can you use -at to help you spell flat?” Once I help him use this strategy several times, guiding him through the process, he will be well on his way to using the -at family to spell more words in his writing.

• We are not limited to the -at family. The Word Family Dictionary’s pages are blank so that he and I can explore different word families and add them into the binder.

Enjoy teaching word families!
~Becky