A word family is a group of words that rhyme and have the same spelling pattern. For instance dog, hog and log are in the _og word family. Children who understand word families have an easier time learning to spell and decode words. Young children find the _at family the easiest, so begin there if the other word families seem difficult. If your child needs help coming up with a song, start with a song or rhyme you already know, like Hickory Dickory Dock, and substitute your rhyming words.

Distinguishing between individual sounds in a word develops your child's phonemic awareness, the ability to hear individual sounds within words and manipulate them. Identifying the letter that makes that sound develops your child's understanding of phonics, or how sounds and symbols are related. Forming letters by hand helps your child develop automatic letter recognition. These skills are cornerstones of learning to read.

Distinguishing between individual sounds in a word develops your child's phonemic awareness, the ability to hear individual sounds within words and manipulate them. Identifying the letter that makes that sound develops your child's understanding of phonics, or how sounds and symbols are related. Forming letters by hand helps your child develop automatic letter recognition. These skills are cornerstones of learning to read.

Distinguishing between individual sounds in a word develops your child's phonemic awareness, the ability to hear individual sounds within words and manipulate them. Identifying the letter that makes that sound develops your child's understanding of phonics, or how sounds and symbols are related. Forming letters by hand helps your child develop automatic letter recognition. These skills are cornerstones of learning to read.

Distinguishing between individual sounds in a word develops your child's phonemic awareness, the ability to hear individual sounds within words and manipulate them. Identifying the letter that makes that sound develops your child's understanding of phonics, or how sounds and symbols are related. Forming letters by hand helps your child develop automatic letter recognition. These skills are cornerstones of learning to read.

Distinguishing between individual sounds in a word develops your child's phonemic awareness, the ability to hear individual sounds within words and manipulate them. Identifying the letter that makes that sound develops your child's understanding of phonics, or how sounds and symbols are related. Forming letters by hand helps your child develop automatic letter recognition. These skills are cornerstones of learning to read.

Distinguishing between individual sounds in a word develops your child's phonemic awareness, the ability to hear individual sounds within words and manipulate them. Identifying the letter that makes that sound develops your child's understanding of phonics, or how sounds and symbols are related. Forming letters by hand helps your child develop automatic letter recognition. These skills are cornerstones of learning to read.

Print this coloring page to help your child understand word families. Children who understand word families have an easier time learning to spell and decode words.

Kids like puzzles. Successfully decoding a secret message gives kids a great feeling of accomplishment. While having fun your child will also be working on identifying and writing the initial letter in a word, important skills for reading and spelling.

Kids like puzzles. Successfully decoding a secret message gives kids a great feeling of accomplishment. While having fun your child will also be working on identifying and writing the initial letter in a word, important skills for reading and spelling.

Knowing alphabetical order will help your child use a dictionary or index.

Providing blanks to fill in to complete a message helps your child to become an independent writer. You can do this type of activity any time. Write a sentence that your child says but leave a blank space for one of the words. Your child can read the message, figure out what word is missing and then try to write that word in. Praise any efforts and don't worry about exact spelling. To make the card: 1. Fold the page in half so that the written message is facing you and the fold is on the left. 2. Fold the top of the page down so that the dinosaur is facing you.