Exposing students to word families, in the form of lists, worksheets and games, can be a very efficient strategy for teaching spelling skills. While some words need to be learned in isolation, with unique letter strings, most words contain one or more sets of common letter patterns. Teachers often work through lists of words with these letter patterns, from the simplest to more complex. Spelling work books often focus on these too.
I have included a selection of worksheets to support the introduction of each word list to the group or class. I also recommend the use of Individual Spelling Journals once students have developed an understanding of basic phonemic strategies, and are ready to learn more visual letter patterns.
