If you haven't discovered Thinking Maps yet- GO DO YOUR RESEARCH! I am totally obsessed with there effectiveness and success they bring students. They are easy to use, easy to teach with, and students can make them- yes even kinders!
I love building capacity in words with my students. One way I do this is by making a word map. I make one on the board that students can use as a whole groups and when we do our modeling and scaffolding (I do, we do) in a mini lesson. I also make an anchor chart or poster that I use for the week on what sound we are working on. This lives on a wall, student height, where they can add to it. My students also make one in their own notebooks. The more they practice the better they will become at finding parts of words!
I can not stress enough: NOT just word families. If we only look and use word families students can get stuck in that place and are unable to transfer the skill of finding a part in an unknown word. Which this is what word families are, finding a part in a word. Pig has ig just like igloo. Even though we start with a word family part, we as the teacher must model finding the part in a word. These words can come from read allows, mini lessons, videos... get creative! Be authentic.
As you can see, in the picture, I use a Tree Map from Thinking Maps. I put the sound at the top, don't forget to add the image of the sound the students are trying to listen for and find. Then the next level in the Tree Map is where I put the parts of the words. Differentiation tip: add more lines for advance readers, like five parts of words. Start with three for your lower readers. As students feel and are successful... add more!
Where would you put the word: independent? skipping? bittersweet? Yes you can start with word families, like in the photo, but then move and model finding parts in words!
Have fun and good luck having students find parts of words and adding them to a Word Map!
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