Young children’s brains can
only manipulate two chunks of information at a time. That’s why onsets and rimes are so meaningful for beginning
readers. ONSET refers to the consonant or blend at the beginning of the word. RIME refers to the vowel and letters following it.
Word Families
Sing this song to the tune
of “BINGO.”
There
is word family you should know
And
at is it’s name-o.
M-a-t,
mat
H-a-t,
hat
C-a-t,
cat
They
end in at you know.
*Write the words on a chart
and point to them as you sing.
*Sing word families to the
tune from “The Addams Family.”
“There’s
cat and there’s hat. There’s mat
and there’s rat.
There’s
fat and there’s bat. The ‘at’
family!”
Blocks
Cut paper the size of square
and rectangular unit blocks. Write
onsets on the squares and rimes on the rectangles. Children put blocks together and read words.
Rime Eggs
Using plastic eggs, write an onset with a permanent marker on one half of the egg and a rime on the
other. Children twist the egg and
read the words. (I’ve started
covering the writing with transparent tape because it rubs off otherwise.)
*You can do a similar thing
with two plastic cups. Write the
rime on the first cup
and insert it in the second
cup. Write onsets on the second
cup and twist to read new words.
Rime Books
Make step books or popsicle
stick books and use them to reinforce word families. (Do a search on my blog to learn how to make these
books.)Note! It’s important to do real words as well as nonsense words.
Flower Rimes
Cut 4” circles out of
construction paper. Cut paper
petals similar to the ones shown.
Children write the “rime” on the circle and then write words on the
petals.
Unifix Cubes
Put stickers on unifix cubes
and write letters on them. (I’ve
tried writing directly on the cubes with permanent markers, but they always rub
off.) Children make a rime and
then use additional letters to make new words.
*Let children play this game
with a partner. One person makes a
word and then the other friend must read it.
Letter Tins
Put magnetic letters in an
empty tin of mints. How many words
can the children make with the letters?
Ask them to write a list of all the words.