We LOVE the Word Family Songs- and Now My Kids Can READ!!!!

My classes just LOVED the Word Family Songs, and with all of that practice, they were really learning to sound out their CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words SO WELL!  And these kids were just in TK- Transitional Kindergarten- so they were not even really supposed to be able to do this yet!  But more than half of them really could sound out CVC words.  I am so proud of them!




My kids actually CHEER and JUMP UP AND DOWN when I turn on these songs!  That's how much they love them!  In fact, one of my kids actually threw a temper tantrum because we didn't sing his favorite song- The Ig Family- one day.  (Not that I'm a fan of tantrums, but that's how much they like them!)





So what did we do to get there?  It hasn't been hard, and it hasn't been very time consuming.  It can't be, because I taught just a half day program.  It was only three hours per day, and yet all but two kids out of 22 knew nearly every sight word (30 sight words for TK) and half could read CVC words, too!  So this is what I did with my little ones to help them learn to sound out those words.






Sing a Few Word Family Songs Every Day

By the end of the second trimester testing in February, I realized that nearly my whole class knew every single sight word of the 30 that are required in TK, so I decided that we would go ahead and focus on the Word Family Songs instead of the sight word songs for a while.  So for the month of March and April, I have been showing them the animated version of the Word Family Songs for about 5-6 minutes per day.  I started with the At Family, and then worked my way through the An Family, then the It, In, Ip, and Ig Families.  Then we sang the Op, Ot, and Ox Family Songs for the next two weeks, and then we started with the short E family songs the next week. Using our Internet Streaming Site makes this SO easy!






Practice Sounding Out Some CVC Words Daily

I used a Focus Wall, and went through the whole thing nearly every day.  I added a CVC chart to my Focus Wall in January because I already had about seven students that had all of the sight words mastered, and I needed something for them to work on.  So even though reading CVC words is above grade level for TK, I decided to include it because I believe that every child should be learning something new.  I also believe that it doesn't do the other children any harm to be exposed to these new skills either, even if they aren't ready to learn them yet.

So the whole class did the drill with me, as I said, "Sound?" And they said the sound of each letter, and then I said, "Read!"  Then they tell me the word.  Once they got the hang of it, I removed the pictures of each word, and we did it without the pictures next to the words.  After that, I mixed up the words so that they were not in the same order, being careful to mix words with different endings up.  (Example:  Mix up -ig family words with -ip family words to make sure they are not just rhyming and substituting different beginning sounds.)



The cards in the Word Family chart are sold as part of the CVC book below.


word family pocket chart


Do One CVC Worksheet Per Week, (and One for Homework)

We were doing just ONE CVC worksheet per week from my CVC Book.  I have also attached one for their homework.  (Homework is required in my district anyway, so I have to send something.)




CVC Vol. 1 Word Families Workbook


Phonemic Awareness Practice- EVERY DAY

Sounding out words begins with kids learning to blend sounds orally, without seeing it in print.  And that happens in phonemic awareness drills, mostly!  We practiced everyday using the Heggerty Phonemic Awareness book.  I wrote about this book here.   This program is a complete GAME CHANGER as far as phonemic awareness skills are concerned!  And phonemic awareness skills are game changers for literacy skills!  But the best thing about it is that it does take the kids from blending compound words, to blending syllables, to blending onsets and rimes, and then finally to blending three sounds to make a word.  It's the entire progression of skills that kids need to READ and also SOUND OUT and WRITE words, because it also has them practice segmenting words as well!

The pre-K version that I used in TK only takes about 5-6 minutes per day.  Is it exciting?  No.  But it's tolerable, and it gets the job done in a very short amount of time.  And I see the results EVERY. SINGLE. YEAR. 







Do a CVC Activity in Small Groups Weekly

From the beginning of our third trimester in March until halfway through April, we did one CVC based activity each week as part of our weekly rotation of centers.  Sometimes it is CVC Bingo (these games are included in the workbooks), or CVC Puzzles, CVC Pockets, a game like Buccaneer Bang CVC Game, or simply just listen to the word and try to write the letters on dry erase boards or make the words with letter magnets.





CVC Pockets- Take the letters and put them in order.  It's harder than you may think, and helps kids practice SO many skills!





Buccaneer Bang! CVC Game

This is the Buccaneer Bang CVC Game!  It's a really fun way to practice reading CVC words, with a pirate theme!

Do you have any other great ideas to contribute?  Please leave a comment and let us know!

- Heidi :)




P.S. Don't forget all our videos are available to STREAM on UScreen, FREE for the first 30 days! It's an awesome way to bring some EASY, active learning to your students during this time, and they can always cancel right before they are ever charged, like on day 29! Check out the info page on our website for more info!




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