Interactive Word Construction…You HAVE to check this out!

Dr. Seuss is the master of all Rhyming and children’s books but what you may not know is that he is also a fabulous teacher. Most of us know that Seuss was not the most responsible adults, dropping out of college to travel Europe and contributing political cartoons in his early career.
His first book, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, published, however, required a great degree of persistence – it was rejected 27 times before being published by Vanguard Press. The Cat in the Hat, perhaps

First, lets review what word families are…
Word families are words which end the same forming a chunk that the children can learn to say altogether rather than sounding out each letter sound. For example can: sound out the c and add the chunk an forming can.
Word families also encourage children to find patterns in words so they can recall this information in a timely fashion.
Word families encourage children to spell better as you guide them to search for a word in the family that they already know how to spell. …read more

Why teach word families? Because if a child learns a word like “cat” over emphasizing the phonics will result in teaching the child “cu” ‘a” “tuh” and the child will make the word into a three syllable word instead of a one syllable word.
So, as teachers we mix whole language (word families) with phonics.
Here is a list of word families and rhyme words (although names should not be included).
Great Books for Parents and Teachers (because we all know that the great ones are hard to find!):

Easy Lessons for Teaching Word Families (Grades K-2)
Word Family Tales Learning Library
Bob Books, Set …read more

Jan Brett has word family charts on her site that you can print off. Aren’t they cute? The charts have the 37 most frequently used word family patterns. From these patterns, a child can master 500 primary words.
These charts are perfect for teachers, homeschoolers, parents, and anyone who would like to help children read.
 Click here to see the large collection of free printable phonograms.