Archive for the ‘reading theory’ Category
Making Friends With Word Families
Wednesday, August 5th, 2009

It’s a term that’s got a nice, friendly ring to it. Perhaps you’ve heard it before but may not know exactly what it means: word families.

Word families, sometimes also referred to as phonograms are letter patterns that are more consistent than individual vowel sounds. They stick together and form words that rhyme with each other. For instance, Mat, cat, fat, sat and bat are all part of the -at word family. Net, bet, wet, set and get are part of the –et word family. If your early reader is able to identify the pattern, it becomes easier to sound out related words that are part of the same word family.

Here are some other common word families:

at: bat, mat, rat, hat
ack: sack, back, Jack, Zack
am: Sam, Pam, ram
ail: bail, sail, pail
et: bet, pet, wet set, get
en: Ben, hen, men, pen, ten
it: bit, hit, sit, fit
ill: Bill, fill, hill, will
op: flop, mop, cop, hop, stop, top, pop, plop
ot: hot, rot, dot, got, not, pot
uck: muck, yuck, luck
ug: hug, rug, bug, mug, tug

Bob Books Set 3: Word Families uses many word families that are easy for children to recognize and sound out (“Polly was a jolly bird. ‘Hello, Polly,’ said Dolly”) including various combinations (“Mop was a floppy dog. Mop was Tom’s pal”) which will help make longer stories more manageable for your emerging reader.

Once your child gets the hang of various patterns, both visually and audibly, spelling and writing skills will be enhanced as well. You can make it a game: “What are all the words you can think of that end in –ack? How about –ug? Or –og?”

If you are interested in obtaining a comprehensive list of word families and rhymes this word list is a great resource as well.

Tags: phonograms, rhymes, rimes, word families
Posted in reading theory | No Comments »
How do Bob Books work?
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009

As you are most likely aware, there are a few, important steps and early literacy foundation skills that are necessary for reading. First, your child needs to know the alphabet and the sounds associated with each letter of the alphabet. And then, the ability to hear and identify different sounds in spoken words (otherwise known as phonemic awareness. If this sounds too technical, it doesn’t need to. Bob Books are exceedingly simple! Once you’ve established that your child is ready for reading you will likely discover that the learning to read process becomes an organic, enjoyable and confidence-building experience for you and your child. This is the magic of Bob Books.

Bob Books work sequentially:

My First Bob Books build important pre-reading skills mentioned above like the alphabet and sequencing. My First Bob Books: Alphabet tunes your child’s ear to the sounds letters make and My First Bob Books: Pre-Reading Skills introduces shapes and patterns to build awareness of letter shapes and groups.

Next in the progression are the Bob Books Foundation sets, designed for beginning readers. Each set builds upon the previous set, with enough repetition (so reading becomes comfortable and easy) and new material (so the child stays interested.) The stories contain silly and mischievous characters and simple plotlines that will make children giggle. The illustrations are intentionally simple and childlike. The books themselves are sized perfectly for little hands. Numbering the books and boxes creates a sense of progress and accomplishment for your child.

And now, a bit of info about each foundation set:

Bob Books Set 1: Beginning Readers contains just four letters in the first book so your child can easily sound out all the words (Mat, Sam, cat, sat etc.). New sounds and letters are added gradually, until all the letters of the alphabet are introduced (except Q).

Next, Bob Books Set 2: Advancing Readers uses three-letter words and consistent vowel sounds in slightly longer stories. Again, repetition is used throughout as a way to continue building confidence.

Consonant blends, endings, and a few sight words mix things up and advance reading skills in Bob Books Set 3: Word Families. The use of word families help make longer stories more manageable.

Once you’ve found that your child has mastered Sets 1-3, longer books and more complex words will continue to engage and challenge your young reader in Bob Books Set 4: Complex Words. New word blends, more sight words and longer words advance their skills, while sound repetition still keeps reading easy.

The final set in the series, Bob Books Set 5: Long Vowels introduces the important new skills of long vowels and the magical silent E. Reading vocabularies will grow quickly as your child begins to master the longer stories. Upon completion of Bob Books Set 5, your emerging reader is now ready to move onto chapter books!

What’s next after graduating from Bob Books Set 5? We’ll cover this in an upcoming blog. In the meantime, be sure to let us know your favorites and recommendations.

Tags: alphabet, Bob Books series, My First Bob Books, phonemic awareness, pre reading skills, Reading readiness
Posted in Reading foundation skills, Reading readiness, phonemic awareness, reading theory | No Comments »


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