Wonderful Word Families Word Work Game

     Whew! Every year I underestimate how exhausting and stressful the first month of school is....  I think it must be like what women say they experience after they have a baby.  They're quick to do it again.... because after it was over, they forget how hard it was! Hehe. I just have to keep telling myself that in about mid-October we'll be smooth sailing... :) 
    Anyway, I have been less than blogger-ific lately just because I've been so busy.  But I'm happy to say that I am working on some resources that I think will be very helpful to lots of teachers out there (Smart Board lessons to go with every lesson of the 2012 JOURNEYS Common Core Version Reading Series for 1st Grade)... so stay tuned! 
     But what I have been working on with my kids recently is Word Families!  We've been drilling short vowels like crazy, but what some children don't put together is that if they can read one word, they can read lots of words!  That's where Word Families come in...  Teaching children to make connections between words really helps them to feel more confident as readers and writers.  So I've been working on teaching my kids how learning the ending suffixes of words (-an, -at, - in, -ug, etc...) can help them to read LOTS of different words.  If they can read and write CAT, that means they can read and write HAT, BAT, SAT, PAT, RAT, FAT, and MAT!!  You get the picture...  So I made this Word Family game to use during my Daily 5 Word Work block.  My kids have really enjoyed it, and I hope you do too!  Just click the picture to go to my Teachers Pay Teachers store. :)
   Have a blessed day blog friends! 
                     Love, Beth