6 More Word Work Activities That Will Help Students With Reading

2/25/2024

Word work activities are key to developing strong language skills and fluent readers. Working with word families is an effective way to solidify connecting groups of letters with meaning and it is fun for kids to do.

Here are some more word work activities that you might want to try.

6 more word work activities to develop reading skills

6 Word Work Activities

1. Word Family Sort

Provide students with a set of word cards representing various word families (e.g., -at, -an, -it). Have them sort the words into the corresponding word family categories.
Differentiation:
For struggling students use visual aids like pictures alongside words to reinforce word family connections.
For advanced students introduce less common word families or challenge them to generate new words within a given word family.

2. Word Family Flip Books

Create flip books with word family endings (e.g., -at, -an) and a variety of beginning letters. Students can flip the pages to create new words within the same word family.
Differentiation:
For struggling students provide word starters with visual cues and scaffold the activity by focusing on one word family at a time.
For advanced students include more complex word families and encourage them to create sentences using the words they generate

3. Word Family Word Hunts

Give students a list of word families to focus on. Have them search through books or texts to find words that belong to each word family and write them down.
Differentiation:
For struggling students provide a list of words to search for within the text and offer support with decoding if needed.
For advanced students encourage them to identify additional words that belong to each word family beyond those provided on the list.

4. Word Lists

Using digraphs, blends, or other letter combinations, change the vowel and add a consonant at the beginning to make a list of words that fit the ending. For example:
_and, _end, _ind, _ond, _und
Differentiation:
For struggling students provide some letter tiles to create the words so they can sound them out.
For advanced students encourage them to add more letters to the beginning and notice suffixes such as with the word handful.

5. Real vs Nonsense Words Activities

Provide letter tiles and word endings and create words with them. Decide if the words are real or nonsense words. This could be combined with the word list activity above.
Note: If the students can't explain what the word is, they may need to put it in the nonsense category. As they develop a bigger vocabulary, some of the words may be identified as real words.
Differentiation:
For struggling students try to get them to tell you why the word is real. Use pictures if needed.
For advanced students have them check out words in a dictionary if they are unsure.

is it a real word? Is it a nonsense word?

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6. Real Words vs Nonsense Words Using Dice

Use a set of dice with short vowel word family endings and some dice with single consonants and create word lists. Record the words as real words or nonsense words. Check the images below to see how you can create your own dice.

Dice made with felt pen and small wooden cubes

Dice made with vinyl cutouts and wooden cubes

Differentiation:
For struggling students ask them to tell you what they words are and how they know they are real words, if possible.
For advanced students, add in some blends or digraphs instead of single consonants. Add in some other more complex word endings as well.

6 more word work activities to improve reading skills

These word work activities provide engaging ways for students to practice word families and distinguish between real and nonsense words, supporting their phonemic awareness and phonics skills development. By using the differentiation ideas, adjustments can be made to suit the needs of individual learners, ensuring that all students receive appropriate support and challenge.