SPELLING EXPECTATIONS FOR GRADE ONES
NOTE: Traditional weekly spelling tests will NOT be given as research shows they are not effective. Traditional spelling tests are often a measure of memorization skills, rather than true mastery. Instead, emphasis will be placed on understanding and using spelling patterns and sight words.
Word families are groups of words that share the same ending pattern, such as “hat”, “mat”, and “cat”. Words in a family will always rhyme; however, not all rhyming words belong to the same word family. “Hair” and “care” both rhyme, but come from different families. Children will learn to recognize the “chunks” that make up many different word patterns. The aim is for students to practise 5 words from a word family (e.g. _at family: cat, rat, bat, sat, mat) at school and at home.
Good spellers and good readers learn to see word sounds in chunks and patterned groups. They begin to recognize parts of the word faster and can read more fluently!
Unit 1: _am family
1. am
2. ham
3. jam
4. ram
5. yam
Unit 2: _at family
1. bat
2. rat
3. mat
4. fat
5. cat
Unit 3: _ag family
1. bag
2. tag
3. wag
4. gag
5. rag
Unit 4: _an family
1. pan
2. fan
3. ran
4. man
5. can
Unit 5: _ab family
1. drab
2. scab
3. crab
4. cab
5. jab
Unit 6: _ed family
1. led
2. red
3. sled
4. fed
5. bed
Unit 7: _ell family
1. shell
2. yell
3. bell
4. sell
5. tell
Unit 8: _est family
1. test
2. nest
3. pest
4. chest
5. best
Unit 9: _in family
1. win
2. spin
3. thin
4. chin
5. tin
Unit 10: _ill family
1. bill
2. hill
3. spill
4. still
5. pill
Unit 11: _ing family
1. sting
2. thing
3. ring
4. sing
5. king
Unit 12: _ot family
1. got
2. pot
3. dot
4. hot
5. not
Unit 13: _ot family
1. lot
2. rot
3. spot
4. knot
5. shot
Unit 14: _op family
1. hop
2. top
3. crop
4. pop
5. stop
Unit 15: _ow family
1. slow
2. grow
3. show
4. throw
5. low
Unit 16: _eed family
1. freed
2. need
3. seed
4. bleed
5. weed
Unit 17: _ain family
1. train
2. plain
3. chain
4. pain
5. rain
Unit 18: _ow family
1. blow
2. tow
3. bow
4. crow
5. mow
Unit 19: _ail family
1. sail
2. mail
3. jail
4. tail
5. pail
Unit 20: _ew family
1. chew
2. few
3. new
4. threw
5. stew
Unit 21: _ack family
1. back
2. black
3. crack
4. sack
5. stack
Unit 22: _ank family
1. bank
2. sank
3. rank
4. blank
5. thank
Unit 23: _ink family
1. sink
2 think
3. pink
4. stink
5. drink
Unit 24: _ake family
1. take
2. make
3. cake
4. bake
5. fake
Unit 25: _ore family
1. more
2. store
3. shore
4. score
5. tore