Free printable word families phonics worksheets. Five practice activities: decodable passage, word sort, phrasing cards, rapid naming chart, and word search.
A free illustrated mini-book for Word Families, plus the same story as a passage sheet for highlighting.
A full-color picture book your student reads on their own. Skill: Word Families. Print, cut and staple.
This book is one of 76 Level 1 mini-books.Every book is free to print one at a time, or get all 76 in one file for $14.
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Sam had a red cap and a big map.
"We can run to the van," said Sam.
He ran fast. The map fell from his hand! It fell in a gap by the wall.
"Oh no! My map," said Sam.
Sam got a long bat. He put the bat in the gap. Tap, tap, tap. Sam got the map out!
"Good job," said Dad. They ran to the van.
The words this story set practices, in the two groups used by the word sort.
cat, bat, hat, mat, sat, rat, flat, brat
can, man, pan, ran, fan, van, cap, map, nap, tap, gap, lap
Short A words to read, match and write, with pictures. Each PDF has its answer key on page 2.
All 77 CVC worksheets in one file, with answer keys.
Get the pack for $7 All 6 levels (700+ sheets) for $254 ready-to-print PDFs for this story's word families words. Each one opens as its own file.
Cut-apart word cards to sort: -at Family or -an / -ap Family. Answer key on page 2.
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More picture worksheets: beginning sounds, ending sounds, rhyming and syllables — new pictures every time you print.
A new decodable story with the same word families sounds — each comes with its own set of worksheets.
Word families like -at, -an, and -ap introduce kindergarteners to predictable spelling patterns, building foundational decoding skills. This early phase focuses on CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words, where only the initial sound changes while the rime remains consistent. A common challenge arises with the short /a/ sound, as students might over-articulate it, saying "c-ah-t" instead of a quick, blended "cat." Differentiating between the similar-sounding /a/ in "fan" and "ran" versus the slightly more open /a/ in "tap" and "gap" can also be tricky for developing ears. Additionally, ensuring a clear distinction between /n/ and /p/ at the end of words like "pan" and "cap" requires careful modeling and practice, preventing mispronunciations or confusion. To maximize learning with these word family worksheets, begin by reading the "Pat the Cat" decodable passage together, highlighting the target words as you encounter them. Use the word sort activity to visually group words like "cat," "hat," and "mat" under the -at family, reinforcing the consistent rime. The phrasing cards are excellent for building fluency; practice reading short phrases such as "a big van" or "tap the mat" to develop natural reading rhythm. Finally, implement the Rapid Automatic Naming (RAN) chart, encouraging quick identification of words like "can," "man," "pan," and "map," helping students move from sounding out to automatic recognition, strengthening their sight word vocabulary within these families.
For more early literacy resources, explore our sight word flashcards, tracing worksheets, handwriting worksheets, and coloring pages.
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