Chunk It! Sounding Out Words with Word Families

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Does your child say every sound in a word and then get stuck putting them together? In this lesson your child learns to see a word as two parts: the first sound and a “chunk” that stays the same, like at in cat, hat, and sat. Reading the chunk as one piece gives your child fewer parts to hold on to, so blending gets easier.

What Your Child Will Practice

• Saying letter sounds short and clean
• Reading a word chunk (like at) as one unit
• Blending a first sound with the chunk to make a word
• Reading new words in the same family

Before You Start

Write the chunk at on a card or sticky note. On small squares of paper, write the letters c, h, m, s, b, and r. Have a pencil and paper ready.

Tell your child: “Today we’re going to read a whole family of words that rhyme!”

Step-by-Step

Step 1: Warm up the sounds (1 minute).
Hold up each letter square and have your child say its sound: /k/, /h/, /m/, /s/, /b/, /r/. Keep each one short: /b/, not “buh.” For /m/ and /s/, it’s fine to stretch: “mmm,” “sss.”

Step 2: Meet the chunk (1 minute).
Point to at. Say, “This chunk says /at/.” Your child touches it and says it with you. Then say it a few more times together, quickly: “at, at, at.”

Step 3: Add a first sound (3 minutes).
Put s in front of at. Your child says the first sound, then the chunk, then pushes them together: “/s/… at… sat!” Run a finger under the whole word as they say it. Swap in m, then c, then h. Each time, your child reads the new word.

Step 4: Your child is the builder (2 minutes).
Say a word from the family, like “bat.” Your child finds the first letter and puts it in front of at, then reads the word back. Try “rat” and “hat” too.

Step 5: Write and read (2 minutes).
Your child writes three of the words on paper, saying the first sound and then the chunk as they write. Then they read their list aloud.

Step 6: Read a sentence (1 minute).
Write: Rocky sat on a mat. A cat sat on his hat! Your child reads it, then underlines every word with the at chunk.

Quick Practice Activity: Rocky’s Word Family Ladder

Draw a ladder with five rungs on paper. Write at on the side of the ladder.

1. On each rung, your child writes a different first letter and reads the word it makes with at.
2. Each word read correctly lets Rocky climb one rung.
3. At the top, your child reads all five words from top to bottom as fast as they can, then from bottom to top.

Tomorrow, try a new chunk, like an (can, man, fan, ran) or it (sit, hit, bit, fit), and build a new ladder.

Tips for Parents

• Use only letters your child already knows.
• Keep it short and stop while it’s still fun.
• If sounding out stays very hard after plenty of short practice, talk with your child’s teacher.

What’s Next?

Wondering why your child struggles to sound out words? Read Like Rocky, the 12-week at-home program by Dr. Nancy Barker, Ed.D., starts with a free assessment that shows you where to begin.

Take the free reading assessment