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1st grade · English Language Arts · Unit 3 of 13

Word Families

-at, -ig, -op and more

What your child practices

Words that share an ending, like cat, hat and bat. Once children know one word in a family, they can read and spell many more by changing the first sound.

Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards benchmark: 1.2.1.2; 1.1.1.2 · reading and spelling words in common word families

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. A word family shares the same ending, like -at: cat, hat, bat.
  2. Words in a family rhyme.
  3. Change the first letter to make a new word: ten, pen, den.

Example: Which word is in the “-ig” family? pig or pot? The -ig family ends with i-g. p-ig ends with -ig. Answer: pig

Word Families in Minnesota

In the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards, this is unit 3 of 13 in 1st grade English Language Arts, after Short Vowels and before Sh, Ch, Th.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Minnesota Department of Education (MDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Which word does not rhyme with the others?

    • men
    • pen
    • big

  2. Question 2

    Which one rhymes with “van”?

    🚐van
    • 🛑stop
    • 🐛bug
    • 🥫can

  3. Question 3

    Put the sounds together. What word is it?

    h + en

    • hen
    • hop
    • den

  4. Question 4

    Which one rhymes with “cat”?

    🐱cat
    • ☕mug
    • 🔟ten
    • 🦇bat

  5. Question 5

    Which word is in the “-an” family?

    -an

    • bug
    • can
    • dig

  6. Question 6

    Put the sounds together. What word is it?

    p + op

    • pop
    • pen
    • mop

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