Clip Strips

Words that have the same ending pattern (rime) often rhyme with the same ending sound. They are sometimes called word families. They are a great way to introduce a pattern that you are learning as part of a reading lesson.

Blending Onset & Rime together is a part of phonemic awareness, an important skill for learning to read.

• Onset – the part of the word before the vowel
• Rime – the part of the word with the vowel and what follows it
  (Rime & Rhyme are homophones, words that sound the same but are spelled differently and can have different meanings.)

Some options for free printable word family sliders can be found at my Pinterest board on Word Families and Ladders. I especially like the ones from Little Bunny because there are lots of phonograms. They have cute illustrations and are in black and white so they don’t use a lot of color ink to print. But since compact resources are essential for a portable tutor kit, I created a very plain and simple set of clip strips for this purpose.

Print and Assemble:

1. After the introduction, the next few pages are an index. The phonics pattern is printed on the left. These are word endings, or rimes. Print the index pages on regular paper & cut across by patterns to use them as labels on long envelopes for storing the strips.
2. Print the remaining sets of strips on card stock.
3. Cut the bottom strip off across. These are word endings, or rimes, that will be cut apart to attach to the back of matching strips in step 5.
4. Cut remaining strips apart horizontally (down). Leaving the top margin and a small right side margin on is helpful.
5. Cut apart each ending (rime) from the bottom strip (or a 1″ circle punch works) and attach to the back of the matching strip with velcro dots. Store the strips in labeled envelopes.

Use:

1. Select a strip with onsets, and attach the ending (rime) with a velcro dot to a clothespin.
2. Move the clothespin down the strip, with student blending the sounds into words.

The Clip Strips freebie is available at the Super Tutor Tools store at Teachers Pay Teachers. Visit Word Lists for a free download of the words.

I continue to find patterns and uses for these!