LumiraWhat is a word family?
Word families group words that share the same ending sound and spelling. Because only the first letter changes, they are one of the fastest ways for a beginning reader to go from decoding single sounds to reading whole words with confidence.
The -am word family — word list
Every word below appears in the decodable book on this page, so a reader who practises the list will meet the same words again in context.
- dam
- ham
- jam
- ram
- yam
Free decodable book: Decodable Short A: at, am, an
This is an original Lumira decodable reader, written so that a child can sound out nearly every word using patterns they have already been taught. The full text is below — read it here, or open it in the app to read it together with the words highlighting as you speak.
Sam had ham. Pam had ham. Sam and Pam had ham and jam.
A ram ran past Sam. Pam can tap a ham. Sam sat with ham.
Sam can ram a ham. Pam had jam and ham. Ram ran and Sam sat.
Pam sat with ham and jam. Sam had a yam and ham. Jam and ham.
Sam had ham and Pam had jam. A ram ran past Pam. Sam sat.
Ram and ham and jam and Sam and Pam. Sam can dam a pan.
Pam had jam. Sam had ham. A ram ran. Sam sat with ham and jam.
Sam sat on a mat with ham. Pam sat on a mat with jam. Dan ran past.
The cat sat on a mat. Dan had ham and a pan. Nan ran with Pam and Sam.
How to teach it
- Say the sound on its own first, several times, before showing any letters.
- Show the spelling and name it explicitly — tell the reader what it says rather than asking them to work it out.
- Blend two or three words from the list together, out loud, slowly.
- Read the decodable book above, where the pattern repeats in real sentences.
- Come back to it two or three days later. Cumulative review is what makes it stick.
Lessons that practise this pattern
Build words: -am family
Blend CVC words in the -am family using continuous consonants