1st grade
Five Sounds: Blends at Both Ends
Five sound boxes for words with a blend at the start and at the end: stamp, plant, skunk, trunk, stump and crust.
Phonics worksheet · Short vowels and CVC words
Short e Words 2: Sound It Out
Six more short e words (jet, pen, vet, men, peg, pet) in sound boxes: say each sound, blend them, write the word and draw it.
- Grade level
- 1st grade
- Time
- About 15 minutes
- Answer key
- Not needed: answers vary
- Kids practice
- Short vowel sounds, Blending CVC words, Segmenting sounds, Reading short sentences
What kids do
“Say each sound. Blend the sounds to read the word. Write the word, then draw it!”
Printed on the sheet:
- Sound boxes: one sound in each box. Touch each box as you say its sound, then sweep your finger under the word to blend. The short e is in the colored box.
Teacher tip
Short e is the hardest vowel. Give extra time on this one.
How to use it
- Model blending with your arm: touch your shoulder, elbow and wrist for each sound, then slide down.
- Push a counter into each sound box as you say each sound.
- Say every word on the sheet together before kids start, stretching the sounds.
Watch for
Short e and short i are the hardest to tell apart. Exaggerate the mouth shapes.
Talk about it
- If we change the first letter, what new word do we get?
- How did you figure out that word?
Take it further
Build CVC words with letter tiles at a center.
US Letter, prints well in black and white. Free for home and classroom use: print as many copies as you need.
More short vowels and cvc words worksheets
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Real or Silly Words?
Six real and six made-up CVC words (sat and zat, fun and fum) to sound out and sort. Silly words show who is really blending.
1st grade
Missing Short Vowels 2
Eight new sentences, each with a short vowel missing: cub, hop, lid, jet, pen, den, mud and ham. The sentence tells kids which one fits.
1st grade
Short Vowel Sort: All Five
Fifteen longer short vowel words, with blends, to sort into five columns: lamp, nest, milk, frog and drum.
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