Kindergarten
Short a Words: Sound It Out
Six short a words (cat, map, bag, hat, jam, van) in sound boxes: say each sound, blend them, write the word and draw a picture of it.
Phonics worksheet · Short vowels and CVC words
Short Vowel Sort: All Five
Fifteen longer short vowel words, with blends, to sort into five columns: lamp, nest, milk, frog and drum.
- Grade level
- 1st grade
- Time
- About 20 minutes
- Answer key
- Yes, page 2 of the PDF
- Kids practice
- Short vowel sounds, Blending CVC words, Segmenting sounds, Reading short sentences
What kids do
“Read each word. Listen for its short vowel. Write it under short a, e, i, o or u.”
Words on this sheet
sleddrummilkplumsandbeltsockfrognestlampgiftpondswimflapduckshort ashort eshort ishort oshort u
Teacher tip
Five columns is a lot. Do the first word of each together.
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
Kindergarten
Short i Words: Sound It Out
Six short i words (pig, lip, fin, six, wig, bib) in sound boxes: say each sound, blend them, write the word and draw a picture of it.
Kindergarten
Short a Words 2: Sound It Out
Six more short a words (ram, pan, bat, cab, rat, ham) in sound boxes: say each sound, blend them, write the word and draw it.
Kindergarten
Short i Words 2: Sound It Out
Six more short i words (lid, pin, zip, fig, rib, hip) in sound boxes: say each sound, blend them, write the word and draw it.
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