CVC words

How do you teach CVC words?

Start with continuous sounds you can stretch, so m, s, f and n come before t, p and b. Put three letter tiles in front of the student, touch each one and say its sound, then sweep your finger under the word. "Watch me. /m/ /ă/ /p/. Map. Your turn." Change one letter at a time to build a chain: map, mat, sat, sit. Each new word asks the student to look at every letter, which guessing from the first letter never does.

What mistake do students make with CVC words?

The usual error is reading the first sound and guessing the rest, so sat becomes sun. Don't supply the word. Point to the vowel and say, "Check this one." Then have the student blend again from the start. Students who say each sound but can't push them together need the stretch first: hold /mmm/ into /ăăă/ before adding the last sound.

Where do CVC words come in the sequence?

CVC words come first. Most sequences start them as soon as a student knows one short vowel and a handful of consonants, and keep adding a vowel every few lessons until all five are mixed. In the sequence we use, the pattern is taught in Lesson 41a.

Exceptions worth knowing

Words that end in x (box, fix) have four sounds in three letters, so we keep them on the list but flag them when we teach. Words ending in w or y are left off, since those letters work as vowels there. FLSZ words such as bell and miss are four letters and live on their own page.

Decodable sentences

Every word in these sentences can be read at Lesson 41a or earlier, or is a heart word taught by then.

• The cat sat on a big mat.
• Dad got a pot and a pan.
• The pup dug in the mud.
• Can the man fix the van?