A collection of musts and fresh ideas for when it’s time to teach CVC words. The first steps to decoding whole words can be daunting for children and a worry for teachers. These top tips will help you smoothly introduce and practise the words for reading success.
“Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.”
Frederick Douglas.
Segmenting
The opposite of blending (i.e. blending sounds together to make a word) is of course segmenting, which is separating a word into its component sounds. Segmenting words together will help learners’ phonological awareness and help them to spell more effectively in the future.
Some teachers tap fingers or chop along their arms to help learners visualise the different sounds they read/hear. I’ve used the robot talk technique a few times with success, moving my arms up and down (and sounding) like a robot when I make each sound.
When introducing segmenting it’s best to practise oral segmenting first. I use phrases, such as “tea tea coffee coffee tea tea cake” and “ice-cream ice-cream yu-mmy yu-mmy ice-cream,” asking the students to clap each syllable. I use these phrases to manage the class when they’re noisy (I clap, they echo the clap and say the phrase), so they’re familiar with them. (Thank you to the fantastic teacher at the PGCE placement school, who taught me these!) You might also use the children’s names to clap syllables of, for example “Ma-ri-a-na”, or “Jo-na-than,” or perhaps favourite animals e.g. e-le-phant.
You can use these techniques to later teach blending, but dragging-out the sounds to help them e.g. joooo-naaaa-than. Be careful to avoid using “schwas” such as “puuuuu-aaaaaa-t,” but rather saying “p-aaaaaa-t,” and then blending the “p” and “a” e.g. “paaaaaa-t.”
Once they’re used to clapping syllables, you can ask the learners to segment CVC words with you, clapping each sound e.g. c-a-t. This introduction to segmenting seems to help them realise that whole words are made up of a sequence of speech sounds (phonemes). You can also “roller coaster” the “a” sound, waving your hand up and down like a roller coaster, “c-aaaaa-t cat.”
You might also use songs, such as “ha-ppy birth-day to you,” or more active learning such as jumping from hoop to hoop, or touching heads, shoulders, knees and toes.
If you have a small group, you could also do segmented sentence circles, where children sat in a circle repeat back a sentence of your choice. Each learner says one word from the sentence in order as you go around the circle, perhaps passing a beanbag or talking stick. You can then introduce names and phrases segmented into syllables as you go around the circle, before moving onto the CVC words. One-to-one learners might use Lego blocks or counters to show how many words/syllables/phonemes they hear. They can jump Lego men or drive cars along Lego roads as they make each sound.
“Heggerty Phonics” uses great little tricks to practise oral segmenting. You can ask learners to add or remove beginning and ending sounds to create new words. You can ask them to take words apart or blend them together using hand gestures and claps. Check-out >>>this<<< example video on YouTube.
After learners are comfortable segmenting words orally, letter-sound recognition is the next step, and then the all-important CVC words can be introduced, segmented and blended.
Later down the line, keep up the segmenting. Play lots of games, perhaps the teacher can sort word cards into numbers of syllables, play syllable snap (using word cards) and matching words with the same number of syllables, or perhaps play “Syllable Bingo”, with numbers between one and four written on each card square. As the teacher says a word, children place a counter on the square representing the number of syllables in that word. The first learner to create a line from edge to edge or corner to corner wins!
Take a Week to Introduce each Vowel’s CVC Words C-a/e/i/o/u-C
The children will already have learnt the vowel sounds, but it’s a big step to decode words with the vowels in. Take your time, learn cat pat mat etc. the first week, then pet let met etc. the next week and so on.
A Song to Start
Teaching the consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words should always begin with a song to introduce and hook-in the learners. There are really catchy songs on YouTube. I use the “KidsTV123” and the “Hooked on Phonics” songs, as the kids love them and remember them easily.
I usually start a class with the KidsTV123 phonics song from YouTube, with support of the PPT and accompanying Flashcards (available >>>here<<<). Then move on to that week’s CVC song.
See my “Sing Your Way to Phonics Success” article >>>here<<< for more ideas on teaching phonics though song.
The Big Fun Bag of Words
Each week I will have a bag full realia for the children to take turns to delve into. For C-a-C words, I will have a cat, a hat, a rat, a bat, a fan and a pan for example.
The kids take it in turn to pull out an item, I’ll show the respective word card, perhaps hang it on the board next to the word (if I can), and we’ll say the word a few times and include it in a sentence. You can try and elicit a sentence from a learner, or make it yourself.
Pass the Parcel
An alternative to the Realia Bag is having a Pass the Parcel game. If you are lucky enough to be teaching a small group, this is great fun. Simply wrap an item in each layer of the “parcel”, for example a bug, a nut, a pup, a cub etc. then play the old party game you remember playing as a kid. Play some fun music, pass the parcel around a circle of kids, pause the music randomly, then the child holding the parcel unwraps a layer and says the word associated with the item found. I once had a small group of three make the parcel after first drawing items from a realia bag, which was great fun!
Match Words with Pictures
You could display the new words on one side of the board, and pictures on the other. Then ask the learners to segment and blend the words, before matching them with their picture and placing the cards together.
Matching Pic/Word Puzzles
Print-off some CVC word pictures, for example cat/mat/bat, then write the words in two parts, for example “c” on the left-hand side of the cat and “at” on the right-hand side. Cut the pictures in half down the middle, to make matching cards. Mix them up and display them on the board, then ask the learners to match them up and say the words as they go. If your learners are higher level, you can perhaps cut the picture/word card into four pieces for an extra challenge!
Don’t Forget the Word Wall!
The all-essential “Word Wall” displaying all your learnt words is a must! Make a daily habit of looking at it together and reviewing the words, and I’m in the camp of displaying pictures with the words too. Pictures are attractive and fun for the learners.
Words & Pictures PPT and CVC Sentences
I have a super PPT I use for practising CVC words. The PPT goes through lots of CVC words using that week’s vowel sound. First the word is shown and the children segment and blend it. I then ask the learners to repeat the word after me, then I ask for it again. I’ll then click the clicker and reveal a picture to aid teaching understanding of the word.
For some of the words I’ll create a sentence to show how it’s used. For some words I’ll ask a student to use the word in a sentence to check understanding.
After all the words, a crazy word will be displayed e.g. azalaaaaa. The learners decode the word, then I elicit a few more crazy words.
After this, a fun sentence using some of the words practise will be displayed, and we practise this a few times. For example, “fat cat sat on the mat.” You can ask the children to recall this sentence throughout the week.
Save yourself hours and download the PowerPoint >>>here<<<, which includes over 200 slides of CVC words with accompanying pictures, flashcards and posters.
It has a menu system linking to each group of CVC slides (aeiou), fun CVC sentences and crazy words, plus overheads to display when you use your realia bag/song time/story writing time and phonics hunt activity time. Full lists of all the CVC words used for each sound are also included on the final five slides.
Writing Words on the Board
It’s helpful when writing new words on the board, to have some kind of visual markers to show children that there are different sounds in a word. Some teachers have magnetic red circle magnets, placed under words written on the board. You can just as easily write a red dot. I have yellow magnetic smiley faces, and for more complicated words I’ll use Elkonin boxes around each phoneme to make it super clear. You can also cover each phoneme with a red circle, and have a learner point to each circle as they make the respective sound.
Make CVC Words – Hands-On Active Learning
Play-dough, plasticene, buttons, paper clips, Lego, sand, pebbles, shaving foam, salt trays, however you do it, it’s worthwhile letting the children get hands-on with their new words. Ask your learners to make a selection of CVC words, or have a learner secretly make a word and ask the other learners what it is. The creation of an image, stored as a memory, is a powerful learning technique.
Play “I spy with my little eye”
“I Spy” is a great little game, just choose an item in the classroom, perhaps secretly placed before class begins. If it’s a bat hanging somewhere, say “I spy with my little eye something beginning with b.” The learner, who sees what he or she thinks is the item, says “is it a b-a-t bat?”
If you’re just starting out with young leaners, you might have to let them say the word, then sound it out together with the class, “well done, yes, b-a-t bat.” You could also hold the sounds a little longer and make them without a pause in between to help model blending.
CVC Charades/Pictionary
These are great fun. Act-out or draw the CVC word, e.g. cat/mat/bat, then elicit the word and the spelling. Use word/picture cards and have a learner choose one at random to try. When a learner guesses the word correctly, they can write the word on the board before all the learners read it together.
Recognition Bong/Slap/Swat/Shooting Games
Teaching recognition can be great fun. Use giant soft hammers or fly swats, darts or beanbags, sucker dart guns or even just hands to splat, bong or swat the correct CVC word card after reading it to the competitors. First to get there and say the word wins!
Ask the learners to create a sentence with the word for bonus points!
BINGO!
Practise recognition with BINGO! Use a free online BINGO card creator (e.g. www.myfreebingocards.com),then have them dab the words you say and repeat them back to you. You can even have learners draw the words from a hat and read them.
Find the Missing Sound
Use magnetic letters or write words on the board with a letter missing, perhaps focus on the vowels to start with e.g. b _ t. The learners can then write the word with the missing letter on their mini white boards and hold them up, or complete the words with the correct magnetic letter, before segmenting and blending. You might display a pictures card next to the words to assist learners if you think they need them.
Change the Letter – Change the Sound – Change the Word
Have magnetic letters on the board and teach the children that by changing one letter, either the first, middle or end letter, we can create new sounds and a new word. Often it is this realisation and understanding that is the blending penny-drop moment for many learners.
You can have one CVC word displayed using magnetic letters, and a picture card of a different CVC word you want the learners to create alongside. Ask the learner(s) to change one letter, i.e. one sound, to create the new word.
You can vary this a little by asking learners to write words on their mini whiteboards, then asking them to change one letter to create the desired word. Initially you can tell them which letter to change and check they have done it correctly.
Initial Sound Make New Word Game
Show two CVC word picture cards on the board. Ask your learners what the words are, and then ask them for the beginning sound of each word. Write the letters on the board, elicit a vowel from your learners and create new CVC words together. Ask the learners what the new words mean?! It’s like a code-breaking activity and great fun for the children.
Writing Practise
It’s essential to practise writing the newly learnt words. It’s best keep it simple, segment and blend the words together, then ask the learners to write them on their whiteboards/in their books/on a printed worksheet with Elkonin Boxes. You can also show the word, then have them hold it in their minds and write it down without simply copying it, to add a layer of difficulty.
There are word lists for each CVC sound words (a/e/i/o/u) at the back of my CVC PowerPoint.
They can add pictures along side the words to help them learn the meaning of the words and widen their vocabulary, although be careful they don’t simply say the name associated with the picture rather than actually practise decoding the new words.
Writing down the rhymes from my CVC Phonics PPT is a great way to practise. Ask learners to write down “fat cat sat on the mat,” and then ask them to draw a picture of the phrase to show their understanding.
I have my learners write a list of phonics words each week in a small A5 book, which they take home each weekend to practise. They then (usually!) bring it back on Mondays in their homework folders.
Phonics Prince & Princess Mastery Envelopes
Have each of the new words in an envelope for each learner. The enveloped can be labelled with each student’s name or photo, and displayed on a board. Go through the words with each learner once a week. When they say a word correctly and fluently, remove it from the envelope, leaving the words they need to practise more inside. When each student has shown mastery of all the words, they become a prince or princess and their envelopes are moved to the “royalty box” section on the board above!
Phonics Word Hunts
There are two phonics “word hunts” that I do with my classes on occasion, when they are well-behaved! The first is a word card hunt in the classroom or in the playground. I hide phonics word cards around the place, then set the learners loose to find them and write them in a list in their books. Early finishers can create sentences or practise reading the new words.
The second method, is asking them to find that week’s phonics sound words in dictionaries or a selection of reading books on their tables. They make a list of the words found, and I circuit the room, ensuring the correct sounds are selected, correcting as I go.
Treasure Hunt
Another hunt is the treasure hunt, where realia items are placed around a classroom or playground (e.g. cat, net, pig, dog, cup), and learners are given a list of the items to find. Whilst searching you will hear the learners reading the words, and the excitement when they find them and tick them off their lists.
Story Writing
Creating a story with learnt phonics sound words is great fun and a super way to review. You can have a collection of word cards on the board, or allow learners to recall their own words including the sounds you are practising. Let their imaginations run free, or give them a topic or title to write about together. Ask them to include as many of the chosen words/phonics sound words as possible.
Phonics Story Reading
Getting the learners familiar with reading words in sentences is key from the off-set. If the book has more than the previously learnt words in, you can read the sentences and pause on the current words for the learners to read them.
There are great decodable phonics books available, here are a few good ones:
Julia Donaldson’s Phonics Songbirds (Oxford Reading Tree)
Phonics Tales (Scholastic)
Usborne Phonics Readers
Ladybird Phonics
Phonics Bug (Pearson) (They also team-up with Alphablocks for some books!)
You can always add in extra sentences to stories using a pdf editor/PPT (copyright permitted) or simply by writing them on the board alongside the projection, to ensure a story has lots of CVC words to practise.
Guided Reading strategies are important when using phonics stories. For example: cover analysis; storyline comprehension checks, and Bloom’s Taxonomy questions.
Have Fun!
I hope these ideas worked for you or inspired other great ideas! Any suggestions or other activities to add, let me know and I’ll share them with everyone. Cheers!