Short, 3-letter words with consonant – vowel – consonant (or CVC words) are almost always the first words that students learn when they start reading. Students need consistent, repeated practice in segmenting and blending single syllable words, as these skills are the basis of learning to put sounds together to make words. If you need some fun ways to teach CVC words, then keep reading!
First, make sure your students are ready to really start practicing. If they can hear a sound and identify the letter, and conversely see a letter and pronounce the corresponding sound, they have a good base. Additionally, if your students can segment each of the sounds in a CVC word and blend those sounds together, they are probably ready to start some real practice.
6 Fun Ideas to teach CVC Words
1. Get the whole class involved in saying some fun words where the last sound can be drawn out. This would be the next logical step after students are able to hear and identify the basic letters/sounds. Examples of words that work well for this are Tom, sun, bun, Dan, sat, and pat.
2. Word walls are always a great way to practice word sounds and vocabulary. When students recognize new CVC words, add them to the wall. Challenge your class to see how many they can get added by the end of a certain time frame.
3. Games are always fun! Try playing I Spy with your students. Pick out an object in your classroom that is a CVC word, like mat or pen. Spell out the word, saying “I spy with my little eye a m-a-t.” They’ll need to then blend the sounds together to identify the object. It’s even more fun if you have a student whose name will work for this, like Bob or Tom!
If students are having some difficulty with the oral application of the practice, try really stringing out the sounds. And don’t pause between the sounds. This will help them with the blending.
4. This practice idea is fun if you have white boards for your students. Try having them substitute sounds in CVC words to make new words. Have them write a word on their board, such as “sat.” Then ask them to change that word to another word such as “mat.” See if they can tell you which sound they’re changing. Is it the first, middle, or last?
5. Another way to use white boards is to have students change the sound of a word. You can do this by writing a CVC word on the board and then underlining one of the letters. Challenge a student to write a new word by changing that letter. For example, if you write “pat” on the board and underline the “a,” the student could change the “a” to a “u” and make the word “put.” Now use the new word and underline a different letter. Challenge students until they’ve each had a turn.
6. Try a bingo game! Make some bingo cards with pictures of CVC words, or use the words themselves. Call out the words and see if students can find the matching picture or word. The winner is the first to get a row in any direction.
CVC words are an important foundation for students to make progress in their reading skills. Have you tried any of these ideas? Do you have other ideas that work well? Share them with us!
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Other CVC Words Resources you may be interested in:
Other Word Work resources you may be interested in:
