Christmas Tree CVC Word Building Mat

Teaching CVC Words in Kindergarten:

EARLY READING SKILLS

CONSONANT VOWEL CONSONANT PICTURE CARDS ARE IMPORTANT IN EARLY WORD BUILDING. THEY ALLOW KIDS TO CONNECT A VISUAL IMAGE WITH A WRITTEN WORD.

Blending individual sounds helps students create real (and pretend) words. This is a great first step towards reading!.

Building CVC words with letter tiles or other materials gives students an opportunity to use multiple senses and encourage hands-on learning. This is much more fun than just reading off a words list.

I would introduce this activity whole group and practice it together several times. Then it could be used as a center during guided reading. It’s okay to let them explore independently without checking for accuracy every single time. This can be done in small groups or individually.

I made sure to include a ton of CVC picture cards with different word families for students to read. For students that may need a bit of extra support, create smaller sets of word cards. This could include rhyming words, beginning consonants, words with the same vowels, and other spelling patterns.

In addition to practicing short vowels in this activity, students will improve phonological awareness by saying each word and stretching each sound to spell it.

Phonics for Kindergarteners

phonemic awareness skills

DECODING THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE CAN SOMETIMES SEEM IMPOSSIBLE TO EARLY READERS. KINDERGARTENERS WILL GAIN CONFIDENCE AND MOTIVATION WHEN THEY FEEL SUCCESSFUL WITH CVC WORD GAMES.

When kindergarten and 1st grade students break a word into individual sounds, then write the letter that represents each sound, it’s called phoneme (sounds)-grapheme (letters) mapping.

This Christmas tree CVC mat can help students with the following skills:

• Identify the picture and the CVC word’s meaning
• Stretch the word into individual sounds orally
• Identify which letter makes each sound

Why Is Phoneme-Grapheme Mapping Important?

Learning easy words to spell in kindergarten provides basic decoding practice, which will eventually lead to greater automaticity and fluency. Spelling lists with CVC words form a strong foundation for moving on to consonant blends, digraphs, long vowels, and more complex patterns.

Reading Skills Gained From Building Words

Changes Sounds: Students can learn to manipulate sounds to create similar words in word families. Change the beginning or ending sound and discover the pattern in the words.

Improving Fine Motor Skills: Building with letter tiles and writing with dry erase markers help little hands and fingers practice fine motor skills.

Promotes Handwriting Skills: Writing lines and curves to make letters and words promotes handwriting and spelling skills.

Encourages Blending: After children find the letter for each sound, they begin to practice blending those sounds back together to from words. This is a very important skill when it comes to decoding words later on!

How To Use The Christmas Tree Word Building Activity

BUILDING WORDS WITH KINDERGARTENERS

All you need to do is print one word building mat for each student onto white card stock and laminate them.

Print, cut, and laminate the present picture cards.

Children will draw a card and name it.

Then, they can place it in the box at the top of the word building mat.

Next, you have two choices. If you want students to use manipulatives for each sound, they can slide a counter into the box while saying each sound in the word before matching the sounds to letters.

If you want them to spell the word with letters, they can say each sound and place the corresponding letters in the box.

Finally, students will copy the letters onto the lines at the bottom of the page.

Erase, repeat!

Other Ways To Use The Christmas Tree CVC Word Building Mat:

Make A Sentence

Challenge your students to use the specific CVC word in a sentence to build upon oral language skills.

Use Shaving Cream

Use shaving cream, flour, salt, or sand to have your kids write or trace their word into. Children without sensory issues may enjoy the hands-on activity.

Just Use the Cards

Play a game with only the Christmas gift cards! Students pick a card, name the picture, and stretch the sounds.

More CVC Activities You’ll Love!

• Winter Snow CVC Word Building Mat
• Thanksgiving Turkey CVC Word Building Mat
• Pumpkin Theme CVC Word Building Mat

Looking For More Christmas Activities?

Looking For Even More CVC Word Activities?

• Fall Leaves CVC Word Mat
• Back to School CVC Word Building Mat
• Bubblegum CVC Word Building Mat
• Summer Beach CVC Word Building Mat
• Spring Flower CVC Word Building Mat