Short ‘o’ CVC Words Build-a-Word Activity for Kindergarten

Teaching CVC words is a great way for students to start building reading fluency. Once they know most consonant letter sounds, they can begin to unlock the magic of decoding! The Short ‘o’ CVC Words Build-a-Word Activity for Kindergarten was designed to provide hands-on practice with building short ‘o’ words. Your students will gain confidence and fluency with each new word!

Literacy Activities for Kindergarten:

PRACTICING CVC WORDS with KINDERGARTENERS

TEACHING STUDENTS TO READ REQUIRES A LOT OF HANDS-ON PRACTICE. CHILDREN LEARNING TO READ AND WRITE NEED TO UNDERSTAND THAT EACH LETTER OF THE ALPHABET CORRESPONDS TO A SPECIFIC SOUND.

Beginning early reading instruction with short vowel words is a simple place to start because we don’t run into any advanced letter/sound combinations, sight words, or ‘oddball’ rules.

I love word building as a kindergarten literacy center! Once the students understand the routine and have been introduced to the specific short vowel sound, they can independently practice.

Typically, during guided reading (group) time, I like to meet with small groups of students for individualized word work instruction. This is an ideal time to pull out the word-building cards for the rest of the students.

The short vowel CVC word cards included in this printable include:

In addition to solidifying short ‘o’ word family words, your students will improve:

• Vocabulary
• Phoneme (sound) segmentation
• Letter/sound automaticity
• Blending fluency

What Can Kindergarteners Learn By Building Words?

SIMPLE CVC WORDS with KINDERGARTENERS

SEGMENTING THE SOUNDS IN EACH WORD IS AN IMPORTANT STEP IN WORD BUILDING.

As children learn to read, it’s very important for them to develop good decoding habits. We want them to inherently understand that words are made up of individual letters and each letter/letter combination produces a specific sound.

Teachers can foster this growth by posing questions, like:

• How many sounds in the word?
• What is the vowel sound?
• Is the vowel followed by a consonant?

How To Use Short ‘o’ CVC Words Build-a-Word Activity for Kindergart

BUILDING SHORT ‘O’ WORDS IN KINDERGARTEN

TEACHING THE STEPS TO WORD BUILDING IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE ACTIVITY SO THAT YOUR STUDENTS WILL EVENTUALLY BE ABLE TO DO IT INDEPENDENTLY.

Just print the short ‘o’ word family picture/word cards onto regular paper or white card stock. I included a box label and word list, each in color or black and white.

Laminate the cards (if you like). Finally, cut the letters and cards apart.

Consider how you will organize the short ‘o’ word cards (and other short vowels you may have collected). I like to use photo boxes for each short vowel sound.

Teach your students the routine:

1. Pick a word/picture card.
2. Identify the word.
3. Stretch the sounds in the word (say each one individually).
4. Place each corresponding letter into one box.
5. Blend the letters together to form the word.
6. Repeat!

*Students that are new to phoneme (sound) segmentation will benefit by placing a counter/small manipulative into each box while they say each sound.

*Attach hook-and-loop dots to each soundbox and letter if you like. You could attach the letters for each word to the bottom of the page in random order to avoid students getting overwhelmed with too many letter choices.

Other Ways To Use The Short ‘o’ CVC Word Family Cards: