Want to improve your students’ reading skills? This hands-on literacy resource for kindergarten is jam-packed with opportunities for your students to grow as readers! From the adorable picture cards to the provided letters, you will have everything you need to give your students plenty of practice with the short vowel ‘u’ words! It’s pretty much ready to go after you print and cut!

Short U CVC words building cards

Learning About CVC Words in Kindergarten:

TEACHING SHORT VOWEL WORDS (CONSONANT/VOWEL/CONSONANT)

INTRODUCING SHORT VOWEL SOUNDS FIRST ALLOWS EARLY READERS TO ESTABLISH GOOD DECODING HABITS WITH PREDICTABLE SOUNDS.

Emergent literacy includes a ton of foundational skills, like phonological and phonemic awareness, letter sounds, writing skills, and more.

Because we’re working on so many skills, it helps to give students as much hands-on practice as possible with reading and writing.

I love teaching CVC words because the sounds are predictable and they allow children to practice those consonants at the same time.

The CVC ‘u’ word cards included in this free printable are listed by word families:

  • bud
  • mud
  • bug
  • jug
  • hug
  • mug
  • pug
  • tug
  • rug
  • bun
  • fun
  • nun
  • sun
  • bus
  • cub
  • nub
  • sub
  • tub
  • cup
  • cut
  • hut
  • nut
  • gum
  • tux
Playing a short U CVC game on the tablet

What Can Kindergarteners Learn From Word-Building?

early literacy in preschool and kindergarten

USING CVC WORDS WITH PICTURES HELPS CHILDREN BUILD VOCABULARY AND CONNECT WORDS TO REAL OBJECTS.

Building short ‘u’ words also improves:

  • Phonological and phonemic awareness (manipulating sounds in words)
  • Vocabulary
  • Letter/sound correspondence
  • Word blending fluency
Short U cvc word building cards

Materials needed for Short ‘u’ CVC Words Build-a-Word Activity for Kindergarten:

Get the Supplies Here:

Don’t worry about making a special trip to the store. You can get all the supplies for this activity right here.

  • Printer
  • Paper or card stock
  • Paper cutter
  • Small container for organizing (optional)
  • Laminating materials (optional)
  • Letter tiles (optional)
  • Hook and loop dots (optional)

 WXBOOM Self Adhesive Dots 2000pcs (1000 Pairs) 0.59WXBOOM Self Adhesive Dots 2000pcs (1000 Pairs) 0.59 Really Good Stuff EZread Letter TilesReally Good Stuff EZread Letter Tiles

 

Tub CVC word game

How To Use Short ‘u’ CVC Word Cards

BUILDING WORDS WITH KINDERGARTENERS

TEACH THE STEPS TO WORD BUILDING EXPLICITLY, SO LATER WHEN YOU WANT TO CHANGE THE VOWEL SOUND THE STUDENTS STILL KNOW WHAT TO DO!

All you need to do is print the word building mats. Then, cut the letters off of the bottom of each page.

If desired, laminate each letter as well as the word picture cards. You can leave the picture cards at two per page, as printed, or you might slice those in half as well so children have one word at a time in front of them.

Teach the following word-building procedure to students:

  1. Pick a card and identify the picture.
  2. Stretch the sounds in the word by pointing to one box per sound (or place a counter into each box for each sound).
  3. Identify each letter that corresponds to the three sounds in the word and place one letter in each box.
  4. Point to each letter and say each sound.
  5. Blend the sounds into a word and “Say it fast!”
  6. Repeat!

Children can also write the words they build on a whiteboard for handwriting practice.

Organize all of your short vowel word-building materials by placing them in small containers/freezer bags/photo boxes by the vowel sound. This will help keep everything ready to go at the literacy center.

Spelling short U cvc words with printable cards

Other Ways To Use The CVC Word Building Mats:

Phoneme Segmenting

Use the mats without letters while students are still learning how to stretch the sounds in words. Instead, have students place a counter/small eraser/pompom into each box while saying each sound orally.

Rhyme Sort

Sort the picture cards into piles by word endings. Students can pick a card, say its name, and place it with other words that sound the same at the end

Concept Sort

Get kids thinking critically by creating categories to sort the pictures into. Maybe, “Things You Eat vs. Don’t Eat,” or “Living vs. Nonliving,” etc. Students will have fun trying to decide where (or if) each object should go.

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Short U CVC words building cards
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