Simple Steps to Teaching CVC Words

If you are teaching little learners how to read, there are different ways to approach teaching CVC words. There are important skills that need to be taught in order for your kids to learn the sounds an individual letter makes and to be able to read simple words. Keep reading for my simple steps to teaching consonant-vowel-consonant words in a fun way.

What are CVC words?

I’m sure you already know this, but it doesn’t hurt to have a little reminder. CVC words are three-letter words that have short vowel sounds in the middle of two consonants. In most cases, these words are broken up into word family lists depending on their middle sounds. CVC words can be a variety of real words or nonsense words with both following the consonant-vowel-consonant pattern.

Benefits of Teaching CVC Words

One of the first steps in learning how to read is learning letter sounds. The next step often involves learning small groups of words, which is where simple CVC words come into play. Beyond helping with teaching individual sounds letters make, the benefits of teaching CVC words also include:

• learning short vowels and how they sound in words
• understanding word families
• enhancing phonemic awareness
• comprehending individual phonemes
• adds additional phonics skills
• increases foundational skills needed for fluent reading
• builds a vocabulary of first words
• helps with phonological awareness

Below are some simple steps you can follow to easily teach CVC words.

Simple Steps to Teaching CVC Words

Step 1: Print a list of CVC words.

You’ll be able to find lists depending on the age and grade level of your kids, but if you’re just starting out, be sure to grab a beginner list. Here is a free CVC word list to help you get started. Once you have a list printed, it’s time to write out some phonics lessons. Don’t worry, this isn’t as hard as it sounds (keep reading).

Step 2: Make lesson plans for your young learners.

As I mentioned before, this isn’t difficult. In fact, it’s as easy as this:

• Choose different CVC words to cover each week.
• A few days a week, go over the words using CVC words activities. (Ideas below)
• Don’t worry about introducing new words until the ones you’ve chosen are mastered.

Step 3: Use CVC word activities to make learning fun.

Anytime you can use fun activities to teach, DO IT! When it comes to CVC words, you can use picture cards to play games like finding the missing sound, identifying the beginning sound, middle sound, final sound, etc.

Using magnetic letters also makes for a fun activity. Make CVC word game where your student has to spell a whole word by looking at a picture. For example, show a picture of a cat and have them use magnetic letters to spell the word cat. Or grab my CVC Card Game below!

More ideas for different activities you can use are:

• let them fingerspell 3-letter words in sand, sugar, or salt
• give them playdoh to spell out common CVC words
• have them get physical with spelling out each word (for example, do a jump-n-jack for each letter sound)
• create a literacy center with word cards, cvc games, and coloring pages

Tips to Keep in Mind

You can find lots of free and engaging activities as well as CVC words teaching resources with a simple search. My emergent readers are a great resource for giving your student simple sentences to read as well as giving them CVC word practice. While teaching your little reader how to master reading, remember to be patient. They may pick up on some concepts easier or quicker than others, and that’s okay.

Use my different activity suggestions to help your students master CVC words and have a fun time in the process.

Printable CVC GameAdd to Cart