Word families with short a

FREE CVC Short A Word Family Chart.

The short A sound (IPA symbol: æ) can be found in English words such as rat, mat, vat, fat, pat, cat, van, man and many more. Here are some CVC words in chart.

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Learning Objectives: Built around words with the short vowel ‘a’, these phonics games will help children review and practice many three-letter word families or word patterns. Word families are a group of words that have a similar sound and writing pattern. They often rhyme and are perfect for teaching together.

Words with the following common word patterns will be reviewed in this game:

Most of these word families are formed using a combination of the short ‘a’ with ending digraphs and blends.  A good mastery of word patterns makes it easy for children to read and spell unfamiliar words. It is a great early literacy skill to have. The game involves a lot of listening and spelling. Children are expected to listen carefully to avoid being tricked.  Start by choosing from the three game designs. The goal of this phonics game is to navigate a treacherous terrain filled with pirates, crocodiles and space monsters. It is all about luck! Choose to play with a friend in team mode of by yourself in single mode. You will need luck to avoid being eaten by a monster and have your game restarted.

Short
Vowel a

Short Vowel «a» Lesson Series: In the «Phonics Short
Vowel a Lesson Series (7 Lessons)» we will be studying three letter
rhyming words, with the pattern, «Consonant-Vowel-Consonant.» These
can be classified into the following word families:

-at word family

-an word family

-ad word family

-ap word family

-ag word family

-am word family

-ab word family

Phonetic Skills (Spatial): Kids sometimes can pronounce the sound of
the individual letters, but usually, have a hard time, in connecting the three
sounds to form a word. Use CVC words with short a such as cat, bat, hat, man,
ran, dad, lad, dam, ram, cap, cab and fan to teach blending of sounds with help of flashcards. In all the phonics videos, we have included the spatial
movement of letters to form a word. This helps in visual stimulation and proper
understanding of blending of sounds. The lessons also include three letters
blending, as well as sentence writing.

Short Vowels: These are the first set of sounds
introduced to students in phonics classes. These are generally introduced
before the long vowel sounds are taught.

Rule: Usually when a vowel (a,e, i,o, or u)
is present in the beginning (VC words) or between two consonants (CVC words) in
a word that contains only one vowel, this vowel often makes the short vowel
sound. Example: an, at, can, dad, rat, fan, cab, scab, flap, nap, black, snack,
rack, etc. Exceptions are always there. The above rule is applicable to the
three letter rhyming words formed by the short vowels and represented as word
families.

Short Vowel a Pronunciation: To say this sound, lower your jaw and open
your mouth widely, with the tip of your tongue touching the bottom of your
front teeth. It is something, like a sound you would take out when seen a scary
thing, such as /ă/, as in
alligator!

Three Steps to teach Short Vowel a Word Families:

1. Play the activity demonstrated below for each word family

2. Show the video corresponding to the word family, (Link is given below).

3. Download and print free worksheets in which kids can color the picture
and write the thee letter rhyming CVC words.

Lesson 1 (-at word family)

In this lesson, we study words such as bat, cat, fat, hat, mat, pat, and
sat.

In the -at word family, the easiest way to teach kids is through the technique of substitution.

Activity: Present kids with flashcards and ask them to make the
word at, then once they form the word family, start forming the three letter
rhyming words by substituting the first word.

at (First. form the word family word)

bat (place
the flashcard «b» before this word family «at» to form the
word «bat»)

cat
(Substitute «b» with a «c» to form cat)

fat (Substitute «c» with a «f» to form fat)

hat (Substitute «f» with a «h» to form hat)

mat (Substitute «h» with a «m» to form mat)

pat (Substitute «m» with a «p» to form pat)

sat (Substitute «p» with a «s» to form sat)

Sentences:

I have a

fat cat

.

Once she

sat

on a

mat

.

My

cat

likes the

rat

.

A

hat

is on the

rat

.

The

rat

gave his

hat

to the

cat

.

Sight Words:

I, have, a, once, on, the, my, likes, is, gave, his, to.

Lesson 2
(-an word family)

In this lesson, we study words such as man, ran,
van, pan, fan, and can.

Activity:
Present kids with the flashcards and ask them to make the word an, then once
they form the word family, start forming the three letter rhyming words by
substituting the first word.

  an (First. form the word family word)

ban (place the flashcard «b» before this word
family «an» to form the word «ban»)

can (Substitute «b» with a «c» to form
can)

fan (Substitute «c» with a «f» to form
fan)

ran (Substitute «f» with a «r» to form
ran)

man (Substitute «r» with a «m» to form
man)

pan (Substitute «m» with a «p» to form
pan)

van (Substitute «p» with a «v» to form
van)

Sentences:

A man ran to the van.

A fan is in the van.

A can is by the pan.

Sight Words:

a, to, the, is, in, the, by.

Lesson 3
(-ad word family)

In this lesson, we study words such as dad, lad,
bad, mad, sad, and glad.

Activity:
Present kids with the flashcards and ask them to make the word ad, then once
they form the word family, start forming the three letter rhyming words by
substituting the first word.

  ad (First, form the word family word)

bad (place the flashcard «b» before this word
family «ad» to form the word «bad»)

dad (Substitute «b» with a «d» to form
dad)

fad (Substitute «d» with a «f» to form
fad)

had (Substitute «f» with a «h» to form
had)

mad (Substitute «h» with a «m» to form
mad)

pad (Substitute «m» with a «p» to form
pad)

lad (Substitute «p» with a «l» to form
lad)

Sentences:

Dad

had
a lad.

The lad is bad.

Dad

is mad
at the lad.

The lad is sad.

Dad is also very sad.

Sight Words:

had, a, the, is, on, so, very.

Lesson 4
(-ap word family)

In this lesson, we study words such as cap, gap,
lap, map, tap, sap, and rap.

Activity:
Present kids with the flashcards and ask them to make the word ap, then once
they form the word family, start forming the three letter rhyming words by
substituting the first word.

  ap (First, form the word family word)

cap (place the flashcard «c» before this word
family «ap» to form the word «cap»)

gap (Substitute «c» with a «g» to form
gap)

map (Substitute «g» with a «m» to form
map)

lap (Substitute «m» with a «l» to form
lap)

tap (Substitute «l» with a «t» to form
tap)

sap (Substitute «t» with a «s» to form
sap)

rap (Substitute «s» with a «r» to form
rap)

Sentences:

Dad sat by the tap.

A map is on his lap.

I like to take a nap.

Sight Words:

by, the, a, is, on, his, I, like, to, take.

Lesson 5
(-ag word family)

In this lesson, we study words such as bag, lag,
rag, tag, wag, nag, and

Activity:
Present kids with the flashcards and ask them to make the word ag, then once
they form the word family, start forming the three letter rhyming words by
substituting the first word.

  ag (First, form the word family word)

bag (place the flashcard «b» before this word
family «ag» to form the word «bag»)

lag (Substitute «b» with a «l» to form
lag)

rag (Substitute «l» with a «r» to form
rag)

tag (Substitute «r» with a «t» to form
tag)

nag (Substitute «t» with a «n» to form
nag)

wag (Substitute «n» with a «w» to form
wag)

sag (Substitute «w» with a «s» to form
sag).

Sentences:

I have a bag.

The bag has a tag.

A rag is in the bag.

Do not lag behind.

Sight Words:

I, have, a, is, in, the, has, do, not.

Lesson 6
(-am word family)

In this lesson, we study words such as dam, jam,
yam, ram, ham, and slam.

Activity:
Present kids with the flashcards and ask them to make the word am, then once
they form the word family, start forming the three letter rhyming words by
substituting the first word.

  am (First, form the word family word)

dam (place the flashcard «d» before this word
family «am» to form the word «dam»)

jam (Substitute «d» with a «j» to form
jam)

yam (Substitute «j» with a «y» to form
yam)

ham (Substitute «y» with a «h» to form
ham)

mam (Substitute «h» with a «m» to form
mam)

ram (Substitute «m» with a «r» to form
ram)

Sam (Substitute «r» with a «S» to form
Sam)

Sentences:

I like to eat jam with yam.

The ram is near the dam.

Sight Words:

I, like, to, with, the, is, near

Lesson 7
(-ab word family)

In this lesson, we study words such as cab, lab,
tab, jab, scab, and slab.

Activity:
Present kids with the flashcards and ask them to make the word ab, then once
they form the word family, start forming the three letter rhyming words by
substituting the first word.

  ab (First, form the word family word)

cab (place the flashcard «c» before this word
family «ab» to form the word «cab»)

lab (Substitute «c» with a «l» to form
lab)

tab (Substitute «l» with a «t» to form
tab)

jab (Substitute «t» with a «j» to form
jab)

Sentences:

This book has many tabs.

My dad came in a cab.

Sight Words:

this, has, many, my, came, in, a

Phonics FlipBook fun activity

We have made a phonics flipbook which has got
worksheets for all the 31-word families. Please download it by clicking on the
image below. Print the word family for which you want to create the flipbook.

Print Free Worksheet