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PSPKK123 October 26, 2014  •  28 Comments

Short u phonics books

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Today I’m sharing a set of fun and free easy readers featuring the short u sound.

free easy readers for short u

(This post contains affiliate links.)

Tired of not being able to find books your beginning reader can actually read?

I don’t know about you, but I find it frustrating when trying to find truly easy beginning books for my early reader.  We can comb those library shelves and find just one or two books that he can handle without getting frustrated.  I can find a fair amount of phonics books, but most move at a pace he’s not ready for.  And when you have to sound out every single word… yikes.

I don’t want to squash his love for reading before he’s even begun!

Starting with sight words

My preschooler has loved books since he was a toddler.  When I started to teach his older brother to read using Reading the Alphabet, he wanted to learn too.  I hadn’t planned on starting so soon, but he was excited about it. Reading the Alphabet is a developmentally appropriate (free!) reading curriculum for preschoolers.  It focuses on sight words, letter sounds, and short vowel word families.

Soon I was creating a sight word reader collection to go along with our Reading the Alphabet lessons.  With these printable books my preschooler learned concepts of print, sight words, and how to use his letter sound knowledge to figure out words he didn’t know.

Continuing with phonics

In my experience with my own children I’ve seen that they learn a small core of sight words before they are ready to sound out words.   You may have noticed that your own child recognizes his name, Mom, Dad, and other familiar words before he understands how to “sound it out.”

Because of that, I’ve been creating a series of phonics books that build on the sight words we’ve learned through my sight words books.  I’m thrilled with how much my four-year-old enjoys them.  He can read a single book in just a couple of minutes.  The bright pictures, large text, and familiar format are a winning combination.

It’s all starting to come together for him!  After years in the classroom and now teaching my third child to read… that excitement never gets old!

A sample book

easy reader page 1

Every book starts like this.  I always put the first new word in big bold print without a picture.  Since the focus of these early readers is sounding out words, I don’t give a picture clue on that first page.

easy reader page 2

Now your child can check how he did by reading the word in a simple sentence. I try to use silly pictures whenever I can!

easy reader page 3

I also put in phonetic words from other books we’ve done. Since the short u set is the last of my long vowel phonics readers, you’ll find a lot of short vowel words mixed in.

easy reader page 4

By now you’ve noticed that these are not actually stories.  My phonics books are simply words and sentences printed in a book format.  Because it’s a lot more motivating to read an actual book than flash cards!  If you’re looking for phonics books that tell actual stories, you might want to see my recommendations in this post.

easy reader page 5

In my sight word readers I’d have put “He dug the hole,” because I know that my little guy can figure out “hole” using the context and picture… even though he doesn’t know how to sound out words with silent e yet.  But I really want to make these books about reading with phonics and known sight words, so I used the word “it” instead.

easy reader page 6

Lots of phonics practice on this page, with the words man, can, hit, and rug.

easy reader page 7

On the last page your child can practice reading all the words again without picture clues.  When my Four gets stuck he peeks back in the book.

free easy readers for short u complete set

How to assemble:

  • Print pages 2-21 front to back (page 1 is my Terms of Use).  I like to use light cardstock to make the books durable.
  • Separate the stack into each individual book.  Each book consists of two pages front to back.
  • Cut across the horizontal center of the pages.
  • Insert the pages into each other, using the page numbers as a guide.
  • Staple with a long arm stapler.

For a picture tutorial to help you put the books together, visit my post with set one.

Check out the rest of our sets!

free phonics books collection

Get your free phonics books!

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

You’ll love our phonics mats and games!

Short Vowel Word Family Mats & Games

$10.00

This is a set of 35 printable short vowel word family picture mats with corresponding word cards. The mats come in three different versions – full color with a border, color without a border, and black and white. Each mat also comes with a worksheet and two games.

Buy Now

Free Reading Printables for Pre-K-3rd Grade

Join our email list and get this sample pack of time-saving resources from our membership site! You'll get phonemic awareness, phonics, and reading comprehension resources ... all free!

Filed Under: Reading, CVC Words Tagged With: first grade, kindergarten, short u, word families, phonics books

You May Also Enjoy These Posts:

Sight word books set 9: MonstersTips and Tricks for Teaching Emergent Readers (guest post at Teach Mama)Activating prior knowledge with picture books
Nursery rhymes and songs for letter R
Transportation counting book

Reader Interactions

28 Comments

  1. Tamieria

    October 27, 2014 at 1:57 am

    Omg! Thank You!

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna Geiger

      November 7, 2014 at 6:14 am

      You’re very welcome, Tamieria!

      Reply to this comment
  2. Noella

    December 4, 2014 at 9:07 pm

    Hi Anna,

    Thank you very much for your kindness. God bless you.

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna Geiger

      December 18, 2014 at 8:22 am

      You’re very welcome, Noella – have a blessed Christmas!

      Reply to this comment
  3. Tara Naveen

    December 11, 2014 at 3:34 am

    You are doing good work.. I will try all your activities.. My baby girl is 2 year 8 month.. I want to teach phonics.. Please guide me through your website and she learnt all letter sounds but she not interested in blending.. So please guide me in step by step instructions.. Thank you

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna Geiger

      December 11, 2014 at 5:40 am

      Hello, Tara! None of my children were ready to blend letter sounds at 2 years 8 months. The fact that she is not interested probably means that she is not developmentally ready to learn it. You can read this post for things to work on instead: https://www.themeasuredmom.com/reading-skills-kids-need-theyre-ready-sound-out-words/

      Reply to this comment
  4. Tara Naveen

    December 12, 2014 at 2:12 am

    Thanks for your reply.. Let me know what are the best activities good for you my little girl.. Please guide me

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna Geiger

      December 12, 2014 at 5:25 am

      Hi Tara, I absolutely want to help you, but I don’t have time to write up a learning plan for your daughter. Like you , I’m a busy mom – and my five kids don’t like me at the computer all day. 🙂 If you have specific questions about what you read in the other post, I can answer them.

      Reply to this comment
  5. Diane Vasquez

    January 7, 2015 at 4:11 pm

    I just wanted to say thank you for all the hard work that you do and for being so willing to share your work with others. I am a kindergarten teacher with many students who came into K with little to no letter knowledge and it has been a challenging year. I just downloaded all your word family readers and the silent e book. I cannot wait to use them in my class and I’m sure the kids will love them. I am amazed at how much you do with having five children at home. God bless you in your endeavor. You are quite simply amazing!

    Reply to this comment
  6. Yash

    September 25, 2017 at 1:20 pm

    Thank you so much Anna!!
    All your worksheets and resources are like a treasure!! And your noble idea of sharing it to all the readers is commendable. God bless you! Thank you again!!

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      September 27, 2017 at 10:52 am

      That is so kind of you to say, Yash – thank you!

      Reply to this comment
  7. Eileen St. Jean

    January 11, 2018 at 2:10 pm

    The phonics books are great. Exactly what the kids need!

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      January 11, 2018 at 4:49 pm

      I hope they like them! 🙂

      Reply to this comment
  8. Jane

    April 20, 2018 at 5:52 pm

    I have been using your products to tutor a Kindergartener and they work very well. Thanks and I love your website!

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      April 28, 2018 at 5:41 pm

      I’m so glad to hear that, Jane! 🙂

      Reply to this comment
  9. azramasoodkhan

    July 22, 2018 at 3:00 am

    Hi wher is umch book

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      July 23, 2018 at 7:13 am

      There are no words that end with “umch”.

      Reply to this comment
  10. Aviva

    January 13, 2019 at 12:43 am

    Hi,
    I tried a few time to get these. It said that it will come in my inbox, but it has never come….
    Thank you for it all!!

    Reply to this comment
    • Kate Dowling

      January 20, 2019 at 8:56 pm

      Hi Aviva!

      This is Kate, Anna’s assistant. I’m sorry it took so long for us to see your comment! I just checked this with my own email to make sure it is working. After I entered my address, it came to my email. I opened the email and clicked on the blue link that says, “CLAIM YOUR OFFER.” Please try again, and if it’s not in your inbox, check your spam folder.

      Reply to this comment
  11. nicole

    March 27, 2019 at 1:00 pm

    Hello
    I would like to get some more word family books for reader just beginning with word families. I would like to start with a word families (-ab, at, an etc.) Where can I find those? And the other vowels word families (e, I, and o)
    Thanks
    Nicole

    Reply to this comment
    • Kate Dowling

      March 27, 2019 at 7:19 pm

      Hi Nicole!

      This is Kate, Anna’s assistant. Here is the link to all the phonics books on the Free Printables page: https://www.themeasuredmom.com/print-2/#phonics-books

      Reply to this comment
  12. Sherrilyn Gatt Chilton

    October 6, 2019 at 4:11 am

    Hi, What a great website for educators, you are doing a great job. Are there any handouts on word families please.

    Thanks
    Sherrilyn

    Reply to this comment
    • Kate Dowling

      October 6, 2019 at 6:20 pm

      Hi Sherrilyn!

      This is Kate, Anna’s assistant. Here are some links you might be able to use: https://www.themeasuredmom.com/free-cut-paste-worksheets-for-short-a-word-families/
      https://www.themeasuredmom.com/free-read-the-room-activity-for-short-u-words/
      https://www.themeasuredmom.com/free-short-u-worksheets/

      All the best!

      Reply to this comment
  13. Wendy Wong

    February 19, 2020 at 7:39 pm

    Hi,
    I have problem in downloading phonics books set 2, 5 and 9.
    I received emails for these 3 sets but when I clicked on the link, blank pages appeared..
    Any other way I get the three copies?

    Thanks in advance

    Reply to this comment
    • Kate Dowling

      February 20, 2020 at 12:21 am

      Hi Wendy!

      This is Kate, Anna’s assistant. I’m sorry you received some bad links! Please forward those emails to Anna, and she will make sure you receive your files. Thank you!

      Reply to this comment
  14. Michelle Coronado

    February 19, 2020 at 8:29 pm

    thank you for these free printable materials. It will really help a lot! my pupils will able to read fast and easily with these materials. Thank you soo much!! God bless!!

    Reply to this comment

Trackbacks

  1. FREE Easy Reader Phonics Books (set 5) | Free Homeschool Deals © says:
    April 5, 2015 at 10:54 pm

    […] Measured Mom has a FREE set of Easy Readers that you can print. These are a great way to introduce your child to […]

    Reply to this comment
  2. 10 Phonics Readers for Early Reading says:
    July 1, 2015 at 5:02 am

    […] Set 5: Short u word families […]

    Reply to this comment

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