4 free phonics books for VCV words

Yay – more phonics books!  This is a set of four books featuring VCV words.

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So… are you wondering what a VCV word is? Don’t worry – it’s not complicated.  VCV simply means vowel-consonant-vowel.  It’s a pattern we find in many two-syllable words.

VCV words can be either open or closed.

Let’s look at  a few examples.

Here’s an open syllable VCV word.  The first syllable is open when it ends with a long vowel sound.  If this was a closed syllable word, it would sound like spidder.

Here’s a closed syllable VCV word.  The first syllable is closed when first the first vowel is sandwiched between two consonants.  If this were an open syllable word, it would sound like cay-bin.

So.  Why does this matter? Do we want our kids to stop and identify whether a word is VCV open or VCV closed before reading it?  Should they draw dashes and lines and curves?

No.  NO.

Some will disagree with me, but in my experience lots and lots of actual reading will expose our children to these kinds of words until they become comfortable reading them. These printable readers are meant to help children “find the chunks” they know.  Since I think it’s relatively easy to find known chunks in VCV words, I’ve chosen them as the next pattern in our printable phonics books.

For struggling readers, it may be helpful to learn to identify VCV words – perhaps even to label them.  But I think reading instruction time is much better spent reading actual books than labeling and coding words in isolation.

Okay – off my soapbox now! 🙂  Let’s look at a sample book.

You’ll get four books in this set.  Two of the books are for closed VCV words, and two for open VCV words.  This is the first page in one of the closed VCV books.  I put each chunk in a different color so your child will get used to breaking the words apart.

In this book, the first word might be a little tricky.  “Closs – et.  Closs-et?”  If your child tries to read it as “close-et,” remind him that when the vowel is sandwiched between two consonants in the first syllable, it makes a short vowel sound.

Your child can always check his accuracy by turning the page and reading the word in context.  “Vanish” is an easier one.

Each page reviews sight words from our collection of free sight word readers.  Previously learned sight words include look, how, he, and it.

Your child will also review previously learned phonics patterns.  On this page your child will review the ing ending (going) and long e spelled ee (speed).

As always, your child will read each word a third time with the review list on the final page.

How to print and assemble:

• Print pages 2-17 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 this post.

Have you seen our other sets?

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