I’m excited for you all to properly meet Volume Two of my CVC literacy centers. If you haven’t already seen Volume One, you can check it out here. I’m the biggest fan of literacy center activities and much prefer them to worksheets because they are interactive, reusable, bright and offer more variety. This center packet provides more opportunities for your students to practice their short vowel words in an engaging and fun way.
The CVC Centers
This packet includes 12 different CVC literacy centers which are related to all things CVC. I’ve added a variety of different activities so that students can get a chance to identify, sort, read, spell, rhyme and write short vowel words. Here is an overview of the activities:
1. Spell a CVC Word
To complete this activity, students choose a card and then use their early phonetic skills to sound out and spell the word represented by the picture. They write the word next to the number shown on the card. All the pictures included are easy for students to recognize so you won’t have a bunch of students asking “What is this card, Miss?”. This center is great because there is a recording sheet included too which makes for easy marking (an answer key is included as well). This activity is also great if your running literacy rotations on a shorter time frame. Students can always pick up and continue on where they left off the next day.
2. Short Vowel Wheels
This CVC literacy center is all about middle sound identification. Each wheel contains several pictures that students say the name of and then decide whether it matches the short vowel sound shown in the center. If it does, they clip a clothespin onto it. There are wheels included for each short vowel sound.
3. Spin and Spell
If you want to get your students spelling in a really fun way, this activity will be your best friend. Spinner activities are the center equivalent of lollipops with students; they seem so inspired and engaged by them. To complete the activity, students spin the spinner using a pencil and paperclip and then spell out the word that it lands on. They can use magnetic letters or erasable marker, depending on what you have at your disposal. A whole bunch of mats are included, some which are specific to each short vowel sound and others that are mixed.
4. Match the Words
The aim of this center is for students to match the words to the CVC pictures. If your students are just beginning to read CVC words, then this activity is perfect for them. All the cards are arranged by word family so once students are able to read one of the words in that family, they will easily be able to read the rest of them by swapping the initial sound. The activity also helps to expand their vocabulary as it includes words that they are less likely to know such as sap, fog and ram.
5. Word Puzzles
What’s a CVC literacy center packet without puzzles! This is a CVC version of a puzzle where all the CVC words have gotten mixed up and it’s up to students to put them back together again. The pictures provide students with scaffolding, so you’re able to use this with readers and non-readers.
6. Word Endings
So many CVC activities focus on the onset/beginning sound of words, so I just had to include something that covered word endings too. Getting students familiar with word endings is super beneficial as they can use this knowledge later on to easily decode words when reading and spell words when writing. I attached velcro dots in this picture so that the word endings can be stuck on easily, but this isn’t essential. You can even skip the word ending cards and have students write them on with erasable marker instead.
7. Rhyming Words
Why are rhyming activities important? For the exact reason that I mentioned earlier. Many rhyming words have the same word endings, which is the case for CVC words, so once students know how to spell one word (e.g. dog), then they can easily spell the rhyming word (e.g. log) by simply replacing the beginning sound.
8. Word Ladders
I remember completing a worksheet version of these when I was at school so I just had to make a center version of it because I LOVED it. The aim of the activity is for students to complete the word ladder by changing one letter at a time. The cards are all numbered so that students can quickly identify which cards belong to which mat. A recording sheet and answer key is included too.
9. Ending Sound Mats
These ending sound mats have students listening to the sound that occurs at the end of a word. It’s great for developing their phonics skills and can also improve their spelling of CVC words in later activities. It’s important that students are presented with activities that allow them to discern all sounds (beginning, middle and ending sounds) as this will greatly assist them when they are sounding out words when writing.
10. Spin and Cover
This spinning activity has students building CVC words, reading them aloud and then seeing if they are able to find the picture version on the Spin and Cover mat. The aim of the activity is to get all the pictures covered. Students are also able to ‘verse’ each other by seeing who can complete their mat first. However, if you’re after a quiet literacy rotation, I suggest skipping this as students can get a little excited.
11. Scrambled Sentences
If you have higher ability students in your class or if your students are at the stage where they are fluently reading CVC words and sight words, this activity can provide them practice with sentence structure and comprehension. The activity includes a whole bunch of sentences that are all mixed up. Students must rearrange the words so that the sentences make sense again. A recording sheet is included too!
12. Picture Puzzle
I may have just saved my favorite for last! This is a real-life, CVC themed Jigsaw puzzle; when the tiles are placed in the correct spots, they will form a complete picture. Students will know where to place the tiles by reading the CVC word on the tile and then covering the matching picture.
I hope you all like the CVC literacy centers in this new packet. You can check them out here or click on the link below.
You can also find Volume One here.
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