Spelling & Phonics Homeschool Resources
Our CVC at Home spelling packs make learning to read, write and spell fun and engaging and can be used in the classroom, for homeschooling or as spelling homework printables. They are designed to help you better understand how our language is constructed and to teach tricky spelling concepts.
The stages begin by exploring CVC words and common consonant digraphs followed by CVCC, CCVC and CCVCC words.
NOTE: The CCVC pack addresses the tricky to hear second sound and the CVCC pack covers the tricky to hear second last sound which are often stumbling blocks for many early readers.
Stages 6 through to 8 covers vowel digraphs and includes extensive lists of short vowel digraphs, long vowel digraphs and r controlled vowel digraphs.
Finally, Stage 9 covers the rest of the tricky consonant digraphs and also includes schwa sounds.
Printables and worksheets that you can reuse and manipulate to help you to understand and teach phonics, letter sounds and CVC words.
What is CVC?
Consonant – Vowel – Consonant Like c–a–t 🐱 and s-u-n 🌞
CVC words are how we first teach our beginner readers to read 📖, write ✍ and spell… but first we need to make sure they understand all their letter sounds.
And we need to make sure they are learning letter sounds (phonics) correctly;
- like i for ink (letter sound)
- not i for ice 🧊 (letter name like when we sing the alphabet song, and long vowel sound which we teach much later)
I know this is confusing! 🤪 And I’ve found it very difficult to get my head around in the past, especially when you start adding in digraphs and tricky spellings!
This is why I’ve designed our CVC at Home packs, broken into 9 stages to help teachers, parents, speechies and tutors with quick and easy reference guides and activities to recognise and compare different letter sounds and spellings.
Our Stage 1 – 9 packs are designed to clearly outline different groups of letters and sounds that make up the building blocks of our Aussie English language:
- Stage 1 – Letter Sounds & CVC words
- Stage 2 – CVC Words with Beginner Consonant Digraphs
- Stage 3 – Consonant Consonant (Blends) at the Start of CCVC Words
- Stage 4 – Consonant Consonant (Blends) at the End of CVCC Words
- Stage 5 – CCVCC Words
- Stage 6 – Short Vowel Digraphs & Sounds
- Stage 7 – Long Vowel Digraphs & Sounds
- Stage 8 – R Controlled Vowel Digraphs & Sounds
- Stage 9 – Tricky Consonant & Alternative Spellings
What is a Digraph?
A digraph is 2 letters that make up
✅ a new sound like th, ch, sh, ck, wh, ng, ph, qu or
✅ the same sound like ff, ll, ss, zz
A digraph can include:
- Consonant digraphs
- Short Vowel digraphs
- Long Vowel Digraphs
- R Controlled Vowel Digraphs and
- Tricky Consonant Digraphs
When does CVC at Home introduce Beginners Consonant Digraphs?
Once your child is confident with, and knows and understands :
✅ letter sounds (Stage 1)
✅ CVC words (Stage 1)
Digraphs & CVC Words
It’s important to note that digraphs make up ONE sound, and therefore are equivalent to ONE consonant.
Let me give some examples… These are all CVC words:
- c-a-t
- s-u-n
- th-a-t
- sh-e-ll
Yes! CVC words can have 5 letters, as they are based on SOUNDS, not on the number of letters in a word. See the website for Stages 1-5.
Featured: Short Vowel Digraphs Pack by CVC at Home – https://www.cvcathome.com.au/short- vowel-digraphs/
Short vowel sounds and digraphs are the short sounds of our vowels; a, e, i, o and u
✅ like the ‘e’ sound in red, bread, bury, many, friend
6 Short Vowel Sounds:
✅ a like in ant
✅ e like in egg
✅ i like in ink
✅ o like in otter
✅ u like in unau (it’s a sloth!)
✅ oo like in book
This pack introduces Short Vowel Digraphs at the beginning, middle and at the end of words and comes with loads of pictures & interactive activities to help you confidently teach these tricky vowel sounds.
Activities are repetitive and progressive, encouraging children to
✅ Sound it out (segment)
✅ Read it out (blend)
✅ Spell it out
✅ Write it out
Featured: Long Vowel Digraphs Pack by CVC at Home – https://www.cvcathome.com.au/long- vowel-digraphs/
Long vowel sounds and digraphs are the long sounds of our vowels; a, e, i, o and u
✅ like the ‘oa’ sound in coat, bow, sew, toe, rope, post, dough, beau
For the purpose of our sanity, when we refer to ‘digraphs’, we are also referring to any number of letters that make up one sound; including single letters, digraphs (2 letter) and trigraphs (3 letters).
10 Long Vowel Sounds:
✅ ay like in hay & train
✅ ee like in bee & meal
✅ igh like in high & fly
✅ oa like in boat & bow
✅ yew like in dew & feud
✅ oo like in moon & true
✅ ow like in owl & couch
✅ oi like in oink & boy
✅ oo like in school & pool
✅ ow like in bowl & old
This pack introduces Long Vowel digraphs at the beginning, middle and at the end of words and comes with loads of pictures & interactive activities to help you confidently teach these tricky vowel sounds.
Interactive activities to consolidate learning include:
✅ Matching games
✅ Segmenting & blending
✅ Reading, writing & spelling
Featured: R Controlled Vowel Digraphs Pack by CVC at Home – https://www.cvcathome.com.au/r- controlled-vowel-digraphs/
R controlled vowel sounds and digraphs include the r sounds attached to our vowels; ar, er, ire, or, ure etc
✅ like ‘or’ in torch, saw, door, store, board, ball, caught, though
11 R Controlled Vowel Sounds:
✅ er like in germ & turtle
✅ er (uh) like in tiger and sugar
✅ ar like in car and bath
✅ or like in torch and saw
✅ air like in stair and bear
✅ ear (ee-uh) like in beard and weir
✅ our (ow-uh) like in flour
✅ ire (igh-uh) like in fire & tyre
✅ ure (oo-uh) like in lure
✅ oir (wah) like in memoir
✅ ure (yoo-uh) like in cure
This pack introduces R Controlled Vowel Digraphs at the beginning, middle and at the end of words and comes with loads of pictures & interactive activities to help you confidently teach these tricky vowel sounds.
Interactive activities to consolidate learning include:
✅ Matching games
✅ Segmenting & blending
✅ Reading, writing & spelling
Meet Tash: CVC at Home – Designed by a Qualified Teacher
Hi I’m Tash! I’m the Director of Little Wooden Toybox, a qualified teacher, and I design all our educational resources and training. I’m a single mum of two teens with Autism, ADHD, and PDA, and have the podcast ‘The Crap and The Crazy’
My background and life experience have given me a unique insight into:
- Creating fun and engaging educational and life-skill resources
- Understanding behaviors that challenge and why they occur
- Understanding how emotional regulation and sensory input impact both us as parents and our little ones (diagnosed or not)
- Developing, implementing, and managing resources & coping strategies to make home life calmer & more organized
All of these concepts and resources can be applied in the classroom or at home; equipping parents, teachers, therapists, and early childhood educators with tools and strategies to confidently keep kids engaged and learning through play. Ready to get started?!
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