VC Words

A VC word is a short vowel followed by one consonant, so it has two sounds to blend. Say /ă/, then /t/, then push them together, and you have at. Here are the VC words a young child knows, by vowel:

• Short a: at, an, am, ad
• Short i: in, it, if, with /ĭ/
• Short o: on, with /ŏ/
• Short u: up, us, with /ŭ/

Short e has no VC word a young child knows. Egg, elf and end all end in two consonant letters, which is the next pattern rather than this one.

A preschooler can do these by ear first: you say the two sounds, they say the word, with no letters at all. A kindergartner can read them. Say each sound cleanly: /t/, not “tuh”, or the word comes out as “a-tuh”.

Most VC words are the end of CVC words. Put one sound in front and at becomes cat, hat and sat. Your child already reads the end, so only the first sound is new. Words that share an ending like this are a word family. A few VC words, such as if and on, have no common CVC words built on them, so they are not in the table.

VC word	CVC words
at	cat, hat, sat
an	can, fan, man
in	pin, tin, win
it	sit, hit, bit
up	pup, cup

Move on once your child reads the VC words without sounding out each letter aloud. The cards below go to the worksheets for each family on CVC words, and how to teach CVC words has the method for the next step.

A CV word is a consonant then a vowel, and the vowel at the end says its name. In go, no and so the o says “oh”. In me, he, we and be the e says “ee”. That is one new idea on top of letter sounds, usually taught in first grade: Reading Universe calls it an open syllable, and syllable types explains it for parents.

In my and by, the y is the vowel and says “eye”.

Most two-letter words can be sounded out, and only three have to be learned by heart: of, to and do. These are the 25 two-letter words on this page, sorted by what your child needs to read them:

What your child needs	Words
Letter sounds only	at, an, am, ad, in, it, if, on, up, us
One more pattern: s can say /z/	is, as
One more pattern: a vowel at the end says its name	go, no, so, me, he, we, be
One more pattern: y as a vowel	my, by
One more pattern: or, as in for	or
Learn by heart	of, to, do

In of, the o says “uh” and the f says “v”. In to and do, the o says “oo”. No pattern a young child knows explains those, so they are heart words: your child learns the odd part by heart and sounds out the rest.

Kindergarten standards ask for some of these to be read on sight. The Common Core standard RF.K.3c gives of, to, my, is and do among its examples. Reading on sight and sounding out are not opposites: an analysis by Linda Farrell and colleagues on Reading Rockets found 138 of the 220 Dolch sight words can be sounded out. The same sort for the most common kindergarten words is on kindergarten sight words.

Teach VC words in four short steps: say it, read it, build it, then put a letter in front. A few minutes a day is enough.

1. Say it slowly, then fast. You say /ă/ … /t/, and your child says at. Do this out loud, with no letters, until two sounds blend easily. If they cannot blend yet, start with hearing sounds in words and helping a child blend sounds.
2. Read it. Point under each letter, say its sound, then slide the two sounds together.
3. Build it. Make at with the word cards or letter tiles, then change one letter: at becomes it, it becomes in.
4. Put a letter in front. Out loud first: at, then c-at, cat. That is the step up to CVC words.

Two games use the cards. Bingo, with the board above, where you call each word and your child finds it and reads it back. Read it, keep it, where every card your child reads is theirs to keep.

Once a VC word reads cleanly, put it in a short sentence: “Go up.” “I am in.” Your child is ready for CVC words when they read the VC words without sounding out each letter aloud.