Why Building Short Vowel Words Is More Effective than Memorizing Sight Words

“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.”

Perhaps you’ve heard that quote somewhere before (or at least one similar).

This quote reminds me of children who are beginning to read and sound out words on their own. If a child memorizes sight words, he can read a story made of just those words. If a child learns to sound out words, he can eventually read any book.

When a child memorizes a stack of sight word flash cards, the child will be able to show off “the trick of reading” and feel good about it. But that alone will not teach the child to actually read by sounding out words (blending the individual sounds together).

Let me first say that I’m not completely against using sight words such as the Dolch list or Fry list. It can certainly help a child’s reading fluency by not having to sound out each and every word on a page during reading. It can be a good idea for parents to keep a list of these words handy to practice with spelling or just to see what a child does and doesn’t know. But, don’t reach for the sight words before learning to blend sounds together (sound words out)!

An Overlooked Skill

One skill I see greatly overlooked is  the practice of reading short vowel words–a whole bunch of them OVER and OVER and OVER! (Sometimes people practice blending and sounding the words out–just not enough) Now, before we get into where you can get lists of words like this, let’s talk about the WHY.

*Why should you practice reading one syllable short vowel words with your child first?*

Vowels make a short sound (think a, e, i, o, u = apple, elephant, igloo, octopus, umbrella) when the vowel is CLOSED IN. It is called a CLOSED SYLLABLE. Closed syllables are the most common in the English language! Closed syllables must have short vowel sounds in them  (unless they are an *exception).

In the word, “hit,” the vowel is closed in and is therefore making its short sound. 

In the word, “it,” the vowel is still closed and is making it’s short sound. 

However, in the word, “hi,” the vowel is on the end and is OPEN, and is therefore making its long sound. You can demonstrate OPEN SYLLABLES later on. I only work on closed syllable words with children first.

Are there exceptions to this rule? OF COURSE! (We are talking about English here).

*[Closed syllable exceptions are in words such as “cold” and “wild.” They are the exception—not the rule.]

The closed syllable is so common (and therefore the short vowel sounds) that I like those sounds to be the default sound used for the vowels when I work with beginning readers. 

Some children lack so much confidence and are so confused that I hesitate to give them multiple sounds a vowel makes from the very beginning. Instead, I teach short vowel sounds from the very beginning.  I give them them mental images to attach to each letter like apple, elephant, igloo, octopus, and umbrella so they can always think of that item when they see the letter. Then, we practice countless short vowel words. We BLEND them together. We SOUND THEM OUT. We pull them apart by saying the sounds separately. Below are some examples of short vowel word practice:

At first, we use 3 letter words (CVC, or consonant-vowel-consonant). 

 We read real words like: 

hit, cot, hut, pug, nap, fig

We read nonsense words like:

nug, hod, sug, hap, jub

*One of my favorite ways to practice is with hands-on letters (like abc magnets or letter tiles). Before children can read the words, you show them how to move each letter as you make the sound. 

If your child is struggling with the above exercises, you can try WORD FAMILIES like these, for example:

hit, kit, sit, fit            or      pod, cod, mod, sod

Word families work nicely with reinforcing rhyming as well. 

Try adding an extra consonant to make a consonant blend in the word.

You can make the words longer by adding in another letter. Use some consonant blends like “sl” or “tr” or “bl”:

slug,  trop,  blip

Try consonant blends at the end of the word:

mend (“nd”), gasp (“sp”)

You can also try some digraphs like “sh” or “ch” (and others). Just be sure to explain how they are special and make their own sound together. These may be placed at the beginning or end of a word:

chat, ship, cash, bath

Can you think of all the short vowel, one syllable words you can make? Plenty! Especially if you count nonsense words! You can find lists under these acronyms: CVC, CCVC, CVCC, CCVCC and also from looking for “short vowel word family” lists. There are lots of lists available online for free.

There is no rush to make your child read a book when he still can’t decode (or sound out) words like I’ve described above. Invest in the time to play with one syllable, short vowel words. (Keep reading below to see some examples!)

If your child is experiencing frustration with sounding out words while reading, go back to some of the smallest words: CVC. Be certain your child understands how to rhyme (Watch a video here) and do a phonological awareness screener (click here).

Reading CVC words accurately matters (more than you might think) when a child is reading multisyllabic words. As I read with my kindergartner or second grader, I will often say to them, “Tap out the first 3 (or 4) letters of the word.”  

Why do I say this? The word is long. The child has guessed the word based on only the first letter. 

However, if I can get my child to sound out the first 3-4 letters, he most likely has made it through the first syllable of the word. In other words, he’s started to CHUNK the word into smaller bits that he can read.

I realize that not every word is composed of only short syllables. Sometimes the first syllable in a word has a long vowel sound. However sounding out the first 3-4 letters gives the child a starting point. Even if a word is pronounced slightly wrong, it is easy to correct IF the context is there and the child is thinking about what they’re reading.

 I’ve used this strategy with MANY children as they read. It just clicks. They get the first syllable of the word and using context (as well as paying attention to the remaining letters in the word), the child is able to figure out the multisyllabic word. 

Remember this: 

Before asking a child to read words with vowel teams (ea, ee, ou…) or words with magic e/silent e (gate, bike), practice one syllable short vowel words. Later on, you can explain the conditions for when a vowel makes the long vowel sound. 

Your child might be trying to read a book that is too difficult. If every single word is having to be sounded out slowly–the book is too difficult!  Don’t force it. You can come back to it later. If every word is a struggle, you clearly need to move back to word play. It will pay off in the long run and not cause as much frustration. 

This word play, or word manipulation, will not only help with blending sounds together. It also helps show the beginning, middle, and ending parts of simple, one syllable words. It can be done WITHOUT PICTURES (like you see in many simple books). When a child reads a word without a picture clue, you can have a better assurance they are really reading. When there is a picture nearby to match every single word, how can you be sure the child isn’t just naming the picture?

Below are some simple exercises in word play that you can try:(This can be tried with letter tiles or letter magnets)

Spell PAT

Change PAT to MAT

Change MAT to SAT

Change SAT to SLAT

Change SLAT to SPLAT

Notice how the beginning sound was changed and gradually new sounds were added. That is only one way to change the word. When the middle and ending sounds stay the same, it is called a WORD FAMILY. The example above is the -at family. You can find more word family lists online.

You can also change the ending sound. 

Spell MUT

Change MUT to MUD

Change MUD to MUP

Change MUP to MUG

This type of exercise is sometimes called word manipulation. You can change out letters or add letters. The vowels still stay short. Beware if you add a Y, R, H, or W, to the end since it can change the vowel sound.

Another way to manipulate the words is to change the vowel:

Spell MUG

Change MUG to MAG

Change MAG to MIG

Change MIG to MOG

Finally, when you feel your child is comfortable switching out letters in these short vowel words, you can mix it up by switching out the beginning, middle or ending sound. 

Like this: 

Spell HAT

Change HAT to HUT

Change HUT to HUG

Change HUG to HOG

Change HOG to BOG

Remember that you can use nonsense words. Any nonsense word that you make could be a syllable of a much longer word. Watch my Nonsense Word video here.

If you can read the syllables in a word, you can read the entire word!

In one of the examples above, “mag” is the first syllable in the longer word, “magazine.” 

In another example above, “bog” is the first syllable in the longer word, “boggle.”

Blending sounds together to make a syllable and reading several syllables leads to reading longer words. It’s that simple. 

When my own young children guess a word (because they see a word that’s unfamiliar), I remind them to start at the beginning of the word and look at the first 3 or 4 letters. It helps them to decipher the first syllable of the word. The rest of the word comes much easier when they know the first syllable. 

Finally, parents, don’t be afraid to take a few steps back. Your child might want to read a specific book that’s really a bit too difficult. Be sure your child has material (books or simple words, phrases and sentences) that give them just a little bit of struggle but not so much. Your child will always be a struggling reader when you give them books they aren’t really ready for. You can always come back to a particular level after laying a better foundation. I’m stressing this point because I have witnessed it as a problem over and over with parents. They so desperately want to see their child move on to more difficult material that it ends up being forced.

Remember, you make the difference. 

YOU are your child’s most influential teacher. 

Watch my video on Phonemic Awareness here!

Watch my video on Reading Longer Words here!

Watch my video on Rhyming here!

Binge watch the entire series of Helping Your Child Read Better here!