Short a - 1st Grade Phonics
The letter a stands for the short a sound you hear in hat.
Short a is a phonics concept taught in grade 1. It refers to the sound made by the vowel "a" in words like cat, hat, and sat. Students learn to recognize and produce this sound, as well as identify words that contain it. Short a is one of the foundational skills for reading and writing and is typically introduced early on in a phonics-based reading curriculum. Activities and exercises that reinforce short a include word sorts, word families, and reading and writing short sentences containing short a words.
Here are some examples of different types of short a words, along with their corresponding spelling patterns:
- CVC words: These are words that have a consonant-vowel-consonant pattern, such as "cat," "hat," "map," "bat," and "ran."
- CCVC words: These are words that have a consonant-consonant-vowel-consonant pattern, such as "clap," "flag," "bump," and "staple."
- CVCC words: These are words that have a consonant-vowel-consonant-consonant pattern, such as "lamp," "hump," "lift," and "dust."
- Digraph words: These are words that have two letters that make one sound, such as "apple," "back," "crab," "thank," and "stand."
- Blend words: These are words that have two or more consonants blended together, such as "black," "grab," "plant," "stamp," and "craft."
Short a Activity - 1st Grade Phonics
Say each picture name. Select the picture whose name has the short a sound in the middle.