Short A 1

In this version of "Five in the Bed," it's short vowel sounds that are hopping around in there! Review short vowel sounds by singing along to this tune.

Learning short vowel sounds is a critical step in becoming a reader. Help kids practice the short a sound by completing the dot-to-dot of the letter a. Once the dot-to-dot is done, Floyd and Roly burst into a fun rap that repeats the short a sound. This silly game not only works on the short a sound, it also gives kids counting and letter recognition practice.

Help your kid practice vowel sounds by challenging him to find things that have a short A sound in this cool nighttime scene. First he'll look through Officer Ice Cream's special X-ray camera, and then he'll take snapshots of all of the items he spots whose names contain short A sounds. This game helps children detect vowel sounds in words, even when they don't see the words spelled out, for truly excellent phonics practice!

Kids match rhyming words by dragging and dropping the correct items to the center of the machine. The robot Muggo needs just a few rhymes to activate his friend-making machine, and your kid can help him! Rhymes are a great tool for helping kids build language skills. By learning words that have similar endings, it becomes easier for kids to notice the slight differences in words and become better readers.

Roly loves his cat food, and your child needs to feed him by completing short A words. Your kid starts with the last two letters of a three-letter word, and he's given several letters to add to the beginning. This game helps kids understand blending and segmenting concepts, because they spell several different words with the same word endings.

Hat, bed, jam, pig, sun ... can you find the short a words? In this high-flying game, kids use images and simple CVC text to identify words with the short a sound. When a child successfully finds a short a word, Tutu turns that cloud into a rainbow. Incorrect answers create rainclouds. Perfect for short vowel differentiation, this game offers up flight simulation kids are sure to love. Up, up and away!

Sam is one sneaky bat, and he's driving his family crazy in this laugh-out-loud emergent reader for kindergarteners. Perfect for teaching simple sight words and the short a sound, this digital story follows Sam as he gets into mischief. Kids love how Sam tans in the pan and runs in the jam, and adults love how much learning is embedded in this interactive reading experience.

Kids drop words into the correct backpacks based on their meanings to get Floyd, Tutu, and Roly ready for school. Your child can sound out the words and listen for the vowel sound – an A sound – a process that will help them connect letters to sounds. This kind of phonics practice is essential for aural comprehension and it will help make spelling and reading a whole lot easier.