Kindergarten · Week 6short vowels
Sam the Class Pet
Students read a playful story about Sam the runaway class hamster, then answer six short-vowel CVC questions with teacher-led and at-home guidance supporting all five vowels.
On screen - your kid, alone
- 1Day 1 - Meet the story
- 2Day 2 - Word work
- 3Day 3 - What it means
- 4Day 4 - Fix & re-read
- 5Day 5 - Show what you know
Offline - with you
Print the pages for offline work together; the answer key is for you.
Sit close to your child and read the story about Sam the class hamster aloud together, pointing under each word as you go. Tell them, "We're going to listen for short vowel sounds — like the /a/ in Sam, the /e/ in pet, the /i/ in big, the /o/ in box, and the /u/ in cup." Good answers will show your child can hear the middle sound in a short CVC word (cat, hop, mud) and match it to the right letter, even if they need to stretch the word out slowly first. If a question asks them to pick a word for a picture, a strong answer is one where they sound it out left to right: /m/ /a/ /t/ — mat. If your child gets stuck, say the word slowly and have them watch your mouth on the middle sound, or give them two choices instead of three. End by rereading the story together and cheering when they spot a short vowel word — keep it playful, like you're both helping find Sam.
Sam the Class Pet
Sam is my pet. Sam is a big pet. Sam ran! We look. We see a cup. We see a mat. We see a wet spot. We see mud. I see Sam! Sam sat in a box. Sam had a nap. Sam is a fun pet. We can pet Sam. Sam is the best!
What this lesson checks
- Sound correspondence: Which word has the short a sound?
- Sound correspondence: Pick the word that has the short o sound in the middle.
- Sound correspondence: Look in the story. Write one word that has the short i sound.
- Sound correspondence: Look in the story. Write one word that has the short e sound.
- Sound correspondence: Find the sentence in the story that tells what Sam did in the box. It has a word with the short a sound in the middle.
- Sound correspondence: Which word has the short u sound?