Grade 2 · Week 1short vowels
Pat and the Big Pig
Students read a short decodable passage featuring short-a and short-i CVC words, answer six comprehension and decoding questions, and use teacher and homeschool guidance.
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.
Start by reading the passage aloud together, then ask your child to find words with the short-a sound (like "cat" or "ran") and words with the short-i sound (like "big" or "sit"). A strong answer means your child can say the word, hear the middle vowel clearly, and sort it into the right group — for example, noticing that "pig" and "dig" share the same short-i sound, while "hat" and "bag" share short-a. After reading, have them copy four or five words from each group onto paper and tap out the three sounds (c-a-t) with their finger as they spell. If your child struggles, slow down and focus on just one sound at a time: cover the last letter and have them stretch the vowel out loud, then add the ending. Keep sessions short and warm, about ten minutes, and celebrate when they catch a vowel sound on their own — that noticing is exactly the skill this pack builds.
Pat and the Big Pig
Pat had a pig. The pig was big. Pat ran to the pen and sat with the pig. The pig had a tag on its bib. The tag said Jam. Pat had a hat and a bag. In the bag was ham and a fig. Pat sat and the pig sat. The pig can dig! It can dig in the sand. Pat is glad. The pig did dig a pit. Pat ran to fix the pit. A bat sat in a tree. The bat is shy. Pat had jam on his hat. The pig can lick the jam! Pat is mad, but the pig is glad. Pat can win a tag for his big pig. What a fun day!
What this lesson checks
- Sound correspondence: Which word from the story has the short-a vowel sound in the middle?
- Sound correspondence: Read this sentence from the story: 'The pig had a tag on its bib.' Which word in the sentence has the short-i sound?
- Sound correspondence: Which pair of words BOTH have the short-a sound?
- Sound correspondence: Change the vowel in the word 'bag' from short-a to short-i to make a new word that is in the story. What word do you make?
- Sound correspondence: Sort these three story words by vowel sound: 'ran', 'win', 'sand'. Which two have the same short vowel sound, and what sound is it?
- Sound correspondence: Find a sentence from the story that has BOTH a short-a CVC word AND a short-i CVC word. Write the sentence and underline the two words.