What are CVC words?

CVC words, or consonant-vowel-consonant words, are three-letter words with a consonant at the beginning, a vowel in the middle and a consonant at the end. Every CVC word follows the same pattern and uses the short sound of its particular vowel. Therefore, CVC words sharing the same vowel, such as "lap" and "pan", also share the same vowel sound.

CVC words are the first words taught in many phonics programs. These words, together with two-letter vowel-consonant, or VC, words, help students learn the most common sounds letters make. Additionally, all CVC words include continuous sounds that can be prolonged vocally. This makes it easier to learn the sound each letter in a word makes by saying each sound out loud.

Educators use CVC words in different ways to demonstrate various alphabetical principles. For example, lists of CVC words with the same two letters at the beginning but different last consonants, such as "sad," "sat" and "sag," help develop pattern recognition.

Learning CVC words gives students basic alphabetical understanding. It helps them understand that words are composed of letters, associate each alphabetical character with a corresponding sound and blend these sounds to identify words.

Once students master CVC words, they move on to more complex words. Examples include CCVC words with a consonant blend at the beginning, such as "blend" or "flat", and longer CCCVC or CCCVCC words, such as "scrap" or scrimp.

The consonant blends are the most regular. Blending skills are improved if the initial blends are practised on their own, e.g. cr, fl, str, etc. This makes it easier to read the words that have initial consonant blends. The children are encouraged to work the word out by saying the blend, followed by the individual sounds, e.g. 'cr-a-b, st-a -m-p, fl-a -g', etc. 

"A little blending everyday is the secret to success"