I have developed this extended set of cards for differentiation. It will support those students who need more practice to master CCVCC words while the range includes less frequent words that will target extension and cater for the older student whose oral vocabulary is more advanced than their reading ability. The large quantity of words included means you can choose specific words to cater for a wide range of student ability.

Each word comes in four formats:

- Picture with matching word

- Picture with matching word but missing short vowel

- Picture with no word

- Word with no picture

Words used:

Short a (25): grand, stand, crack, black, teak, stack, shack, smack, snack, chant, lant, slant, stamp, champ, crash, trash, flash, smash, plank, crank, drank, blank, prank, thank, scalp

Short e (18): blend, spend, shell, spell, check, speck, dress, chess, bless, press, swell, smell, crept, swept, slept, chest, crest, fresh

Short i (36): chick, stick, click, prick, trick, brick, chimp, drill, chill, spill, frill, drill, grill, twist, crisp, think, stink, blink, drink, drift, swift, sting, swing, bring, thing, cling, sling, bliss, stiff, sniff, blimp, frizz, print, swish, flick

Short o (16): blond, frond, frost, stomp, chomp, prong, cross, floss, gloss, broth, cloth, block, clock, flock, smock, frock

Short u (24): chuck, cluck, pluck, stuck, truck, stump, clump, grump, brush, flush, crush, blush, swung, stung, skunk, trunk, trunk(2), plump, flunk, chunk, shunt, blunt, grunt, clunk

All the cards are uniform in size so you can mix and match. You can:

1. Match picture only and word only cards (use pegs or paper slides)

2. Write the word with the missing vowel

3. Sort the picture and word cards into their short vowel sounds - this is the most common skill deficit that I see for intervention

4. Sort the picture cards to target specific skills, e.g., beginning sounds, terminal sounds and short vowel sound (start with two and then add more as phonemic discrimination improves)

5. Write the word from the picture card only (provide paper with five blank boxes for this). Be aware that some CCVCC words have five letters (graphemes), but only four sounds (phonemes), e.g., brush, where the 'sh' says one sound. The word thick has only three individual sounds. This can be confusing for some learners.

6. Consolidate with games (GO FISH is included.)

Sorting the cards contributes to the multi-sensory nature of this activity which is especially important for beginners or those experiencing difficulty with phonemic discrimination. It is so much better than a worksheet for these students. They see the word, they say/hear the word then they actively place the card according to the sound. I have added the Short Vowel Posters which you can use for extra scaffolding for those who need it.

This is a critical area of skill development and is one of the building blocks of successful reading.

The focusing activity I HAVE WHO HAS is included. It has 36 cards, enough for most classes with some students having two cards. I designed it as circular, so you can start and finish at any point. Usually students start sitting, then stand as they call their card, then sit again in the second round. Some students will stand and sit twice.