Updated: Oct 8, 2023
A CVCC word is made from a consonant-vowel-consonant-consonant. Once children can blend and read CVCC words made of Phase 2 sounds we can introduce CVCC words made of Phase 3 sounds.
The words will still be made with 4 sounds but they could be made with more than 4 letters. Your child will need to spot where two letters make one sound (digraph) and where two letters are making their own sounds (adjacent consonants).
Make a sound shelf using Duplo and add 4 blocks to show that there needs to be 4 sound cards. You could use a different coloured block to show where the vowel/vowel digraph needs to go.
Arrange the following cards to make the word shelf. Using the digraph flashcards will help your child to see which letters go together to make one sound e.g. sh and which letters make their own sounds e.g. l and f.
Say each of the sounds and blend to read the CVCC word e.g. sh-e-l-f, shelf.
Mix up four sound cards and place them in front of the Duplo shelf. Say the word ‘paint’ and ask your child to repeat it. See if they can sound it out then put the sounds on the shelf in the correct order e.g. paint, p-ai-n-t.
Extend: As your child becomes more confident, you could put more flashcards on the floor so they really have to think about which sounds to use.
Here are some other words you could use:
tenth (t-e-n-th)
chimp (ch-i-m-p)
bench (b-e-n-ch)
shift (sh-i-f-t)
joint (j-oi-n-t)
boost (b-oo-s-t)
roast (r-oa-st)
If your child is ready, encourage them to write a sentence using one of the Phase 4 words and see if they can also include a tricky word and some phase 4 word e.g. My mum burnt the toast. The Phase 2-4 Flashcard pack contains tricky word flashcards.
When your child becomes confident with blending CVCC words, the next step is to read words containing more than one syllable.