A Mat ~ Building CVC Fluency for Early Readers

How to Use This Book

Phonemic Awareness & Phonics:

• Practice blending the sounds in each word:
  • Point out that there are two words in the title.
  • Name the letters and practice their sounds: A /a/, Mat /m/ /a/ /t/.
  • Point to the word Mat and segment the sounds: /m/ /a/ /t/; then blend them together.
  • Ask students to repeat it, emphasizing the sounds.
    

Reading the Story:

• Tell students that in the story, the author puts words together to make sentences.
  • Show a sentence on one page and count the words with the students.
  • Point to the spaces between the words to reinforce word boundaries.
  • Show students the word on each picture and demonstrate how to sound it out, then show them how to find it within the sentence.

Punctuation Awareness:

• Point out the exclamation points and question marks.
  • Model reading the sentences with the correct intonation. For example:
    • “What is on the mat?” – Say it with a questioning tone.
    • “Look at that!” – Read with excitement to show how punctuation changes the way we read.

Rhyming and Phonological Awareness:

• Show students that the author also uses some rhymes to make the story interesting.
  • Model how to read a couple of pages, emphasizing the rhymes.
  • Focus on the rhyming words and ask students to predict what word might come next in a rhyme.