Vocabulary Worksheet · Grades K–1
Middle Sounds Worksheet
A printable kindergarten and first grade phonics worksheet on short vowel sounds. Students sort pictures by the vowel they hear in the middle, then write it.
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Subject
Vocabulary
Grades
Grades K–1
Skill Focus
Middle Sounds, phonological awareness
Lesson Length
20 minutes
Learning Objective
Students will say a picture’s name, hear the short vowel in the middle, and write the letter that makes it.
Lesson Overview
About this worksheet
This worksheet asks a child to hear the vowel in the middle of a short word. Nothing on the page has to be read: the picture is the word, so a student who cannot yet decode can still do every item.
Section A on page 1 is a cut-and-paste sort with six picture tiles and three vowel boxes. Section B on page 2 asks for the vowel without the tiles and covers the two short vowels the sort leaves out, so all five are exercised across the sheet. Page 3 is the answer key.
Every picture is one the library draws with a single obvious name. A picture that can honestly be called two things is left off a sheet like this one, because a child who says the second name hears a different vowel and would be marked wrong for listening correctly.
It comes in two editions: a full-color PDF and a low-ink black-and-white PDF for everyday copying, both with the same answer key.
How to Use This Lesson
Read the reference box and say the five key words together, stretching the middle.
Cut out the eight tiles along the dashed line.
Say each picture out loud and paste it under the vowel you hear in the middle.
Write the middle letter for each Section B picture, then check page 3.
Printable Resource
Pick the version that suits your printer: full color, or the low-ink black-and-white edition. Same worksheet, same answer key.
Free Member Resource · Printable PDF · 3 pages · Answer Key
Middle Sounds Worksheet (Low-Ink)
Black-and-white edition for everyday printing and photocopying.
Free Member Resource · Printable PDF · 3 pages · Answer Key
Middle Sounds Worksheet (Color)
Full-color edition of the same worksheet and answer key.
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