Short Vowel u (-ub, -ud, -ug, -um, -un, -us, -up, -ut words)

Short Vowel u

Short Vowel "u" Lesson Series: In the "Phonics Short Vowel u Lesson Series (8 Lessons)" we will be studying three letter rhyming words, with the pattern, "Consonant-Vowel-Consonant." These can be classified into the following word families:

-ub word family

-ud word family

-ug word family

-um word family

-un word family

-up word family

-us word family

-ut word family

Phonetic Skills (Spatial): Kids sometimes can pronounce the sound of the individual letters, but usually, have a hard time, in connecting the three sounds to form a word. Use CVC words with short u such as up, us, cub, tub, bud, dug, shrug, snug, hut, cut, nut, and sun to teach blending of sounds with help of flashcards. In all the phonics videos, we have included the spatial movement of letters to form a word. This helps in visual stimulation and proper understanding of blending of sounds. The lessons also include three letters blending, as well as sentence writing.

Short Vowels: These are the first set of sounds introduced to students in phonics classes. These are generally introduced before the long vowel sounds are taught.

Rule: Usually when a vowel (a,e, i,o, or u) is present in the beginning (VC words) or between two consonants (CVC words) in a word that contains only one vowel, this vowel often makes the short vowel sound. Example: up, us, fuss, mug, mum, nun, run, pup, sub, fun, hug, etc. Exceptions are always there. The above rule is applicable to the three letter rhyming words formed by the short vowels and represented as word families.

Short Vowel u Pronunciation: The jaw and lips are in a relaxed position. the tongue slightly touches the bottom of the teeth while forming this sound.

Three Steps to teach Short Vowel u Word Families:

1. Play the activity demonstrated below for each word family.

2. Show the video corresponding to the word family, (Link is given below).

3. Download and print free worksheets in which kids can color the picture and write the thee letter rhyming CVC words.

Lesson 1 (-ub word family)

In this lesson, we study words such as cub, rub, hub, sub, tub, and shrub.

Activity: Present kids with flashcards and ask them to make the word ub, then once they form the word family start forming the three letter rhyming words by substituting the first word.

  ub (First, form the word family word)

cub (place the flashcard "c" before this word family "ub" to form the word "cub")

rub (Substitute "c" with a "r" to form rub)

hub (Substitute "r" with a "h" to form hub)

rub (Substitute "h" with a "r" to form rub)

sub (Substitute "r" with a "s" to form sub)

Sentences:

The cub wants to play with his mum.

The cub hugs his mum.

The sub moves underwater.

The sub has a hot tub.

I see a big fin near the sub.

Will the sub hit the fin?

Sight Words:

the, wants, to, with, his, moves, under, has, a, see, I, near, will. 

Lesson 2 (-ud word family)

In this lesson, we study words such as bud, mud, cud, suds, dud, and thud.

Activity: Present kids with flashcards and ask them to make the word ud, then once they form the word family start forming the three letter rhyming words by substituting the first word.

  ud (First, form the word family word)

cud (place the flashcard "c" before this word family "ud" to form the word "cud")

bud (Substitute "c" with a "b" to form bud)

dud (Substitute "b" with a "d" to form dud)

mud (Substitute "d" with a "m" to form mud)

sud (Substitute "m" with a "s" to form sud)

Sentences:

A bud fell in the mud.

Tom saw the bud.

The bud had mud on it.

A cow ate the bud.

Sight Words:

a, fell, down, in, the, saw, had, on, it.

Lesson 3 (-ug word family)

In this lesson, we study words such as bug, dug, hug, jug, mug, rug, and tug.

Activity: Present kids with flashcards and ask them to make the word ug, then once they form the word family start forming the three letter rhyming words by substituting the first word.

  ug (First, form the word family word)

bug (place the flashcard "b" before this word family "ug" to form the word "bug")

dug (Substitute "b" with a "d" to form dug)

hug (Substitute "d" with a "h" to form hug)

rug (Substitute "h" with a "r" to form rug)

mug (Substitute "r" with a "m" to form mug)

jug (Substitute "m" with a "j" to form jug)

tug (Substitute "j" with a "t" to form tug)

Sentences:

I sat on the rug
A jug and a mug are on the rug.

A red bug sat on the rug.

We played tug of war!

It was a fun day!

Sight Words:

my, put, a, on, the, and, were, gave, me, in, came, we, of, it, was. 

Lesson 4 (-um word family)

In this lesson, we study words such as gum, hum, mum, rum, sum, and yum.

Activity: Present kids with flashcards and ask them to make the word um, then once they form the word family start forming the three letter rhyming words by substituting the first word.

  um (First, form the word family word)

gum (place the flashcard "g" before this word family "um" to form the word "gum")

sum (Substitute "g" with a "s" to form sum)

hum (Substitute "s" with a "h" to form hum)

rum (Substitute "h" with a "r" to form rum)

mum (Substitute "r" with a "m" to form mum)

yum (Substitute "m" with a "y" to form yum)

Sentences:

My mum tells me not to chew gum.

My mum makes yum food for me.

The bees hum near my yum food.

I love my mum.

Sight Words:

my, tells, me, not to, makes, for, I, made, by, the, near.

Lesson 5 (-un word family)

In this lesson, we study words such as bun, fun, gun, nun, and run. and sun.

Activity: Present kids with flashcards and ask them to make the word un, then once they form the word family start forming the three letter rhyming words by substituting the first word.

  un (First, form the word family word)

bun (place the flashcard "b" before this word family "un" to form the word "bun")

fun (Substitute "b" with a "f" to form fun)

gun (Substitute "f" with a "g" to form gun)

run (Substitute "g" with a "r" to form run)

nun (Substitute "r" with a "n" to form nun)

sun (Substitute "n" with a "s" to form sun)

Sentences:

The sun is hot.

It was fun playing in the park.

A nun was also there in the park.

The nun gave us a bun.

A bug sat on my bun.

That man has a gun!

The nun called a cop.

The man could not run away.

Sight Words:

the, is, it, was, in, a, also, there, gave, us, to, on, my, that, has, called, could, not, away.

Lesson 6 (-up word family)

In this lesson, we study words such as up, cup, pup, yup, sup. and tup.

Activity: Present kids with flashcards and ask them to make the word up, then once they form the word family start forming the three letter rhyming words by substituting the first word.

  up (First, form the word family word)

cup (place the flashcard "c" before this word family "up" to form the word "cup")

yup (Substitute "c" with a "y" to form yup)

pup (Substitute "y" with a "p" to form pup)

sup (Substitute "p" with a "s" to form sup)

tup (Substitute "s" with a "t" to form tup)

Sentences:

The sun is up.

I have a blue cup.

My pup can sit up.

Sight Words:

the, is, up, please, give, my, in, can, have, me.

Lesson 7 (-us word family)

In this lesson, we study words such as us, bus, jus, plus, and thus.

Activity: Present kids with flashcards and ask them to make the word us, then once they form the word family start forming the three letter rhyming words by substituting the first word.

  us (First, form the word family word)

bus (place the flashcard "b" before this word family "us" to form the word "bus")

jus (Substitute "b" with a "j" to form jus)

Sentences:

From where will the bus pick us up?

The bus will pick us up from the stop.

Sight Words:

from, where, will, the, us up.

Lesson 8 (-ut word family)

In this lesson, we study words such as but, cut, gut, hut, and nut.

Activity: Present kids with flashcards and ask them to make the word ut, then once they form the word family start forming the three letter rhyming words by substituting the first word.

  ut (First, form the word family word)

but (place the flashcard "b" before this word family "ut" to form the word "but")

cut (Substitute "b" with a "c" to form cut)

hut (Substitute "c" with a "h" to form hut)

gut (Substitute "h" with a "g" to form gut)

nut (Substitute "g" with a "n" to form nut)

Sentences:

Tom and Jim lived in a hut.

They liked to eat nuts.

The nut gave them a bad gut.

They shut the hut's door to take some rest.

They were tired, but could not sleep.

They decided, not to eat the rot nuts ever!

Sight Words:

and, in, a, they, liked, to, gave, them, the, take, some, were, could, not, decided, ever.

Phonics FlipBook fun activity

We have made a phonics flipbook which has got worksheets for all the 31-word families. Please download it by clicking on the image below. Print the word family for which you want to create the flipbook.

Educational videos and Free downloadable worksheets.

Video Lessons (Short Vowel u) 8 Lessons

Print Free Worksheet

Print Free Worksheet

Print Free Worksheet

Print Free Worksheet

Print Free Worksheet

Print Free Worksheet:

Print Free Worksheet

Print Free Worksheet

The Phonic Sounds

When a child hears the phonic sounds that the letters and the combinations of letters make (also known as phonograms), it helps in the development of child’s English language skills by allowing the child to link the sounds with each other to form words. 

Listening, Speaking and Reading in English involves the use of sounds. By connecting the phonemes together kids learn to form new words. Also, they can segment (The process of breaking down or stretching a word into its individual phonic sounds also called as phonemes) a word into individual phonemes or blend (The skill of joining the sounds to form new words) and learn the skill of phonetic decoding. This is a key skill to develop to become fluent in reading. As children start to connect sounds to form new words, this skill helps them to form advanced and more difficult words thereby increasing their Lexile measures. 

Lexile Measures are measures to match a child's reading level to the type of book he or she can read. The concept of Lexile Measures is widely used in schools today to measure a child's reading skills, by assigning a score through the Lexile scale. The score helps the teachers and parents to select appropriate books suitable for the child's reading level. Reading different books at different levels helps the child to become fluent in English dramatically. Scholastic’s “I can read” books and Dr, Seuss books are very popular among elementary school students. There are a lot of other books that are equally great, which you can research on the interment or find them in the library.

Consonants

1.      B=/b/ as in bat, ball, but, bet, bit, bun, broom, brown, blue, blunt

2.      C=/k/ as in cat, car, cartoon, cape, can, clown, crow (Hard sound)

     /s/ as in city, ace, cycle, cylinder, cyclone (Soft sound)

Rule: The letter c makes both the hard and soft sounds. It usually, makes the soft sound when c is followed by e, i or y

Example: 

·          ace (In the word ace, c is followed by e), 

·          city (In the word city c is followed by i),

·          cycle (In the word cycle, c is followed by y)

Rule: When c comes before the vowels a, o or u, the letter c usually makes the /k/ sound

Example:

·          cab (In the word cab, c comes before the vowel a), 

·          cob (In the word cob, c comes before the vowel o), 

·          cut (In the word cut, c comes before the vowel u), 

3.      D=/d/ as in dog, drum, dance, doll, dust, drama, door, drool

4.      F=/f/ as in fan, fun, fat, fit, fog, fin, father, fast, frame, flame

5.      G=/g/ as in goat, gun, give, gut, gum, got, glue, grow (Hard sound)

     /j/ as in giraffe, ginger, gypsy, fudge, smudge, wage (Soft sound)

Rule: The letter g makes both hard and soft sounds. It usually, makes the soft sound when c is followed by e, i or y

Example: 

·          gem (In the word gem, g is followed by an e), 

·          ginger (In the word ginger g is followed by i),

·          gypsy (In the word gypsy, g is followed by y)

6.      H=/h/ as in hat, hut, hit, hot, hate, hurt, hunt, hole, high, height

7.      J=/j/ as in jug, Jim, June, jelly, January, jog, jig, joker 

8.      K=/k/ as in kite, kitten, kangaroo, kit, keep, kale, keen

9.      L=/l/ as in lion, let, lad, leg. lot, lag, letter, late, light

10.   M=/m/ as in mat, mop, mum, met, med, mug, mad, mud

11.   N=/n/ as in net, nut, nip, nun, noon, night, no

12.   P=/p/ as in pat, pet, pit, put, pot, pant, pale, pail, pig, pin, parrot

13.   Q=/kw/ as in queen, quilt (Q is always followed by an “u”)

14.   R=/r/ as in rat, rut, rip, rot, rake, room, rubber, rise, rose

15.   S=/s/ as in sat, sit, set, sip, sad, sun, summer, sag, sod, soul

    /z/ as in rose, hose, nose

    /sh/ as in sugar

16.   T=/t/ as in tap, tip, tin, top, tad, tan, tug, tool, tiger, trunk

17.   V=/v/ as in vet, violin, vase, victory, vane, van

18.   W=/w/ as in wet, wit, wag, wig, win, won, war, wear, water, what, why

19.   X=/ks/ as in x-mas tree

      /z/ as in xerox

20.   Y=/y/ as in yak, yellow, yam, year

    Long i represented as /ī/, as in sky, by, fly, cry, dry

    Long e represented as /ē/, as in gypsy, easy

    Short i represented as /ĭ/, as in gypsy

21.   Z=/z/ as in zebra, zoo

Vowels

Unlike some other languages, in English, the vowels make more than one sounds. They usually, make the short sounds and the long sounds. Always, the short sounds are taught before teaching the kids about the long sounds.

1.        A

a.      Short a sound represented as /ă/, as in the words bat, can, cap

b.      Long a sound represented as /ā/, as in the words, cane, cape

c.      /ah/ as in father, rather

2.        E

a.      Short e sound represented as /ĕ/, as in the words, elephant, egg, beg, nest, fest, let

b.      Long e sound represented as /ē/, as in the words, eagle, bee, sea

3.        I

a.      Short i sound represented as /ĭ/, sound as in pig, pin, dim, rim, fin, kin, lip, zip

b.      Long i sound represented as /ī/, as in pine, fine, wine, spine, kind, while

4.        O

a.      Short o sound represented as /ŏ/, in con, cob, sob, cod, rod, cot, not, dot

b.      Long o sound represented as /ō/, in cone, zone, bone, phone, clone

5.        U

a.      Short u sound represented as /ŭ/, in cub, bug, hut, nut, cup, pup, bus

b.      Long u sound represented as /ū/, in cube, flume, plume, tube, use

We have free audio and clickable letters wherein kids can hear the sounds that each letter makes (21 consonants and 5 vowels). Below we have made a table in which you can hear the sounds of each letter (consonants and vowels) in a systematic way.

Click on each letter below to hear its sounds.

Vowels (a,e,i,o,u)
a	e	i	o	u

Consonants (b,c,d,f,g,h,j,k,l,m,n,p,q,r,s,t,v,w,x,y,z)
b	c	d	f	g
h	j	k	l	m
n	p	q	r	s
t	v	w	x	Y
z

To hear all the above sounds, please go through our video on Phonograms.

The link to the video is provided below.

77 Phonograms