CVC Beginning and Ending Sounds Worksheet 01: Short a

Practise beginning and ending sounds in short a words

The page includes ham, jam, ram, yam, can, fan, man, pan, van and cap. The first group ends am, the second mostly ends an, and cap adds ap. All ten vowels are provided, but children must retrieve twenty consonant letters altogether.

Unlike a one-gap exercise, each label needs attention at both ends. For jam, j comes before a and m follows it. For pan, p and n surround the same vowel. The included answer key shows completed words with the supplied answer letters highlighted in gold.

What is included?

• One portrait activity page containing ten picture prompts in two columns and five rows.
• Ten printed middle-a vowels and twenty empty boxes for beginning and ending consonants.
• A separate answer key on PDF page 2, with the completed word labels.
• Four PDF pages altogether: activity, answer key, thank-you page and terms of use.

Teaching this worksheet

Before using the short a beginning and ending sounds worksheet, name ram and yam so unfamiliar vocabulary does not interfere with sound work. A pupil who describes the ram as a sheep needs the intended shorter label before writing.

Model ham: say the word, identify h first and m last, and write each around the printed a. Blend the completed word to check it. Compare jam by changing the first consonant while retaining am.

When you reach cap, ask pupils to listen to its ending rather than copy n from the neighbouring an words. Keep the answer page aside until after the learner has made an attempt.

Picture-word activities

• Build can and cap with movable letters, holding c and a still while changing the ending.
• Read ham, jam, ram and yam aloud, comparing their first consonants and common am ending.
• Choose pan and van, complete their outer boxes, then cover the pictures and read the labels.

Support and next steps

Supply the spoken picture name while leaving the letter choice to the child. For ham and jam, offer h and j as two beginning-letter choices, then ask independently for the shared ending.

After the short a beginning and ending sounds worksheet, ask a confident pupil to write can, fan and van from dictation on separate paper. Compare the first consonants and explain why each word still ends an.

Worksheet 01 answers

Page 2 contains the printed answer key. For checking the first and last boxes, the completed words are:

• ham: first h, last m.
• jam: first j, last m.
• ram: first r, last m.
• yam: first y, last m.
• can: first c, last n.
• fan: first f, last n.
• man: first m, last n.
• pan: first p, last n.
• van: first v, last n.
• cap: first c, last p.