Short “a” words are often used towards the beginning of teaching a child to read.
Here are some examples of easy “short a” words. I include -and because “and” is such a frequent word.1
| -at | -an | -am | -ab | -ag | -ap | –ad | -ax | -as | -and | other words |
| at | an | am | cab | bag | map | Dad | ax | as | and | a |
| cat | fan | dam | lab | tag | cap | mad | wax | gas | hand | |
| rat | man | jam | tab | rag | nap | sad | has | land | ||
| bat | ran | bam | dab | wag | tap | pad | sand | |||
| mat | can | ram | sag | gap | bad | |||||
| sat | van | yam | lap | had | ||||||
| fat | pan | sap | ||||||||
| pat | tan | |||||||||
| Mat | Sam | |||||||||
| Pat | Pam |
Young beginning readers need lots of practice with these words, yet many sets (such as the popular Bob books) only contain one or two texts before moving on to other vowel sounds.
So, as I was looking for activities and decodable readers to practice, I started noting down the words used. I hope you find this resource useful as you look for practice materials for your own learners.
As a note: I do not include books in this post that already include a lot of other short vowels. For instance, the free x-ian kindergarten curriculum “The Good and the Beautiful” comes with some decodable books8 (signup to their mailing list required). But the book “Pam”, which doesn’t feature any x-ian content, includes:
| -an | -am | other words |
| can | am | I |
| Pam | hop | |
| big | ||
| a | ||
| dog | ||
| run | ||
| in | ||
| bed | ||
| the | ||
| end |
So basically, the book includes both o, i, u, and e in addition to a. Such books can thus be used once all the sounds have been practiced, but are harder for beginners.
There are many sets of so-called “phonics” readers, often featuring popular characters such as “Biscuit” or “Pete the Cat” that you might be able to get from the library. Unfortunately, many of them are not actually decodable. Check out the post about them here.
What about decodable books used in classrooms? Many are available to purchase even if you’re not a classroom teacher, but they are often expensive. TheMeasuredMom created an overview of different decodable books, with price points often around $3-5 per individual book, some even going for over $10 (yes, for one individual little booklet). This would start to add up quickly as one needs quite a bit of practice material at the beginning. Moreover, many are sold in sets, not individually, so one can’t just get one story one likes. Some even only come in classroom sets – even though as a parent, one does not need 6 copies of the same book!
Bob books
Book 1 from Set 1 “Mat” has the following words:2
| -at | -am | other words |
| Mat | Sam | on |
| sat | the | |
| end |
Book 2 from Set 1 “Sam” has the following words:7
| -at | -am | -ad | other words |
| Mat | Sam | sad | on |
| Cat | and | ||
| sat | | the | |
| | | end | |
| O.K. |
Bob Books also has a book “Phonics for early readers” (Scholastic). The stories mix short vowel sounds, so this is better used as a practice reader once all the short vowel sounds have been introduced. The series also has a “Sight words. Kindergarten” reader, that again mixes short vowel sounds (in addition to practicing what they call sight words). So again, these are more for additional practice later on.
TheMeasuredMom
TheMeasuredMom has free decodable readers (sign-up to her mailing list required).
The book “Pam and the Mat” has the following words3:
| -at | -am | -ad | -an | other words |
| mat | Pam | had | ran | on |
| sat | bad | the | ||
| cat | and | |||
| a |
The book “Sam” has the following words:
| –ap | -am | -ad | other words |
| tap | Sam | mad | and |
| jam |
The book “The cat” has the following words:
| –at | -am | -ad | –ap | other words |
| cat | jam | sad | tap | the |
| pat | mad | |
PhonicsPlayComics
The site PhonicsPlayComics has free decodable readers.
The comic “Pat” has the following words4:
| -at | -ap | -as |
| Pat | tap | as |
| sat |
Bethany Gardner
Bethany Gardner has a set of free decodables on TPT (free account required).
The book “My Cat Sam” has the following words:5
| -at | -am | -an | –ap | –ag | -as | other words |
| cat | Sam | fan | cap | bag | has | my |
| bat | pan | rag | a |
Whitney Shaddock
Whitney Shaddock has some free resources on TPT, including a “short a” decodable reader called “Dad and Tam”. While this is formatted as a reader with a picture for every sentence, the pictures offer hardly any support. For instance, for the sentence “Dad can tag Tam”, there is just an image of a man standing there (which is the same as for other sentences in the reader), with no hint of “tagging”. Therefore, it’s not a useful support for beginning readers.
| -ad | -am | -an | –ap | –ag | -at | other words |
| Dad | Tam | can | tap | tag | pat | and |
| Nan |
ThisReadingMama
ThisReadingMama offers a free “-at family” download that contains the booklet “On the Mat”9. While this has a clear focus on -at words, it contains a lot of other words as “helper words”. Come is not a word that is frequent in other decodables.
| -at | other words |
| mat | on |
| rat | the |
| cat | come |
| bat | see |
| hat | I |
| not | |
| is |
Learn to Read – Phonics Storybook
“Learn to read. Phonics Storybook” by Laurin Brainard (Rockridge Press) does not start with short a, but with the -et word family. The first story “My Pet” has words such as pet, wet, bet, jet, set and vet, but also plenty of other words such as can, at, said, all, help etc. Each story has some activity sheets. For the first story these are a tracing sheet and a maze. The second story is “The big pig” with the -ig word family. The third story is called “The map” focusing on the -ap word family:
- V, VC, CVC, or VCC short “a” that beginners can sound out: a, map, gap, cap, rap, zap
- common “helper words”: look, go, is, the, it
- words in the -et or -ig family (previous two stories):
- other words: find, now, red, here, give
So the story doesn’t seem to repeat words from the -et or -ig family dealt with previously, i.e. it could be read as the first story. But there are several words that are not easily decodable (like give or now).
Starfall
Starfall has some free decodable readers. For “a” they have “Zac the Rat”9
| at | -am | -ad | -an | -ap | other words |
| rat | jam | had | can | nap | Zac |
| sat | | ran | is | ||
| | | pan | a | ||
| | | | fan | on | |
| the | |||||
| ants | |||||
| to | |||||
| and |
The Reading House
Our library has a whole series of these boxes written by Marla Conn. Book 1 in Set 4 is called “Alligator can see it”.
| at | -am | -an | -ab | -ap | other words |
| hat | jam | can | cab | map | alligator |
| cat | fan | | see | ||
| rat | | man | | the | |
| | | van | | ||
| | | can | | ||
| pan |
There is absolutely no storyline here. It’s all just about what the alligator can see. Why an alligator was chosen instead of a decodable animal (like a bat or cat) is a mystery.
Book 2 in the same box is called “Who can have an apple?” Again, there is absolutely no storyline, it’s all “_____ can have an apple”.
| -at | –ak | -ant | -an | -am | -ab | other words |
| cat | yak | ant | can | ram | crab | have |
| gnat | an | apple | ||||
| alligator | ||||||
| alpaca | ||||||
| rabbit | ||||||
| kangaroo | ||||||
| jaguar |
The animals chosen are a mystery, as jaguar, kangaroo etc. are not decodable at such an early stage.
Little Patches Learning Club
This is another TPT seller that offers a freebie for a “short a” reader. “The fat rat” has the following words:
| -at | –a | -an | other words |
| fat | a | ran | the |
| rat | oh | ||
| cat | no | ||
| sat | he | ||
| hat | saw | ||
| that | on | ||
| bat | Pip | ||
| is | |||
| where | |||
| said | |||
| hid | |||
| behind | |||
| but | |||
| was | |||
| too | |||
| to |
So, there is a large number of “helper” words in this one that would either need to be introduced (likely at least some of them before) or read by the adult.
Literacy Lady
Another TPT seller with a free decodable reader for “short a”. The story “Pam and Ben” has the following words:
| -at | -am | –as | –ap | –an | –a | -and | other words |
| cat | Pam | has | cap | can | a | and | Ben |
| mat | this | ||||||
| sat | is | ||||||
| on | |||||||
| the | |||||||
| play |
1 https://www.kizphonics.com/short-a-word-families-game-at-an-am-ab-ag-ap-ad/, https://thisreadingmama.com/short-vowel-word-family-cards/, https://chargemommybooks.com/reading/short-a-words, https://www.soundcityreading.net/uploads/3/7/6/1/37611941/rhshv-wb-u-first-nov-2019-2-cns.pdf , https://www.abcmouse.com/learn/printables-and-worksheets/short-a-words-list/24996
2 Bobby Lynn Maslen: "Mat". Part of "Bob Books Set 1: Beginning Readers". Scholastic.
3 Anna Geiger. "Pam and the Mat". Measured Mom Decodables. https://www.themeasuredmom.com/free-decodable-books/
4 PhonicsPlayComics. "Pat". https://phonicsplaycomics.co.uk/comic_ph2_pat.html
5 Bethany Gardner. "My Cat Sam". Ship Shape Elementary. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FREE-Decodable-Books-Short-Vowels-Printable-6996124
7 Bobby Lynn Maslen: "Sam". Part of "Bob Books Set 1: Beginning Readers". Scholastic.
8 The Good and the Beautiful Booster Books. Part of the Language Arts: Level K download. https://www.goodandbeautiful.com/free-downloads/language-arts-level-k/
9 Starfall. "Zac the rat" https://teach.starfall.com/lv/resources/reading-kit
10 Anna Geiger: "Sam" https://www.themeasuredmom.com/tmm_optin/decodable-book-set-1-book-1/
11 Whitney Shaddock, "Dad and Tam" https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Short-a-Decodable-Readers-and-Decodable-Reading-Passages-for-First-Grade-FREEBIE-4764347