Free printable short i phonics worksheets. Five practice activities: decodable passage, word sort, phrasing cards, rapid naming chart, and word search.
A free illustrated mini-book for Short I, plus the same story as a passage sheet for highlighting.
A full-color picture book your student reads on their own. Skill: Short I. Print, cut and staple.
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Pip was a big pig. He ran to dig in the wet mud.
"I will dig here," said Pip.
Pip dug and dug. His legs got wet with mud. He did find a big fig in the mud.
"It can fit in my bin," said Pip.
He put the big fig into a tin bin. Pip did a jig as he got the big fig. Then he sat by his bin.
"This is a good day," said Pip.
When i sits between two consonants, it usually says its short sound, /ĭ/, as in igloo.
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The words this story set practices, in the two groups used by the word sort.
sit, hit, bit, pig, big, dig, pin, win, lip, zip, nip
zit, bim, hig, lig, rin, mib, fip, gid, vig
Short I words to read, match and write, with pictures. Each PDF has its answer key on page 2.
The sheets above are free. The pack is every sheet for short a, i, o, e and u in order, a review set and all the answer keys, ready to print.
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4 ready-to-print PDFs for this story's short i words. Each one opens as its own file.
Cut-apart word cards to sort: Real Words or Nonsense Words. Answer key on page 2.
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More picture worksheets: beginning sounds, ending sounds, rhyming and syllables — new pictures every time you print.
A new decodable story with the same short i sounds — each comes with its own set of worksheets.
The short 'i' sound, as heard in words like "sit" and "pig," is a crucial foundational phonics pattern for kindergarteners, often introduced after short 'a'. This CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) structure is essential for early decoding. A common challenge with short 'i' is its close proximity in articulation to short 'e' and short 'u'. Young learners might confuse "pin" with "pen" or "bin" with "bun" due to subtle mouth position differences. They might also over-articulate, adding an extra schwa sound, making "dig" sound like "di-guh." Emphasizing the quick, crisp sound, almost like a tiny "ih," helps distinguish it from other vowels and prevents these common mispronunciations as they begin to read words like "kit" and "lip." Our short 'i' worksheets provide targeted practice to build fluency and accuracy. Begin with the decodable passage from "Pip's Big Fig," guiding your student to sound out each word, focusing on that distinct 'ih' sound. The word sort activity helps them categorize words like "win" and "rip," reinforcing the pattern visually and phonetically. Use the phrasing cards to practice reading short 'i' words in meaningful groups, improving reading rhythm and comprehension. Finally, the Rapid Automatic Naming (RAN) chart is excellent for building speed and automaticity with our target words such as "tin," "zip," and "fig," allowing students to recognize these high-frequency short 'i' words instantly.
For more early literacy resources, explore our sight word flashcards, tracing worksheets, handwriting worksheets, and coloring pages.
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