Is your kindergartner learning the ck digraph? Ck Is a consonant digraph, or two or more letters that make one sound. Consonant digraphs differ from consonant blends. For example, consonant blends are two or more letters that make two or more sounds like sp, dr, gr, spl, nd, nt…etc. In contrast, consonant digraphs make one sound and include ck, sh, th, ch, wh, tch…etc. Usually, kindergartners learn constant digraphs first.

ck digraph story for kindergartners

At this point in reading instruction, kids should read simple easily decodable text. If you give struggling readers texts that are too hard, they will panic and begin guessing. A guessing habit is very difficult to break. Plus, it is unhelpful. Us expert readers don’t guess. We know with certainty how to pronounce the words on the page.

Teach beginning readers how to decode using simple phonics books like the following book The Stuck Truck. In the following free ck digraph book, kids can practice their sound-by-sound reading skills. Kindergartners can also learn a few sight words. Here is the free ck digraph story:

ck book

I hope your student likes the above ck digraph story! Reading Elephant offers a printable phonics books library.

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Sight Words

In the free book “The Stuck Truck,” the following are sight words: do, the, to, other, said, different, have, there, was, they, sometimes. For more on sight words, check out: What are Sight Words?

Consonant Digraph Books

If you’d like more free consonant digraph books, check out our free sh book and th book. Reading Elephant phonics books teach the following consonant digraphs:

sh as in wish

th as in bath

th as in then

ch as in chop

_tch as in batch

_ck as in deck

_ing as in king

_ng as in long

_ang as in sang

wh_ as in when

Decodable books

Decodable books and phonics books are the same thing. They provide children with a step-by-step approach to learning to read. As a result, the language in phonics books is limited, only incorporating words with phonics sounds the child has already learned. As a result, kids can confidently read sound-by-sound and build decoding skills.

Unfortunately, many whole language books masquerade as phonics books. Whole language books use repetition and pictures that help kids guess at the words. They also encourage kids to look at the first letter to guess.

While some kids can learn to read with whole language books, all kids can learn to read with phonics. If your student is struggling to read, immediately remove whole language books. They worsen the problem.

If you have a student that has a sad, lost look in his eye, you know intuitively he’s struggling. When you give him an assessment, you realize his reading skills are even worse than you thought. Can he read fin, map, sap? No. He is missing the most fundamental aspect of reading: the ability to blend letter sounds and short vowels.

Reading Elephant phonics books introduce short vowels systematically. That way, struggling readers can learn to read too. Some claim phonics is boring. But kids desperately want to read. They are excited when they discover they can unlock words and enter a realm the adult world covets.

To many kids, phonics is fun because it allows them to read successfully. It erases that look of desperation on their faces. It takes away the shame of illiteracy.