Word Ladders CVC and CVCe Worksheets

About this resource

Cat, cot, cut. Cap, cape, tape, tap. A word ladder is one of the quickest ways to get a child reading and writing lots of short words that are almost the same, because each step up changes just one letter. This is a full word-ladder kit for kindergarten through second grade: read the ladder, write the letter, cut and glue the words, write whole words, add and take off the magic e, climb from a bottom word to a top word, fix a wrong rung, and make your own ladder. Every student page has room to write and a big "My name" line.

EVERYTHING INSIDE (35 pages)

• 18 student pages in 9 page types (below), each with a big "My name" line and one short instruction
• 31 different ladders printed on the student pages, searched in code from a 185-word bank (131 three-letter CVC words and 54 four-letter silent-e words); no ladder is on two student pages and no step (two words one letter apart) is used twice
• 15 cut-and-glue pieces: five a page on three pages, edge to edge in a 2 by 3 block
• 1 rules and word-bank page for the teacher (with a blank line for your program's own wording), 3 answer keys built from the same data as the pages, and a list of the 142 different words in the 31 practice ladders
• 1 tracker (17 rows), 1 class progress grid (15 rows), 1 team note, 1 home page with a blank ladder, 1 filled example (an invented student), 1 phrase bank (17 starters)
• 1 binder cover and 6 divider tabs with a spine label to cut out
• Start Here, a how-to-read-a-page page, and a back page

THE NINE PAGE TYPES (dots show the level, never color)

1. Ladder Helper (1 dot) — two ladders to read aloud: cat, cot, cut and cap, cape, tape.

2. Read the Ladder (1 dot, 2 pages) — three ladders a page; read up and circle the letter that changes: 30 items.

3. Climb with a Clue (1 dot, 2 pages) — a circle shows the new letter; write it in the empty box: 20 items.

4. Build the Ladder (2 dots, 3 pages) — the start word is printed; cut five word cards and glue them up the ladder: 15 pieces. Two pages are short-vowel words, one has the magic e.

5. Write the Rungs (2 dots, 2 pages) — a circle shows the new letter; write each whole word: 20 items.

6. Magic E Ladders (2 dots, 2 pages) — circles show a letter, +e or -e; write each whole word: 20 items.

7. Climb to the Top (3 dots, 2 pages) — a bottom word and a top word are printed; write the words between: 18 items.

8. Fix the Ladder (3 dots, 2 pages) — one rung is wrong: circle it and write a word that fits on primary lines: 4 ladders.

9. My Own Ladder (3 dots, 2 pages) — a start word and empty rungs; make a ladder of your own: 20 rungs.

Built For The Child Holding The Page

A big "My name" line, one short instruction with a small picture, large rounded letters, and a ladder drawn as a real ladder. Every box a child writes a letter in is 0.5 inch wide and 0.68 inch tall; the Fix the Ladder writing boxes are primary lines (top line, dashed middle, baseline) 0.85 inch tall. Nothing on a student page is written for an adult. Cutting is limited to three Build the Ladder pages: five pieces a page, touching edge to edge, each 1.8 by 1.1 inches, straight cuts only.

Type In, Or Print

The name and date lines, the tracker, the class grid, the team note, the home page and the rules-page note box are type-in fields in any PDF reader. The letters a student writes in the boxes are pencil work. This is a fillable PDF; it is not a Google Slides or PowerPoint file.

Who This Is For

Kindergarten to second grade classrooms, self-contained and resource rooms, small reading groups, and any teacher working with an older student who still needs short-vowel and magic-e practice. The home page sends the same job to a family; the team note hands off what changed since the last meeting.

What This Is, And What It Is Not

Practice with three-letter consonant-vowel-consonant words and four-letter consonant-vowel-consonant-e words, with the record-keeping around it. It is not a probe, a goal bank or a score sheet, and not a claim about any student's age or rate of progress. No blends, digraphs or vowel teams. There are no pictures of words on the student pages. On Climb to the Top and My Own Ladder any real word that is one step from its neighbors is right; the key shows one ladder that works. The rules page leaves a line for your program's own wording.