Read-Along Book 1 · Short a
The Fat Cat
A fat cat naps on a mat, and a rat taps with a surprise in its bag.
Warm up: Short a words
Heart words
Tap a word to hear it, then sound it out.
Cover
Each page reads itself aloud when you turn to it. Words with a red dotted line are heart words.
Reading The Fat Cat together
- Warm up on the cover: tap each short a word, then Sound it out.
- Turn the page and listen as each word lights up. Point along with your finger.
- Switch to I read first when your child is ready to try each page before hearing it.
- Finish with the word hunt: hear a word, find it, and celebrate.
Words in this book
Short a words: cat, fat, sat, mat, nap, rat, ran, bag, tap, jam. Heart words, learned by heart: a, the. Every other word in the book uses sounds a beginner has already met, so your child can sound out the whole story.
Why one vowel at a time?
Early readers do best with books they can actually decode. Practicing one short vowel in many words (and a few silly rhymes) builds the blending skill that turns letter sounds into fluent reading.
Bring it to a lesson
These tools pair with the full curriculum — guided lessons that teach each concept, then send you here to see it and practice.