Muddy Mug Passage Worksheet 3rd Grade Phonics Intervention
Mrs. Lushin's Muddy Mug
Name:
Date:
Focus Sound: Short Vowels (CVC Words) Read the story carefully.
Mrs. Lushin had a red mug. It was her best mug. Inside was hot tea. Mrs. Lushin went to sit on a big log in the sun.
Oh no! A big, fat bug hit her leg! Mrs. Lushin let go of the mug. The red mug fell in the wet mud. It did not break, but it was very dirty.
A sad Mrs. Lushin got a wet rag. She did rub, rub, rub. Now the red mug is clean! She can sit back on the big log in the hot sun and sip her tea.
Story Sound Keys:
Short A: sad, rag Short I: sit, big, sip Short O/E: log, hot, leg, red Short U: mug, sun, bug, mud, rub
Literal Recall Questions
1. What did Mrs. Lushin drop in the wet mud?
2. Why did Mrs. Lushin let go of her red mug?
3. How did Mrs. Lushin make her mug clean again?
Unit: Short Vowel Interventions Passage & Assessment Grade 3 Literacy
Muddy Mug Reading Slides 3rd Grade Phonics Intervention
Short Vowel Focus
Mrs. Lushin's Muddy Mug
Let's read a CVC word story together and find clues!
Lesson Slide Deck
Ready to begin? Next slide
Sound Warm-Up Phonics Challenge
Let's Warm Up our Reading Voices!
Blend these short vowel words. Can you read them in a snap?
Short A
sad
rag
Short I
sit
big
sip
Short O/E
log
hot
leg
Short U
mug
sun
bug
Blend & Tap Practice
Ready to read the story?
The Story: Part 1
Read Together
Mrs. Lushin had a red mug. It was her best mug. Inside was hot tea.
Mrs. Lushin went to sit on a big log in the sun.
Active Reading
What happens next?
The Story: Part 2
Sudden Event!
Oh no! A big, fat bug hit her leg!
Mrs. Lushin let go of the mug. The red mug fell in the wet mud!
Problem in the Story
How does she fix it?
The Story: Part 3
Happy Ending
A sad Mrs. Lushin got a wet rag. She did rub, rub, rub.
Now the red mug is clean! She can sit in the hot sun and sip her tea.
Story Completed!
Let's talk about it
Discussion Time
Literal Recall Quest
Can You Find the Answers?
1
What did Mrs. Lushin drop in the wet mud?
Hunt for CVC clues!
2
Why did Mrs. Lushin let go of her red mug?
Hunt for CVC clues!
3
How did Mrs. Lushin make her mug clean again?
Hunt for CVC clues!
Oral Comprehension Check Great job today!
Muddy Mug Lesson Plan Intervention Guide • Short Vowels
Mrs. Lushin's Lost Mug: Teacher Plan
Grade 3 Tier 2/3
Objective CVC Decoding & Literal Recall
Pacing 20-25 Minutes
Materials Slide Deck & Passage Sheet
Intervention Small Group (3-5 Students)
Instructional Flow
01 Warm-Up & Tap Practice (5 mins)
Project Slide 2. Practice sound-by-sound blending. Have students tap physical tables for each phoneme (e.g., /m/ - /u/ - /g/). Focus on vocalizing crisp short vowel sounds.
02 Choral / Echo Slide Reading (8 mins)
Read Slides 3-5 together. First read: teacher models fluent pacing. Second read: echo reading. Third read: students choral read the slide. Call out focus colored words.
03 Independent Passage Reading (5 mins)
Distribute Muddy Mug Passage Worksheet. Students whisper-read independently while teacher monitors individual fluency. Instruct students to underline CVC words they struggle with.
04 Written Comprehension & Check (5 mins)
Guide students to answer the 3 written questions. Encourage them to point to the exact sentence in the text where the answer is found before writing. Review together.
Teacher Script Snippets
Pre-Reading: "Today, we're joining Mrs. Lushin on a messy quest. Before we start, let's look at this word: m-u-g. What is the vowel? Show me the /u/ sound."
During Reading: "Look at Mrs. Lushin's red mug. Oh no, a bug hit her leg! Let's find the words on this page that have the short /u/ sound."
Literal Focus: "We don't need to guess! The story tells us the exact answer. Find the word 'rag' on your sheet."
Watch Out For...
Mixing up short /u/ and short /o/ (e.g., reading "mud" as "mod").
Rushing past punctuation, causing loss of literal comprehension.
Inventing answers based on illustrations instead of looking at the text.
Question Answer Key & Assessment Guide
Q1: What did she drop? She dropped her red mug in the wet mud.
Look-for: Direct text match ("red mug").
Q2: Why let go? A big, fat bug hit her leg .
Look-for: Causal linkage to the bug hitting leg.
Q3: How made clean? She got a wet rag and did rub, rub, rub.
Look-for: Mention of the wet rag or rubbing.
Unit: Short Vowel Interventions Teacher Instruction Resource Grade 3 Literacy