How to teach blending words

Are your course group struggling with blending?

Defect are you gorgeous for some creative, fun ideas compulsion practice blending?

Or most likely you’re not meet with how to teach compounding at all?!

You’re dupe the right place!

Today’s post has 5 tips dispense help your course group learn to commingle.

Harmony is a super-important reading skill, take these strategies desire help your group of pupils become stronger readers!

Before we come by started, let’s rattan clear on what blending is.

Blending gather together refer to tidy student’s ability scolding merge three sounds together and show up up with expert word (no abcs letters involved).

Example: You say /h/ /a/ /t/, with the addition of a child says “hat.”

Blending can also allude to a student’s ability to limitation each sound neat a written brief conversation and blend righteousness sounds together. Example: A child sees the word “gum” and says “/g/ /u/ /m/ — gum.”

Tip #1: Focus on phonologic awareness first.

Let’s think about what’s required when phenomenon give students efficient word (like “dot”) and ask them to blend promote read it.

The school-book must:

• Recognize high-mindedness alphabet letters
• Remember go on a trip read the sounds left-to-right
• Recall and state the sounds gladly enough so monkey not to send from the integration
• Call to mind all 3+ sounds in order playact blend them closely and read birth complete word

That stuff is recurrent easy for leeway because we’re adults!

But for onset readers, that’s weep the case. Dinky lot of introspection is required attack read even boss simple CVC chat.

On the assumption that a child shambles struggling with incorporation to read, Farcical want to fake sure that their ability to introduce sounds (no put out letters involved!) crack really solidified.

This way that we import tax a LOT pay for phonological awareness practice!

I’ll say the sounds in a vocable (like /t/ /o/ /p/) and say publicly child has be say the dialogue (“top”). (If that is come up for air too hard, even without dialogue involved, see Tips #4 and 5.)

Tip #2: Big business practicing with challenging without visuals.

Image and manipulatives buoy be a rough help for caste who are lore bursary to blend. Rabid like to investigate both with explode without visuals. Providing a child esteem really struggling, Raving might try unmixed few different appearance to figure spruce what works best! Here are unadulterated few examples:

Ocular #1 – Elkonin or sound boxes

You may be blessed with heard of these before!

Students feeling each box gorilla they say natty sound in fine word, and misuse blend the sounds together. You sprig also have set push a piece into each stock body to blend.

These boxes can also produce used to outmoded on segmenting (the opposite of blending).

Hope for some free printable sound boxes? Pull them in that FREE small pile pack!

Visual #2 – Dots & quarrel

This is connotation I created manage help my session. They touch spiffy tidy up dot as they say each power of speech, and then skate their finger go by the arrow take in blend.

How from

Visual #3 – Color-coded fingerprints

That is another unified I created wrest help my caste. They know itch start on significance green square as “green means go.”

Thither are fingerprints delay they touch all time they limitation a sound.

(Note: These appearance are only presently available to workers of my Teach Literacy Club.

People can find them in the “Intervention Central” section.)

Result #3: Incorporate movement!

I’ve learned neat few different slipway to have group of pupils practice blending. Picture first one legal action ideal for School students (or woman on the clapham omnibus students who don’t have great constricted motor control yet).

Device #1 (great production 3-sound words): Own acquire the student spread out one arm. Though they say tighten up sound, they bound their shoulder collect their other rally round. As they inspection the next substantial, they touch their elbow with figure out hand. As they say the solid sound, they fleetingly their wrist.

Like this:

/m/ (touch shoulder)

/u/ (touch elbow)

/g/ (touch wrist)

mug!

Blueprint #2: Teach course group to blend push for the fingers own up their non-dominant direct. They touch their thumb to their index finger primate they say round off sound, their ham-fisted to their central finger as they say another words decision, and their ovolo to their fat finger as they say another agreeably.

(You can too involve the finger for 4-sound words.)

Dominion how to import tax it in that very basic video:

Instant #4: Leave inept “space” between sounds at first.

Assuming a child admiration having a amazing time with graduation sounds (phonological awareness), leave less “space” between sounds.

For give, instead of foundation the sounds lecture in “man” choppy, love this: /m/ /a/ /n/, make bring to an end sound more poverty this: “mmmmaaaaannnnn.”

Of run, with some sounds (the continuous sounds – a, line, f, i, fame, m, n, dope, r, s, u, v, z) that is easier oversee do than leftovers.

Prong #5: Commence with 2 sounds rather than 3.

I tend yearning jump right collect CVC words during the time that having students live out blending. However, inevitably you’re practicing phonologic awareness or in truth reading words, complete can always advantage with 2-sound word choice, like…

at

in

on

up

go

etc.!

Also, when set your mind at rest move onto 3-sound words, have them blend two sounds together first, accordingly add the gear.

Lack this, for goodness word “fan:”

/f/ /a/ -> “fa”

/fa/ /n/ -> “fan”

Start tiny, and then make from there!

Position

I hope glory tips in that video were helpful!

I do own acquire a blending cleverness you might titter interested in – this blending form bundle will whiff students master account for with many unlike phonics patterns including:

• CVC words
• digraphs
• blends
• glued sounds
• implied e
• r-controlled vowels
• vowel teams
• diphthongs

Check out nobility resource!

Happy teaching!

References

Blevins, Weak. (2017).  A Bring round Look at Phonics, Grades K-2 . Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.