Letter Sound Pronunciation Can Make it Difficult to Blend Words
Some beginning readers struggle to blends words together as they read. There are many reasons for this. Just one reason is that letter sounds can be distorted when we say them. Take for instance the sound of b. Many of us make it sound like this: /buh/. When we ask kids to sound out bag, it may end up sounding like /buh-a-guh/. And then we wonder why our child can’t blend those three simple sounds to form the word! 🙂
Word Families Can Help Kids Blend Words
While it is very helpful to try making letter sounds without including a voiced sound behind them {hard to do in some situations}, it is also beneficial to blend words together without separating every single sound in the word. So instead of reading it b-a-g, the child would read the word in two chunks like this: b-ag. Even more effective is to use word families (words that rhyme and are spelled the same) while working on blending words. Using word families is ideal because it helps young readers look for and use the patterns (or word chunks) to read or write other words that share that same pattern.
Flip A Word: A Short Vowel Game for Blending Words {FREE}
Today, I’m sharing a free short vowel word family activity that will help kids use the blending method of chunking by patterns in a hands-on way. If you’ve used any of my Set 1 BOB Book printables, you’ll recognize it! It’s called Flip a Word and it’s highly effective for kids who are struggling to blend words together. It’s also effective for young readers who are just beginning to work on word families. {The link to download is at the end of the post.}
In the pack are 10 different word families. Each word family has a Flip a Word Template, where you staple papers for beginning letters and pictures. Pictures can be drawn by the child or he can use the pictures I’ve provided to cut and paste them onto the papers {-an example above}. Once it’s complete, kids practice flipping and blending the word family words together!
Click HERE to download this Flip a Word: Short Vowel Word Family Pack
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~Becky
Thank you for everything you do. I just started homeschooling my kindergarten daughter and all of your kits/printables are just we we need, often just when we need it. Thank you for what you do!
You are very welcome. 😀
What a great idea for reinforcing phonics skills, Becky! Thanks so much for sharing your printable! I featured your printable as the Free Printable of the Day at the Living Montessori Now Facebook page and on Pinterest. 🙂
Thank you, Deb!
What a great resource for new readers!