Today, we’re going to zero in on phoneme blending. This is the next post in the series, 3 Important Skills Needed for Reading.
But first, if you missed yesterday’s post on Phoneme Isolation, I highly recommend you go back and read it before reading this one. It gives more background to what a phoneme is and where to start with phonemes.
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Phoneme Blending
There is A LOT of “meat” when it comes to phoneme blending {or blending sounds in words}. Be sure you model these skills before you ask your child to try them. Let her hear and see you do them before you set her free to try. This will help to alleviate frustration on the part of your child (and yours as well!) Be sure to check out the list of FREE resources at the end!
Blending with Onsets and Rimes
Activities with onsets & rimes are a great way to start with phonemic manipulation. For reference, “onset” just means the first sound(s) before the vowel in the word and “rime” refers to the last part of the word. Single syllable words are the best place to start. For example, in the word bug, the b is the onset and the -ug part is the rime. If the word were plug, pl- would be the onset and -ug would be the rime. We often refer to “rime” as the word family.
- To begin with onset and rime, use some picture cards (or an object/toy from around your house) of single syllable words. The objects could be: cup, cat, dog, bug, goat. Lay the picture cards/objects onto the floor or table area. Say the name of one of the objects by segmenting it into the onset and rime, pausing in between the two (c-up, c-at, d-og, b-ug, and so on). The child has to find the object/picture card to which you are referring.
- We like to do the above activity when reading I Spy books. ALuv has been fascinated with these books for about a year now. Instead of saying, “I spy a duck”, sometimes I’ll say, “I spy a d-uck.” He has to put those sounds together and figure out what I spy. This is another way to practice listening for sounds in words.
Moving from Phonemes to Phonics with Onset and Rime:
- Once your child seems to have a grasp for blending together the onset and rimes, written word family games are fun (if you are using the written symbols, you’ve stepped into the phonics world). I highly recommend starting with SHORT VOWEL words, like I mention in this post.
- To keep it extremely simple, write a rime, such as -at, on an index card. On other index cards write a few onsets: b, c, f, m, r, and so on. Place the onsets upside down and as you draw one, add it to -at to make a word. It will sound like this /b/-/at/: bat! You could make it silly by placing some onsets in the mix that would not make real words, such as gat. When you add silly words to the mix, make sure you ask your child, “Is it a real or silly word?”
- We have lots of word family activities on the blog. Some include: Word Family Flip a Word, Word Family Blackout, LEGO Word Family Sorting, BOB Books printables {Set 1}, BOB Books printables {Rhyming Words}.
Individual Blending:
- Once a child can blend together onset and rime chunks to make words, a good thing to try is blending together individual sounds to make a word. For example, “Listen to me say this word in a funny way: /d/-/o/-/t/. {separate each sound}. Can you tell what word I was saying?” (dot)
- You can also do this with picture cards or objects. Lay several out in front of your child and say, “Can you find the /h/-/a/-/t/?”
- I like to do this with our I Spy books, like I mentioned above. “I spy a /d/-/u/-/k/ (duck).” This is a great way to model this skill!
- Check out the awesome blending game I discovered just this week on Stay and Play. I’ve only seen portions of her blog and already know I’m going to LOVE it!
Live literacy with these skills. Try them in the van, doctor’s office, anywhere you may have to wait or have some down time. Make it a game…make it fun! When you need your child to get a cup for their juice, say, “Can you get a c-up or /k/-/u/-/p/?”
More Resources for Phoneme Blending:
- Flip a Word (free printable)
- Teaching Young Readers to Find Patterns in Words
- Decoding Words with Word Family Chunks
- 1-2-3 Flip It!– a free printable game for blending short vowel words
- Lessons 7, 14, 20, 26, and 31 of Reading the Alphabet have onset and rime activities to help with blending words together
- The Measured Mom has several free word family house activities that help kids blend words
Find ALL our Reading Readiness printables.
Enjoy teaching!
~Becky>
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