Quick Tips to Help Students Blend Sounds Accurately

Here are some quick and simple instructional tips that with help you better support your students as they start to apply their phonics skills.

Do:

model saying and blending sounds....thinking out loud to show students what it should sound like in their head (this is not natural for many students, they need a model)
provide structured opportunities on a daily basis to apply grapheme knowledge and blending...this could be on a blending board, a slides presentation projected, or pocket chart....just one word at a time....focus on the process and only include sounds that have already been taught
give students frequent opportunities to practice blending with sounds they have already learned on a more independent level....use decodable readers or decodable sentences to promote the feel of blending words while reading in a safe and successful setting
reassure students to say the sounds out loud and then blend them together (stretch the sounds so they touch each other)....some students need more support moving from saying the sounds out loud to saying them in their head....they may need more explicit instruction and practice

Try This- Work in a small group or one on one with those students that are struggling with making the blending leap. Practice using a blending board or decodable word cards to be very targeted. Point to each sound and tell students to say the sound in their head, just point don't make a noise....then swipe under and say the word slowly. This may start by just doing it all out loud until the students are blending accurately. Then switch to the "in your head" individual sounds before swiping.

Don't:

teach a number of phonics patterns at once
present decodable words that are too complex, this is a chance to practice and learn not a time to learn new or random patterns
be inconsistent......make sure that you are deliberately and explicitly engaging in blending activities

If you're looking for decodable resources to use with your students, stop by my TPT store Simply Primary and check out the sets of decodable readers and decodable sentences.

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