• Blending to Read Words

    blending words

    Blending is the ability to put sounds together to read a word. To read a word, children must know the sounds the letters represent in the word and be able to blend those sounds to pronounce the correct word. For example, after children know the letter sounds /­f­/ for f, /­ă­/ for a, and /­n­/ for n, they learn to blend those sounds together to read the whole word. When they see the word fan, they are able to say,"/­f­/, /­ă­/, /­n­/, fan." By the time your child reaches third grade, he or she should be able to read many words automatically, without having to think about blending the letter sounds. However, when your child encounters an unknown word, blending together the individual sounds of the letters can help him or her figure out the word.

     

    Map A Word

    Key Points About the Video
    • Mom describes that each box represents one sound. So, there may be more than one letter in each box.
    • Mom says encourages her son to say each sound in the word to help him spell the words (for example, /sh/ /ee/ /p/, /l/ /igh/ /t/, /sh/ /ĕ/ /ll/.
    • Mom is patient and encouraging.

     

     Map-A-Word

    Help your child spell and read words with different letter-sound combinations.

    How Many Words?

     
    Key Points About the Video
    • Mom has daughter spell words with letter cards and write them on the board for another opportunity to practice.
    • Mom gives hints to determine which words to spell (for example, "Sometimes I like to make the ending of the word, -at, and then change the beginning letter to see how many words we can spell.")
    • Mom describes the meaning of words that may be unfamiliar (for example, raw).

     

     How Many Words

    Help your child build, blend, and read words using letter cards.
     
     

    Building Words With r‑Controlled Vowels

     
    Key Points About the Video
    • Mom makes sure son knows what r-controlled vowels (ar, er, ir, or, ur) are before beginning the activity.
    • Mom uses words in sentences and engages son in discussions about the meanings of words (for example, march, stern, storm).
    • Mom prompts son by saying individual sounds in words to help him spell the words (for example, "Which two letters say /ch/?").

     

     Building Words With r-Controlled Vowels

    Help your child read and spell words with r-controlled vowels (ar, er, ir, or, ur).