Teaching Students to Blend Words

Blending sounds into words–what an exciting step in learning to read. Once students know a few consonants and vowels, we can begin to teach them how to blend those sounds into meaningful words. Blending, for some students, is a challenge. Do you have students who know their letters and sounds and can sound out any word sound-by-sound, but yet haven’t figured out how to smoothly connect the sounds? Their reading may sound something like this: “The /b/ /u/ /g/ bug is /u/ /n/ /d/ /e/ /r/ under the /r/ /u/ /g/ rug.” For these students, direct instruction in blending will be needed.

One way to begin instruction is to help students recognize patterns within words. We can do this by using common word families. Using a blending board with the word families can be helpful. You may want to visit to Using Blending Boards During Small Group Instruction. There is a video demonstration on how to use the blending boards as well as the directions for making your own board. You can also download the FREE blending cards.

I just finished these blending CVC word cards. They are available in two sizes- larger for your whole or small group instruction and small for use within the centers. There are two options for beginning blending. Students can practice blending the first 2 sounds or the final 2 sounds in the word.

These cards are available for free, just click the links below.

Click the following links to download the large and small blending cue cards: Large Blending Cards , Small Blending Cards

It’s also important that students practice skills in running text. When you click the following link, you’ll receive 28 free sentence strips Sentences for Blending Practice

The Word/Not A Word activity is a fun center activity using word families. Simply write consonants on one wooden cube and word families on another. Students take turns rolling the cube. If a word is made, the word is written under the “Word” column. If what is rolled is not a word, it is written under the “Not a Word” column. Pretty simple, but the students really enjoy it! If you download the pdf at the end of this blog post, this template is attached.

The Pocket Chart Pictures for Word Families is a great small group activity for teaching word families. This activity can be easily differentiated as you choose how many word families to use during a session.

The Make, Take & Teach Pocket Chart Pictures for Word Families is available through my online Teachers Pay Teachers store.

These Word Family Sliders are ideal for either small group instruction or for a literacy center activity. I printed the pdf file on a full sized Avery label, cut out each word family square and adhered the sticker to a Behr paint sample. Call me a bit obsessive, but I matched the color swatch to the border color. I also color-coded the letter strips to match the border. This way students can easy find the matching strip.

This activity is available for free download in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

The Cupcake Matching activity is a fun little freebie for teaching students to see patterns within word. Students create words by matching cupcake pieces. A recording form is included which makes this activity ideal for literacy centers.

The Make, Take & Teach CVC Cupcake Matching activity is available for FREE download in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

The Write-It Phonics Cards have been popular center activities. The Write-It Phonics Cards for Word Families makes for an ideal center activity. Simply print the cards and then laminate. Students build words and then write their words on the lines provided. Wipe the cards clean and they can be used over and over again.

The Write-It Phonics Cards for Word Families is available through my online Teachers Pay Teachers store.

The Race Car Blending activity is an all-time student favorite! It’s amazing how motivating a little dollar store car can be. For this activity, students move the race car across the letters while saying the letter sounds. It’s a fun and innovative way to teach blending.