Learning to read can be overwhelming for a beginning reader. First, they need phonemic awareness to recognize letters and attach sounds to those letters. Next, they need to be able to blend two or more sounds together. And finally, they need to make meaning of the sounds to form and comprehend words. Any of these steps can be a struggle for a beginning reader, and some kids struggle with every one of these steps.
If your child is struggling with blending letter sounds, know that it is a very common challenge for new readers. The good news is, you can help them at home. You don’t need to be a reading teacher to support your emerging reader. With just a little bit of time, patience, and knowledge, you can help get your child blending and reading in no time!
Step 1 – Phonemic Knowledge
Before your child can blend sounds, they need the phonemic understanding to recognize that each letter has a sound (sometimes more than one), and they need to be able to recognize which letter goes with which sound. For example, “b” is always “b” like ball. The tricky part is that there are 26 letters in the English language that produce 44 sounds. And, some sounds make a completely new sound when combined with another sound. The “s” and “h” make different sounds when they are separate, but when you put them together (sh), they make a completely new sound.
This is really confusing and overwhelming for a new reader. Typically, phonics instruction begins with the primary sounds for consonants, and short vowel sounds. As beginning readers master the primary consonant and short vowel sounds, they move on to long vowel, digraphs, and trigraphs. If your child is just beginning to read, you should focus on short vowel and primary sounds for consonants.
To determine what letters and sounds your early reader knows, give them a little assessment. Don’t assume they know letters and sounds, some kids are really good at faking it. Write all of the letters of the alphabet on a piece of paper, or note card and ask them what the letter is, and what sound the letter makes. For the letter “c,” they will probably use the hard “c” sound, such as “cat.” That is the appropriate sound for a beginning reader. The soft “c,” such as “cent,” comes later. If they say the secondary sound first “s” for “c,” ask them if they know another sound that letter makes. If they don’t, they don’t know “c” yet. If they know “c” for “cat” and not “c” for “cent,” that is totally appropriate for a beginning reader. For vowels, they should know the short vowel sound – “a” for “apple,” not “a” for “ate.”
If they don’t know their letter sounds, it’s time to practice. They should know the five short vowel sounds and the 21 primary consonant sounds with automaticity in order to begin blending. Of course, you can start practicing phonics by having them blend just the consonants and vowels that they know, but they will eventually need to know them all. You can use my sound cards to help your child learn letter sounds if they are struggling.
Step 2 – Blending Two Letters
Once they have the first step of phonics down, you can start having them blend two letters together. You can just write the letters on a piece of paper or whiteboard. When they can blend two sounds, move to three sounds. Initially, stick with the order of consonant-vowel (CV), then consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC).
To make this fun with my reading intervention students, I write the vowels on individual post it notes and put them in one pile. I then write the consonants on post it notes in another pile. I draw three boxes on a whiteboard (but paper is fine), and put a vowel in the middle. I have the child tell me the vowel sound. Then I let them pick a consonant to put in the front box. Now blend those two. If they can do two, I let them pick another consonant to put in the last box. Now blend all three. What kind of silly word did we make? They can play around with the consonant sounds, trying different consonants at the beginning and end. Make sure you eventually practice all of the vowels and consonants. Important note: Only practice short vowel sounds at this time. In the example below, they shouldn’t read “be” as be, they should read it as “beh.”
If your child is struggling to identify which letters go with which sounds, try weaving it into your day. For example, at breakfast, ask what letter they think “eggs” starts with. What letter does “milk” start with?
If your child is struggling to remember the letter sounds, you can print my sound cards, and place them on the table together as a visual reminder for your child. You can also use them instead of post-its or note cards until all of the letter sounds have been memorized.
Step 3 – Repeat, Practice, Repeat, Phonics, Phonics, More Phonics
If your child isn’t “getting it” right away, don’t panic. Some kids just need a LOT of phonics practice before it clicks. Just keep practicing over, and over, again. Try different strategies. Use paper, images, whiteboards – whatever works best for your child.
Most importantly, relax. If you’re anxious about their reading ability, they’ll be anxious about their reading ability. If you make phonics practice feel like “work,” they won’t want to practice phonics. The more your beginning reader practices phonics, the better they’ll get. Celebrate their little wins to keep them motivated. Did they finally get all five vowel sounds without needing images as a reminder? Win! Celebrate! Are then now able to quickly differentiate the b and d? Big win!
Nearly everyone can learn to read with direct instruction. Some beginning readers just need more explicit instruction than classroom teachers have time to do, but eventually, they’ll get it.
Step 3 – Reading CVC Words
Once your child is able to blend letter sounds, they can begin to read simple consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words. Help them succeed by providing them with decodable texts that are simple to read. Decodable texts are texts that provide explicit phonics practice. If your child is focused on the short “a” sound, the text should mostly have short “a” words. An example would be a text about A fat cat. A fat cat sat. If you’re looking for practice worksheets, visit my product page, or my Etsy store for printable worksheets.
Now is the time to really get them practicing. The more they read, the better they will read.
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. However, I only recommend products that I use and love.
If you are interested in a complete no-prep curriculum that you can do at home with your beginning reader, you might want to check out my phonics curriculum on Amazon.
Leave a Reply