Learning to Blend Onset and Rime

Part of the series Synthetic Phonics.

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Phonological awareness (and more specifically phonemic awareness) appears to unlock the mystery of word recognition and spelling. Once a child is conscious of the sounds that comprise words, the mapping of the sounds to the alphabetic system occurs with much greater ease.

The phonemic awareness pre-requisite for reading simple regular CVC [consonant-vowel-consonant] words such as ‘fig’, ‘tin’ and ‘mat’ is the skill of blending.

First students must learn to blend at an onset and rime level. E.g. ‘Listen carefully and put these sounds together and guess this word:’ ‘f’ (one second pause) ‘ig’?’

Students then learn to blend at the phonemic or individual sound level: E.g. ‘Listen carefully and put these sounds together and guess this word; ‘m’ (one second pause) ‘a’ (one second pause) ‘t’? Answer: ‘mat’.

The Phonemic Awareness Skill for Reading: Blending

Despite the research supporting the importance of blending, this skill is too often overlooked. The negative side of presenting reading activities without attention to the pre-requisite skill is that it does not set up all children for success. Within Learning to Blend Onset and Rime for Early Years and Foundation, the phonemic awareness skill of blending is targeted. Blending represents an immediate precursor to decoding ability. The colour card sets form the basis of short explicit instruction sessions. The scripted instructions provide clear guidelines on how to effectively teach blending. When this program is used in conjunction with screening this program forms a significant component in a school’s preventative/early intervention strategy.

Includes:

• A no-preparation required spiral bound A5 full colour flip book.
• Introduction/Note from the author.
• Over 40 coloured picture which develop the skill of blending.
• Each card has specific scripted instructions.
• A progress check/skill assessment to review readiness for reading.

Aim for 2-3 minutes of blending several times a day.