Blending Those Letters Together
Is your child having trouble blending letters?
Begin by teaching your child the sound represented by all the alphabet letters.
When you come to the vowels, teach just short vowel sounds at first.
Don’t worry about the long vowel sounds yet. A good systematic phonics program such as Candy 4WAY Phonics for just $9.97 will introduce plenty of practice with short vowel blending. Long vowels will be taught after your child has become proficient and fluent in blending short-vowel words.
Pronounce each letter sound correctly and have your child repeat the sound.
For example, the letter d does not say “duh.” It says “d.”
To print rhyming flashcards for all the letter sounds, go to http://www.candy4wayphonics.com/free_phonics_stuff.htm
The rhyming flashcards found at this webpage give a picture along with each letter sound to help the child associate and remember what each letter sounds like. Eventually, cover up the pictures so that the child sees only the letters.
Have your child loudly “punch” the vowels when speaking them aloud so that he can easily hear the distinction between their sounds. Hearing and speaking this distinction is vital!
After your child can accurately repeat all the letter sounds without the use of pictures, he is ready to blend a beginning consonant with a vowel.
Using what teachers call “blend ladders,”teach your child to blend two letters together in one of two ways:
1) Using a pointer, point to the beginning consonant letter, have your child say the consonant sound, and then blend that consonant sound into the vowel sound.
2) Using a pointer, point to the vowel first and have your child repeat the vowel. Then, using a pointer, take your child back to the beginning consonant sound and blend that consonant sound into the vowel sound (see illustration in blue – below)
Either way, be sure and use a pointer (the point of a pencil will work fine). Use the pointer to focus your child’s eyes where you want them to be focused.
When blending a consonant with a vowel, sweep the pointer under the consonant and then under both the consonant and the vowel at the same time your child blends the two letters together. Move your pointer slightly faster than the child pronounces the blend.
Some children pick up blending right away while others may learn gradually over an extended period of time (days, weeks, or months.), and others suddenly “get it” when you least expect it.
The key is to present that very first blending lesson every day, twice a day, calmly and patiently always presenting that very first blending lesson as if it’s the first time you’ve ever given the lesson. Your goal is to convince your child he is smart and to give him the time he needs to “catch on” to blending, no matter how long that takes. This one skill, blending, will make the difference in your child’s reading abilities for the rest of his life!
Once your child has learned to blend two letters, he will be ready to tack on a third consonant letter in order to read three-letter, short-vowel words.
After that, he will need to go through a systematic phonics program that will carry him step-by-step through plenty of practice reading short vowel words that begin with single consonants and then on to short vowel words that begin with consonant digraphs. He’ll also need that phonics program to help him through long-vowel sounds and then through all the other phonograms.
I guarantee you, the most affordable systematic, step-by-step phonics program out there is Candy 4WAY Phonics for just $9.97. Why spend $200 or $300 on a phonics curriculum, when you can spend just $9.97 and receive a COMPLETE Step-by-step, fun Phonics Curriculum that includes everything? Just look at what you’ll receive in printable format as an INSTANT DOWNLOAD that you can use as often as you like for as many children as you need:
1) An 82-page eBook entitled: How to Teach Candy’s Systematic 4WAY Phonics
2) 100 Daily, step-by-step 4WAY Phonics Lessons loaded with fun rhyme, rhythm, and alliteration
3) Candy Sequenced Story Readers interwoven into the daily lessons
4) Colored Alphabet Rhyming Phonics Charts with Multisensory Vowel Helps
5) Colored Rhyming Alphabet Flashcards
6) Colored Lifetime Rhyming Phonics Charts to give your child a lifetime of phonogram retention.
7) Continuous Daily Phonics Drill
FREE e-mail coaching
In addition, for just $10 more, you can receive this same COMPLETE Phonics Program on computer CD-Rom that includes an Audio CD where you can hear every letter and every word and every sentence read aloud for all 100 Daily Phonics Lessons.
Candy 4WAY Phonics is: Parent/friendly Affordable Printable and It Works!
Carol Kay, President
Candy 4WAY Phonics www.candy4wayphonics.com
P.S. Candy 4WAY Phonics also offers affordable, printable phonics games to further help children learn CV blends and CVC words. Did you know that 62% of the English language is made up of short vowel words and syllables (CVC words and syllables)?