Blending sounds

Learning to blend sounds just takes practice to get the "feel" for hearing the individual sounds of letters in words. Once the reader has a fair number of letter sounds under control, the sounds can be blended to produce words. After learning the short "a" sound and practicing it alone and in isolated two or three letter words, putting the short "a" with specific consonants helps the reader to learn how to blend the sounds. By reviewing consonant sounds briefly before endeavoring to combine them with the short "a" , success is built into the activity.

Using flashcards, write three letter words with short "a" sounds, which involve the consonants your reader has just reviewed. A short list follows:

bad ------sat----- had



ran----- cab----- map



ham -----bat----- dad



man----- can----- hat



pan----- lad----- dam



The reader will "sound" out the word by saying each letter sound in isolation to begin with; b-----a-----d-----, s-----a-----t---. Listening to someone else sound out the letters first is a great way to train auditory perception as well. When you are walking in the park, or driving down the street, sound out words using the letter sounds for your reader to identify. Have your learner sound out words for you to try and guess too.

Starting with the three letter words is the easiest approach, but if you have a student that is ready to break apart longer words like flap or crab, just keep letting the student explore new combinations, as long as the learner recognizes the extra letters as indivdualized sounds. Short "a" words can keep you busy for many days. The short sound of "e" when next we meet.

Vowel Sounds

Hello again! At this point in the learner's progress, it is time to review the number and color words for mastery. Flashcards with the words on them and a color square or number on the other side to match the word are good tools. Immediate recognition should be mastery. There is little "sounding out" that can be done with the number or color words. "Sight" words are important to reading development.


Vowel sound introduction is always started with the letter "a". Have your beginning readers say the short sound of "a" by wrinkling up their noses across the bridge of the nose when they say "A-A-A-A" as in apple. If the learners feel the bridge of their noses as they say the sound, it is a concrete way to remind them about the sound. Practice saying other words that have short "a" sounds, touching the bridge of the nose each time. Exaggerated sounds are most effective, and get the point across somewhat faster. Any short "a" words are acceptable, but a brief list follows to get you started:

act-- am-- ant-- after-- answer --and --add

bag-- map-- grab-- dad-- clap-- slam-- sand-- fat

Once your reader has an understanding of the short "a" sound, make some more flashcards with two and three letter words that have that sound. Practicing the words in print will build strength for reading the words on a page. In our next segment we will look at starting to blend sounds together. "Sounding out" words is a special skill that must be practiced, and it does not necessarily come naturally. Here's to successful nose "wrinkling"....