Teach Blending Sounds to Read Words

A child must learn to blend sounds in words to be able to read a word. Some letter sounds can be stretched and are called continuous sounds. Words with these sounds in the beginning are easiest for most children to read. Some letter sounds can only be made for an instant and are called stop sounds. These sounds make blending the sounds together in a word more difficult. It is best to use these sounds at the end of a word when teaching a child to blend sounds together in words.

Examples:
mom - (mmmm-oooo-mm) A reader can stretch out the sounds of m and o until he or she is ready to make the next sound.

dad - (d - aaaaad) A reader may have a more difficult time reading a word with a stop sound at the beginning of a word. There may be a long pause until he or she makes the next sound making it more difficult for the brain to hear the word.

Try out this short list of words. Teach a beginning reader to hold the sound of each letter until the next letter sound is made. You can write these words or use magnetic letters.
sun, fun, run, ran, no, not, fog, frog, ant, man, rat, ran, fan, sit, sat, mat, wet, let, fat, fast
Here's a video of me demonstrating blending.


I taught my daughter to blend sounds with Phonics Pathways: Clear Steps to Easy Reading and Perfect Spelling and Phonics Pathways: Simple Exercises to Improve Reading Fluency.