A beginning reader will benefit from practice with a few two letter phonograms and blends. Most readers will learn phonograms and blends not specifically taught if they are given the opportunity to practice and over learn sounding out words with some of the most common phonograms and blends.
Phonograms and blends can be introduced, practiced and taught while reading books.
Blends are tricky for some beginning readers. You can teach blending the letter sounds quickly together with magnetic letters.
When practicing blends I suggest teaching a few at a time with similar sounds.
L Family - cl, sl, fl, pl, bl, gl R Family - br, cr, dr, fr, pr, tr, gr Starting with S - sl, st, sp, sn, sc, sw, sk, sm Starting with T - tr, tw Starting with C - cl, cr Starting with F - fl, fr Starting with B - bl, br Starting with P - pl, pr Starting with G - gl, gr Three Letter Blends - scr, spr, str, spl
Here's a video showing how I teach blends with a beginning reader.
Practicing blends can be fun. It will help your beginning reader a ton. Try a few a day. Let your child think of some words with different blends. Practice making words with short vowels, long vowels, and vowel sound phonograms (ee, ay, ai, ow, ou, oy, oi, aw, au, ew, ui, oo, ea, ar, er, ir, ur, or, oa, ey, ei, ie, igh, eigh, oe, ough, and eu)
Practice making the short u sound with a child. Make sure the child is able to make the correct sound. The C stands for consonant and the V stands for vowel. Explain which is which to a child.
The CVC rule gives a new reader a clue to use a short vowel sound. I explain it this way. The vowel is all alone in the middle. The vowel is shy and makes a short sound instead of shouting his own name.
There are exceptions, but they usually follow a spelling pattern. (find, grind, old, cold, sold, told, wild, child, mild) I've found that vowels alone in the middle of consonants usually make a long sound next to a blend or two consonants together. These seem to be the rule breakers.
Here's a video of me teaching how to blend the sounds and read the words using magnetic letters.
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.
and Phonics Pathways: Simple Exercises to Improve Reading Fluency
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