Blending Practice

Alright, we have made it through the introduction of the first 26 phonograms!  Wahoo!  Now we also finished our phonogram review and have started to dig deeper into segmenting and blending to read.
I love this time of year.

There are many different ways we teach blending in Kindergarten.  Each teacher has his/her own unique way (or a way your basal tells you ;) ) to intro blending.  If your like me, you probably sneak some blending into each lesson LONG before you explicitly teach it.  Sneaky sneaky!  I love giving my kids an opportunity to hear something being used while I am thinking aloud - even if I have not explicitly taught it yet.
We do TONS of blending activities as a class. We do TONS of blending with to sound words.  We do TONS of blending with simple CVC words as a group before I 'release' them!

The way I introduce it in independent practice is with our Underwater Words station.  This station is a great transition from sounds to words.

I break the cards into groups. (I use six groups in my room).  I introduce a new group of cards as the kids get more comfortable with the phonograms we have been learning in class.  Most of the groups include a few phonograms and some simple words using those phonograms. 
At this station, the kids can pull a card down and say either the sound or blend to read.  If he/she can read it, he/she can keep it.  If the card cannot be read, it goes back onto the board.  The kiddo with the most cards at the end is the winner!

I just attach some magnet tape and stick them to a magnetic surface.  My students LOVE this station.  They espcially love when I change out the set of cards.  Challenge time!


I also created a couple other blending games.  In Alien Words, the kids are practicing blending simple CVC words.  Some are real words and some are nonsense words.

The cards can be placed face down.  Each player will take a turn to grab a card.  If the card is read/blended correctly, the student can keep the card in his/her stack. If the card was not read correctly the player puts it back in the pile to be read another time.  If you are playing with your students, you can read/blend it correctly and then put it back in the pile.  If a player pulls our an ALIEN all of his/her cards must be read and placed back into the pile.  BUMMER!

The words in this pack sequence from simple to complex to fit the needs of all my learners.

We also use a game called Bubble Gum Words.

Students will get a chance to decode words and decide if they are real or nonsense by sorting them into the appropriate squares.
Also included in the pack is an accountability worksheet – a great way for you to manage student participation while you are working with another group.

I love blending.  I hope you love this activities and kind find a use for then in your classroom.


What is your favorite way to have your kiddos work independently with blending?