Learning to Read - Consonant Blends in Phonics

Consonant blends are tricky for children. Examples of consonant blends include: s blends as in stop, slow, small and snow. When teaching students consonant blends, make sure they hear the sounds correctly. Some children may not be able to hear each consonant sound that is in a consonant blend. This is why you should avoid these tricky combinations of consonants until individual sounds have been mastered. Then they can be taught to hear two consonants come together to form a blend.

Beginning blends occur at the start of the word. For example L blends such as CLown and CLoud have the C and L at the beginning. Final blends, also called ending blends, occur at the end of a word. These blends are grouped by the ending letters. For example, the final letter in 'last' is an "s" and 't' consonant blend. The "n" final consonant blend is found in words such as nd, sand, and skunk.

Many kids struggle with the consonant blends when they start to learn to read. In order to help children develop this ability, they must learn the letters that form the blends of the two consonants. For example, the letter "c" can be used as an aid for the /k/ sound which combines with 'r' to form the 'cr' blend. When reading, it's important to recognize the subtle difference between a cr and a gr-sound for instance. As there are a couple of elisions in blends, they can make it difficult to differentiate between the two types of phonemes.

As children progress through the Kiz Phonics program, they will become skilled at sounding out consonant blends accurately.