Blending Strategy Routine
Short Vowels
Connect: Write word. Example: brand What do you know about the vowel sounds in this
word? Today we’ll review short vowel sounds.
Use Sound-Spelling Cards
Model: When a word has just one vowel at the beginning or in the middle, it usually has a
short sound. This word has the short sound /a/. We can blend words by saying the sounds
for each letter: /b/ /r/ /a/ /n/ /d/, brand. Have children blend brand with you sound by
sound. We can also blend bigger chunks of words. I can blend this word by saying the
sounds before the vowel together, /br/, and then saying all the rest of the sounds together,
/and/. Then I blend the two chunks together: /br/ /and/, brand. Run your finger under the
onset and the rime as you model blending chunks. Do it with me.
Group Practice: Blend more words together (sang, desk, shock, wig, drum)
Review: What do you know about reading these words? One vowel at the beginning or in
the middle of a word usually has its short sound. The letters a, e, i, o, u and ea can all stand
for short vowel sounds.
Blending Strategy Routine
Long Vowels CVCe
Connect: Write cap and cape. Read cap. What vowel sound do you hear in the word
cap? (short a sound) Read the word cape. What happened to the short a sound when e
was added to the end of cap? (a stands for the long a sound. It says its name.) Today we’ll
learn about long vowel sounds.
Use Sound-Spelling Cards
Model: Write bake. When a word has a vowel followed by a consonant and an e, the
vowel usually has its long sound and the e is silent. This word has the long a sound,/a/. We
can blend the word by saying the sound for each letter: /b/ /a/ /k/. Have children blend bake
with you. We can also blend bigger chunks of words. I can blend this word by saying the
sound before the vowel /b/, and then saying all the rest of the sounds together, /ak/. Then I
blend the two chunks together: /b/ /ak/, bake. Model blending with other words like pose,
like, poke and fuse.
Group Practice: Blend these words together. Continue with words like tame, pile, hose,
and plume.
Review: What do you know about reading these words? A vowel that is followed by a
consonant and e usually says its name.
Blending Strategy Routine
Consonant Blends
Connect: Write back and wing. What do you know about the consonants at the end of
these words? (Both words end with two consonants that stand for one sound) What are the
words? Today we’ll learn about consonant letters whose sounds are blended together in
words.
Model: Write trust. This word begins with two consonants and ends with two consonants.
We have to blend two consonant sounds together to read the word. This is how I blend this
word: /t/ /r/ /u/ /s/ /t/, trust. Have children blend trust with you. You can also blend words
by saying the sounds before the vowel together, saying the sounds of the rest of the letters
together, and then blending the two chunks. Model blending /tr/ -ust, trust; then have
children blend spread with you, using onset and rime. Write spread. This word begins with
three consonants. We have to blend the sounds of all three consonants together to read the
word. Listen: /s/ /p/ /r/, /spr/. Have the children blend the consonants with you; then have
them blend the whole word using onset and rime.
Group Practice: Blend words together like ask, tribe, grand, flute, stamp, and stripe.
Review: What do you know about reading these words? They have two or three consonants
whose sounds have to be blended together to read the words.
Blending Strategy Routine
Inflected Endings
Connect: Write rained and raining. What do you know about reading these words? (Both
have a base word and an ending. Read the base word; read th ending; then blend the two
parts) Read the words together. Today you’ll learn about words whose spelling changes
before an ending is added.
Model: Write shop, shopped, shopping. The last consonant in shop, p, was doubled
before the endings were added. This happens in short vowel words such as shop that end in
just one consonant. This is how I blend these words. Cover the added consonant and ending
to read the base word; uncover and read the ending. Blend the two parts. Let’s blend these
words together: shop, ped, shopped; shop, ping, shopping. Write like, liked, liking. The e
was dropped before these endings were added. This happens if a base word ends with e, and
the ending starts with a vowel. Model blending the words; then have the children blend with
you.
Group Practice: First see if the base word had a spelling change. Then read the base
word, read the ending, and blend the two together. Continue with plans, planned, planning;
trades, traded, trading.
Review: What do you know about reading base words with endings? See if the base word
had a spelling change. Read the base word, read the ending, and then blend the two parts.
Blending Strategy Routine
Consonant Digraphs
Connect: Write disk and self. What do you know about reading these words? (They both
end with a consonant blend) Today we’ll learn about words that begin and end with two or
three consonants that stand for a single sound.
Use Sound-Spelling Cards
Model: Write ditch. The sound /ch/ can be spelled with the letters ch or tch. In the word
pitch, the letters tch stand for /ch/. Listen as I blend this word. Blend the sounds
continuously across the word. Let’s blend this word together: /p/ /i/ /ch/, pitch. Repeat steps
for shark for /sh/ (card 32), thermometer for /th/ (card 34) and whale for /wh/ (card 41).
Model blending with shape, thick, and white. Some children may notice the difference
between the sounds of th in that and th in thing. This difference will not affect children’s
ability to decode.
Group Practice: Blend these words together. Continue with which, math, those, fetch,
church, bush, shy.
Review: What do you know about reading these words? They have two or three consonants
that stand for a single sound.
Oral Rereading
Read: Have children read the entire story orally.
Reread: To achieve optimal fluency, children should reread the text three or four times.
Provide Feedback: Listen as children read and provide feedback regarding their oral
reading and their use of the blending strategy.
Fluent Word Reading
Connect: Write stock. You can read this word because you know how to read words with
short vowel sounds. What sound does the letter o stand for in this word? /o/ What’s the
word? Do the same with track, dead, peck, trunk, sing.
Model: When you come to a new word, look at the letters from left to right and think about
the vowel sounds. Say the sounds in the word to yourself and then read the word. Model
reading stack, head, step, bring, lock, jump. When you come to a new word, what are you
going to do?
Group Practice: Write dress, bread, back, rust, fist. Read these words. Look at the
letters, think about the vowel sounds, say the sounds to yourself, and then read the word
aloud together. Allow 2-3 seconds previewing time.
Nondecodable Words
Say and Spell: Look at the words. You cannot blend the sounds in these words. We will
spell the words and use letter-sounds we know to learn them. Point to the first word. This
word is country, c-o-u-n-t-r-y, country. What is this word? What are the letters in this
word?
Identify Familiar Letter-Sounds: Point to the first letter in country. What is this
letter? What is the sound for this letter? (c/k/)
Demonstrate Meaning: Tell me a sentence using this word.
Repeat this routine with other words.
Paired Reading
Reader 1 Begins: Children read the entire book, switching readers at the end of each
page.
Reader 2 Begins: Have partners reread; now the other partner begins.
Reread: For optimal fluency, children should reread three or four times.
Provide feedback: Listen to children read and provide corrective feedback regarding their
oral reading and their use of the blending strategy.
Choral Reading
Select a Passage
Divide into Groups: Assign each group a part to read.
Model: Have children track the print as you read.
Read Together: Have children read along with you.
Independent Readings: Have the groups read aloud without you. Monitor progress and
provide feedback. For optimal fluency, children should reread three to four times.
Oral Vocabulary
With the Sing with Me Big Book
Introduce the word: Relate the word to the song. Supply a child-friendly definition. Have
children say the word. Example: When astronauts ascend, they go up.
Demonstrate: Provide an example to show meaning. Example: You ascend to the second
floor when you go upstairs.
Apply: Have children demonstrate their understanding. Which of these things is most likely
to ascend—a rock, a book, or a balloon?
Display: Write the word on a card. Display it. Have children identify the sounds.
Reread for Fluency
Reader 1 Begins: Children read the entire book, switching readers at the end of each page.
Reader 2 Begins: Have partners reread; now the other partner begins.
Reread: For optimal fluency, children should reread three or four times.
Provide Feedback: Listen to children read and provide corrective feedback regarding their
oral reading and their use of blending.
ELI Vocabulary
Introduce the word. Our first word is ______________. What word?
Present a student friendly definition. (use the Amazing Words section)
Illustrate the word with examples (concrete-something students can touch; visual-a visual
representation; verbal-tell them)
Illustrate the word with an action. (Not all words loan themselves to an action)
Check for understanding using Think-Pair-Share or Choral Response such as Thumbs
up-Thumbs down.
Activity: Choose one of the following activities:
Present examples and non examples for each word
Ask deep processing questions such as, “Why might a child dread coming
to school?”
Have students generate examples for the vocabulary word.
Franklin Elementary