Blending Sounds to Read Words
Apply phonic knowledge to blend sounds in unfamiliar words containing taught grapheme-phoneme correspondences; respond speedily to graphemes for all 40+ phonemes
Typical age: 4–7 years
“When your child comes across a word they haven't seen before, can they sound it out bit by bit and blend the parts together to read it — even if it takes a moment?”
0 / 3 mastered
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- Compound Words
Blending supports reading compound words
- Number Words to TwentyREQUIRED
Reading number words (one, two, three...) requires phonics blending skills
- Reading Inflectional EndingsREQUIRED
Need to read root words before inflected forms
- Syllables (age 6+)REQUIRED
Must be able to blend sounds within each syllable
- Alternative Spellings for Known SoundsREQUIRED
Alternative GPCs build on basic blending ability
- Self-Correcting While ReadingREQUIRED
Need basic reading ability to self-monitor
- Reading ContractionsREQUIRED
Need blending to read contractions
- Reading High-Frequency Words by Sight
Blending helps attempt unfamiliar words but sight words bypass phonics
- Reading fluentlyREQUIRED
Must be able to decode before fluency