Blending Phonemes = The Key to Successful Decoding

Understanding that letters represent sounds, and that sounds can be blended together to make words, is a key concept in early literacy. The more practice our students have blending sounds together to form words, the better their reading skills will be!

This phonics resource has been designed to help students gain fluency and mastery in blending the discrete phonemes in words. It contains two sets of 36 blending phonemes fluency strips. Set 1 includes the written word, segmentation dots under each phoneme, a blending arrow, and an accompanying picture. Set 2 does not contain a picture.

How to Use These Blending Phonemes Strips

1. Print the resource on cardstock and cut out the individual strips. Alternatively, leave the strips uncut so students can work through a whole page of strips at a time.
2. Explain to the students that each dot represents a sound in the word. Model how to blend the phonemes by running your finger along the blending arrow as you say each phoneme.
3. Allow students to work through the strips at their own pace, with adult supervision.

A Great Addition to Your Daily Phonics Routine

Add this versatile literacy resource to your daily phonics routine! Start your lesson by working through a select number of the strips as a whole class. Project them onto your interactive whiteboard, then run a pointing device along the blending arrow as the class blends the phonemes in each word. Why not challenge the class to create word chains for each word by manipulating (changing) one of the phonemes?

Download the File Format That Suits You

Use the dropdown menu next to the Download button to select between the PDF or Google slides version of this resource.

Print on cardstock for durability. Place all pieces in a folder or large envelope for easy access.

This resource was created by Kendall Britnell, a teacher in Colorado and a Teach Starter collaborator.