3.2 Explicitly Teach Phoneme Segmentation and Blending
Phoneme Segmentation and Blending
A Step-by-Step Phoneme Segmentation and Blending Lesson
A phoneme is the smallest sound we hear when we say words. We have learned to hear the sounds in the beginning of words, in the middle of words, and the end of words. Remember?
We are going to learn how to say words sound-by-sound and then put the sounds back together to make a whole word.
Let’s stretch and say the word ship:
/sssshhhh/, /ĭĭĭĭ/, /pppp/
Ship.
The word is at.
I sit at my desk.
At.
Aaaattttt.
At has two sounds: /ă/, /t/.
The word is /ī/, /s/.
Ice.
I put ice in my drink.
Ice.
The word is /m/, /ou/, /s/.
The word is mouse.
We must be quiet as a mouse.
Mouse.
Teacher Tip
This moment in your students' phonemic awareness learning is also an important juncture for moving into phonics. It's time to pair segmenting and blending together and add letters to the mix, introducing phonics routines.
This moment in your students' phonemic awareness learning is also an important juncture for moving into phonics. It's time to pair segmenting and blending together and add letters to the mix, introducing phonics routines.
Watch as Dr. Carla Miller first reviews the sound-letter correspondences her kindergarten students already know. Then, they work together to build words and Dr. Miller models how to blends sounds to read words using those letters.
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Carla Miller: Okay, friends. So today what we're going to do is we're going to start by drilling our deck. So what you need to do is take out your tracers. Okay. So we're going to go ahead and drill the card. Ready?
Ms. Miller and students: 's', snakes, /s/
Narrator: Today instructional coach Carla Miller will be working on blending sounds with her kindergartners. She begins the phonics lesson with a warm-up, running through flashcards with keyword pictures. This daily practice helps ensure children master the sound of each letter.
Ms. Miller and students: 'i', itch, /ĭ/
Ms. Miller: Who can raise their hand and tell me why is this a different color? Why is this a different color, Hadley?
Hadley: Because it's a vowel.
Ms. Miller: Tell me about a vowel. What's a vowel?
Hadley: It's something that has to be in a word.
Ms. Miller: Very good, very good. Let's keep going.
Ms. Miller and students: 'o', octopus, /ŏ/
Ms. Miller: I love those octopus arms.
Ms. Miller and students: 'm', man, /m/
Ms. Miller: Okay, you guys did that so well that we are going to try it with my itty-bitty baby deck. Okay? And this time there are no pictures. So we're just going to say the name of the letter and the sound. Are you ready?
Students: Yes.
Ms. Miller and students: 'z', /z/
Narrator: Next, she uses flashcards with no pictures to ensure the children can read the sound automatically in isolation.
Ms. Miller: Good.
Students: 'a', /ă/, 't', /t/, 'c', /k/
Narrator: Ms. Miller provides quick, direct, explicit instruction to correct errors.
Students: 'b' ...
Ms. Miller: Oh, let's look again. It says straight back, big belly, 'b'. Let's do it together.
Ms. Miller and students: 'b', /b/
Ms. Miller: Very good.
Ms. Miller and students: 'm', /m/
Ms. Miller: So what we're going to do today is we're going to have some fun making words. Are you ready to make words?
Students: Yes.
Ms. Miller: Okay, here we go. Some of the words are going to be real words, and some might be nonsense words. Who knows what a nonsense word is? Tell me, Ilia.
Iia: They're words that are not real.
Ms. Miller: Words that are not real. They do not make any sense. Avery already told us that our blue letters are different. What's different about the blue letters, Shane?
Shane: The vowels.
Ms. Miller: They're vowels. Very good. Okay, we're going to start by just reading a word. Okay. We're going to say each sound in the word, and then I'm going to move them a little bit closer together, and then we're going to say the sounds and then I'm going to move 'em a little closer together, but we're not going to read it until they are touching and I say "catch it." Are you ready?
Students: Yes.
Ms. Miller: Okay. So I want to hear everybody's voice. Let's do it.
Students: /s/, /ă/, /t/
Students: /s/, /ă/, /t/
Ms. Miller: [whispering] Listen for the word. Are you guys ready? We're going to catch it this time. They're touching.
Students: /s/, /ă/, /t/ ... sat.
Ms. Miller: Good. Okay. What word was that?
Students: Sat.
Ms. Miller: Sat. Okay. I want everybody to pay attention. I might ask you to read this same word. Okay. Ready? So what word was this one more time, Avery.
Avery: Sat.
Ms. Miller: Sat. What did I just do?
Ilia: Cat.
Ms. Miller: Good. What word did she read?
Hadley: Cat.
Ms. Miller: Good. What did I just do?
Narrator: Ms. Miller models and practices the step-by-step process for blending sounds into words. All the words she chooses for blending contain the sounds the children just practiced with their flashcards. Each child has an opportunity to do the work of blending sounds.
Ilia: /n/, /ĭ/, nip.
Ms. Miller: I love how you tapped that word out. Excellent. What word did she just read?
Students: nip ... nap ...
Ms. Miller: Well, let's tap it together.
Ms. Miller and students: /n/, /ĭ/, nip.
Ms. Miller: Excellent. What did I just do?
Avery: /d/, /ĭ/, /p/ ... dip.
Ms. Miller: Excellent. I'm moving over here to you. What word did he read?
Hadley: Dip.
Ms. Miller: What word do we have now?
Hadley: Hip.
Ms. Miller: Excellent. What word is this?
Shane: Hip.
Ms. Miller: Hip. Good. I'm going to change my vowel in the middle again. Are you ready?
Shane: Hop.
Ms. Miller: Hop. Excellent. We're going ...
Narrator: Children work at their own pace. Some do the work of tapping and blending aloud. Some do it in their heads.
Ms. Miller: Ilia, what word?
Ilia: Bop.
Ms. Miller: Okay. What's this word?
Ilia: /m/, /ŏp/ ... /m/, /ŏp/, ... /m/, mop.
Ms. Miller: Excellent. I love how you pulled it together at the end. Let's go ahead as a group. Can everybody see my words?
Students: Yeah.
Ms. Miller: Okay. We might run into some crazy nonsense words. Okay? Silly words that don't make sense while I do this, but let's do it. We're going to tap and read.
Ms. Miller and students: /m/, / ĭ/, /p/ ... mip ...
Narrator: The lesson ends with more practice with everyone tapping and reading words together.
Ms. Miller: Let's look at this one more time. This is a straight back, big belly. What letter is this?
Students: 'b'
Ms. Miller: What sound does 'b' make?
Students: /b/
Ms. Miller: Let's try that again.
Ms. Miller and students: /b/, /ĭ/, /p/ ... bip
Ms. Miller: Good. Is that a real word or a nonsense word?
Students: Nonsense.
Ms. Miller: All day long. Let's go to the next one.
Ms. Miller and students: /h/, / ĭ/, /p/ ... hip
Ms. Miller: Hip. Good. Real or nonsense?
Students: Real.
Ms. Miller: Real. Put your hands on your hips. Excellent. You guys did an amazing job blending our words. You're such great readers. I love it. Give yourself a little shine. Shine. I'll give you shine ...
Narrator: Enjoy this video? Don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel @RUTeaching. For more information, please visit ReadingUniverse.org. Special thanks to Burgess-Peterson Academy and Atlanta Public Schools. Reading Universe is made possible by generous support from Jim & Donna Barksdale, the American Federation of Teachers, the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, and three anonymous donors. Reading Universe is a service of WETA, Washington, D.C., the Barksdale Reading Institute, and First Book.
Ms. Miller: This is Reading Universe.
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Carla Stanford: These are called sound boxes. I'm going to say a word. I'm going to have you repeat the word, and then we are going to push the two, the first two sounds in the word, and you can tap. So it will go like this. We'll do a practice. The word is block. Repeat.
Students: Block.
Carla Stanford: Tappers up.
Carla Stanford and students: /b/, /l/ ...
Carla Stanford: Did you hear that? /b/, /l/, /ŏ/, /k/. Block. Excellent.
