4. Videos: See Blends in the Classroom

Quick Look: Elkonin Sound Boxes

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Carla Stanford: These are called sound boxes. [Ms. Stanford points to boxes drawn in a row on a white board.] 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/, /c/. Block. Excellent.

Build-a-Word: Beginning Blends

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Antonio Fierro: Let's use the build-a-word strategy with blends. The word is sled. I rode my sled down the hill. Sled. What's the word? Sled. Let's see how many sounds, how many phonemes are in the word sled ... /s/, /l/, /ĕ/, /d/. Four. So we need four lines ... /s/, /l/, /ĕ/, /d/. The first phoneme, or sound, is /s/. What's the grapheme ... 's'. The second phoneme, or sound ... /l/. Grapheme ... 'l'. /ĕ/, grapheme ... 'e', right? And the final phoneme, or sound, in the word sled is /d/, which graphene ... the 'd', right? Let's write that ... 's', 'l', 'e', 'd' ... sled.

Introducing the ‘dr’ Blend

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Narrator: When you are teaching a tricky spelling pattern, it's important to be crystal clear with your students. Watch Teacher Princess Watts-Blount deliver explicit and direct instruction to our first graders about 'dr'. One of the tricky 'r' blends.

Princess Watts-Blount: All right, so as I mentioned today, we're talking about tricky blends. Okay? Tricky 'r' blends specifically. The first one we're going to focus on is 'dr'. Who could tell me why this one is so tricky? Yes, Leo.

Leo: Because it sounds like 'jr'.

Princess Watts-Blount: Exactly. It sounds just like 'jr'. Can you guys say it for me?

Students: /jr/.

Princess Watts-Blount: And guess what? I'm glad that Leo told u s that 'dr' sometimes sounds like 'jr', but guess what? 'J' and 'r', they don't like to hang out together. They're not BFFs, so we will not see 'j' and 'r' working together. Okay, I'd like for you guys to repeat after me. Drip.

Students: Drip.

Princess Watts-Blount: Drain.

Students: Drain.

Princess Watts-Blount: Dress.

Students: Dress.

Princess Watts-Blount: Drink.

Students: Drink.

Princess Watts-Blount: What was the beginning blend in all of those words?

Students: /dr/.

Princess Watts-Blount: What was the beginning blend?

Students: 'Dr'.

Princess Watts-Blount: 'Dr'. Yes, 'dr.' Alright. So 'dr' is one of our tricky, tricky blends. Okay.

Narrator:

Reading Universe is made possible by generous support from Jim and Donna Barksdale, the Hastings Quillen Fund, an advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the AFT, the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, and anonymous donors. Special thanks to Burgess-Peterson Academy and Atlanta Public Schools. If you enjoyed this video, please subscribe to our YouTube channel @RUTeaching. Reading Universe is a service of WETA, Washington D.C., the Barksdale Reading Institute and First Book.

Quick Look: ‘r’ Blends

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Princess Watts-Blount: All right. Now we're going to move on to our deck drill. Remember, with beginning blends, I want you to name each letter and then give me each individual sound. Okay? All right. Let's go.

Students: 'C', 'r', /k/, /r/. 'F', 'r', /k/, /r/.

Princess Watts-Blount: Let's try this one again.

Students: 'F', 'r', /f/, /er/.

Princess Watts-Blount: Now remember, I think I'm hearing /er/, remember the sound for 'r' is /r/. Okay. Let's try it again.

Ms. Watts-Blount and students: 'F', 'r', /f/, /r/.

Princess Watts-Blount: Nice.

Speaker 4: 'G', 'r', /g/, /r/. 'B', 'r', /b/, /r/. 'P', 'r', /p/, /r/. 'C', 'r', /k/, /r/.

Princess Watts-Blount: All right. Great job.

Tricky ‘r’ Blends: ‘dr’ and ‘tr’

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Princess Watts-Blount: All right, so we're going to do a few of the words for listening games. Okay.

Narrator: Today, Princess Watts-Blount will teach her first graders about the blends, 'dr' and 'tr'. What she calls tricky 'r' blends. They're tricky because they don't do what you expect them to do.

Princess Watts-Blount: All right guys, so I'm going to give you a word I like for you to repeat the word and then pop each sound in each word, okay.

Narrator: To get ready the students first segment the sound in words using a multisensory tool — a pop-it fidget toy.

[students sound out word using pop-it toy]

Princess Watts-Blount: How many phonemes in the word train?

Students: Four.

Princess Watts-Blount: Four. All right. Your next word is — watch me — tray.

Students: Tray.

[students sound out word using pop-it toy]

Princess Watts-Blount: Excellent. How many sounds?

Students: Three.

Princess Watts-Blount: Three. Okay. Your next word is crash.

Students: Crash.

[students sound out word using pop-it toy]

Princess Watts-Blount: Your next word is drive. Repeat.

Students: Drive.

Princess Watts-Blount: Pop it for me.

[students sound out word using pop-it toy]

Princess Watts-Blount: Nice. All right. Now we're going to move on to our deck drill. Remember, with beginning blends, I want you to name each letter and then give me each individual sound, okay? All right. Let's go.

Students: 'C', 'r', /k/, /r/. 'F', 'r', /k/, /er/.

Princess Watts-Blount: Oh, let's try this one again.

Students: 'F', 'r', /f/, /er/.

Princess Watts-Blount: Now remember, I think I'm hearing /er/. Remember the sound for 'r' is /r/. Okay. Let's try it again.

Together: 'F', 'r', /f/, /r/.

Princess Watts-Blount: Nice. All right, so as I mentioned today, we're talking about tricky blends. Okay? Tricky 'r' blends, specifically. The first one we're going to focus on is 'dr'. Who could tell me why this one is so tricky? Yes, Leo.

Leo: Because it sounds like 'jr'.

Princess Watts-Blount: Exactly. It sounds just like 'jr'. Can you guys say it for me?

Students: /jr/

Princess Watts-Blount: And guess what? I'm glad that Leo told us that 'dr' sometimes sounds like 'jr', but guess what? 'J' and 'r', they don't like to hang out together. They're not BFFs, so we will not see j and r working together. Okay? I'd like for you guys to repeat after me. Drip.

Students: Drip.

Princess Watts-Blount: Drain.

Students: Drain.

Princess Watts-Blount: Dress.

Students: Dress.

Princess Watts-Blount: Drink.

Students: Drink.

Princess Watts-Blount: What was the beginning blend in all of those words?

Students: /dr/.

Princess Watts-Blount: What was the beginning blend?

Together: 'Dr'.

Princess Watts-Blount: 'Dr'. Yes, 'dr'. All right. So 'dr' is one of our tricky, tricky blends. Okay? All right. 'Tr' is another one of our tricky blends. What does it sound like when you say it?

Together: /tr/.

Princess Watts-Blount: All right. Sounds like one of our 'h' brothers, 'ch'. And what?

Students: /r/

Together: 'Chr'! Yes. Yes, yes. 'Chr'? Yes. So if we're trying to make the 'tr' sound, we won't spell it 'chr'. Okay. So /tr/, absolutely not. It will not be spelled 'chr'. Okay, so that's another one of our tricky blends. I'm going to pass out some dictation paper.

Narrator: Ms. Watts-Blount moves right into dictation, so her students can immediately practice the skill they just learned.

Princess Watts-Blount: All right, repeat after me. Trip.

Students: Trip.

Princess Watts-Blount: Tappers up.

Together: /t/, /r/, /i/, /p/. Trip.

Princess Watts-Blount: All right, Leo, how did you spell trip?

Leo: 'T', 'r', 'i', 'p'.

Princess Watts-Blount: You guys agree?

Students: Yeah.

Princess Watts-Blount: All right. Make sure your 'p' is touching, stopping at the worm line for me. Make sure you're stopping at the warm line. What's a trip? Elliot?

Elliott: It's when you, maybe you're walking to a picnic or something, and then you, your foot hits a rock and then you fall down. That's when you trip.

Princess Watts-Blount: Is there another meaning for the word trip? All right, Emery?

Emery: It's like you're going somewhere.

Princess Watts-Blount: Okay.

Narrator: It only takes Ms. Watts-Blount a few moments to layer in some vocabulary instruction.

Princess Watts-Blount: Alright, our next word is trick. Repeat.

Students: Trick.

Princess Watts-Blount: Tappers up.

Together: /t/, /r/ ...

Narrator: During word dictation, they segment out the sounds in the word together, and then the students write the word.

Princess Watts-Blount: All right, number three. Our third word is drop. Repeat.

Students: Drop.

Princess Watts-Blount: Let's tap it. What's that first sound?

Together: /d/, /r/, /ŏ/, /p/.

Princess Watts-Blount: Drop.

Narrator: Ms. Watts-Blount dictates a few more words before moving on to sentence dictation.

Princess Watts-Blount: All right, guys. So our sentence today contains six words. Go ahead and write six and circle it. All right. So six words. Go ahead and park your pencils for me. I'd like for you to watch me, listen closely to the sentence. "I did not drop the boxes." Repeat.

Students: "I did not drop the boxes."

Narrator: By having students repeat the sentence. Ms. Watts-Blount is able to ensure students heard it correctly before they begin writing.

Princess Watts-Blount: All right, let's take a look at the sentence. Can you guys read it for me?

Together: "I did not drop the boxes."

Princess Watts-Blount: I'd like for you to take a look at your papers. I noticed that each of you capitalized the 'i'. Can someone tell me why? Caroline?

Caroline: Because it's the beginning of a sentence.

Princess Watts-Blount: All right. That's one reason. Is there another reason?

Caroline: Because in sentences, even if it's in the middle, you capitalize ‘I’ because it's like a meaning to say "you."

Princess Watts-Blount: Right? It's a special kind of noun called a ... You guys remember? /p/, /p/ ...

Caroline: "Proper..."

Princess Watts-Blount: Proper noun, right! It's a proper noun. So like Caroline said, even if it was in the middle of a sentence, we would still capitalize 'i'. Alright. What I'd like for you to do is mark any blends that you see in the sentence. Mark any blends? Did anyone spy a blend? Leo, what's the blend in this sentence?

Leo: 'Dr'.

Princess Watts-Blount: 'Dr.' How did you mark it?

Leo: Two separate lines.

Princess Watts-Blount: Right? With blends, each letter holds onto their individual sounds, so we mark it with two separate lines. All right, you guys can go ahead and park your pencils. You guys did an excellent job today. We'll continue learning about beginning blends throughout the week. Okay? Go ahead and kiss your smart brains.

[music]

Narrator: Reading Universe is made possible by generous support from Jim and Donna Barksdale, the Hastings/Quillen Fund, an advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the AFT, the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, and anonymous donors. Special thanks to Burgess-Peterson Academy and Atlanta Public Schools. If you enjoyed this video, please subscribe to our YouTube channel @RUteaching. Reading Universe is a service of WETA, Washington D.C., the Barksdale Reading Institute and First Book.

Build-a-Word: Spelling Words With Ending Blends

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Antonio Fierro: Let's use the build-a-word strategy with blends, but in the final position. The word is best. "Marion is my best friend." What's the word? Best. Alright, let's identify those phonemes. Best. /b/, /ĕ/, s/, /t/. Best. /b/, /ĕ/, s/, /t/. I have four phonemes, so I have four lines. /b/, /ĕ/, /s/, /t/. All right. The first phoneme is /b/. Which grapheme represents that sound? Letter 'b'. /ĕ/ ... hmm ... Which grapheme? /ĕ/ ... 'e'. /s/ ... Which grapheme? 's'. And the final is /t/ ... Which grapheme? 't'. Here is my blend in the final position. Let's go ahead and write the word "best." Best.

Quick Look: Ending Blends

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Jenifer Rogers: Who can tell me our new rule for this week? Vaughn.

Vaughn: End blends.

Jenifer Rogers: Everybody say end blends

Students: End blends.

Jenifer Rogers: So before we learned and we knew that blends could go where in a word? Last week, where did we learn that our blends could go in a word? Shaw?

Shaw: The beginning.

Jenifer Rogers: The beginning of a word. So last week we knew that those blends could go at the beginning of the word. And this week we now have learned that they can also go where?

Students: At the end.

Jenifer Rogers: At the end. Which is the back of the word. I love that. We could hear them at the end. So tell me please, what is a blend? A blend is ... together ...

Students: Two letters put together. Two sounds.

Jenifer Rogers: Ooh, I love that. So we know that we have to hear both of those sounds. We have two letters. Say two letters.

Students: Two letters.

Jenifer Rogers: We put them together.

Students: We put them together.

Jenifer Rogers: We hear two sounds.

Students: We hear two sounds.

Jenifer Rogers: That's right. Do some of them with me? What is the blend at the end of this word?

Students: 'sp'

Jenifer Rogers: /s/, /p/

Students: /s/, /p/

How can we help students who struggle with consonant blends?

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Dr. Louisa Moats: The deletion of consonants inside of blends is very common in students who are at beginning stages. And that's because those consonants are much more elusive in speech. When we say a word like melt, the /l/ kind of slips away into the vowel. When we say a word like stick, the second /t/ sound is buried in the word. So what the student needs is phonemic awareness practice with words that have blends in them, and they need practice with what we call complex phoneme awareness tasks that involve adding and deleting sounds. So, for example, if we want students to learn the /st/ in stick, we'd say, say tick. What are the sounds? /t/ - /ĭk/. Now, add /s/ to the beginning of the word. What does it make? And if those students has sick and you backtrack and you say, tick has a /t/ in it. If you add /s/ and you don't take anything away, what does that make? And then conversely, you can practice by saying, say, stick. Now take away /s/ ... what do you have left? And then more difficult is say stick ... now take away /t/. What do you have left? That's more demanding because that's a more elusive phoneme to detect in the speech-sound stream.