What exactly is phonemic blending?
This is the reading skill that involves combining individual sounds, or phonemes, into a recognizable word. It is the ability to hear separate sounds in a word and blend them together to form the whole word. Phonemic blending is a fundamental component of phonics, which is the systematic approach to teaching reading that emphasizes the relationship between letters and sounds.
Sometime you hear this skill being told to students as "sound it out". Its best to start with one syllable words and then move onto longer words with more syllables. I point to each letter and tell the student to say the first sound then I model how to slowly say each sound to blend the words into the sound. I also like to use a rubber band and stretch the band as I say the sounds slowly.
Thank you Erin! I will try this strategy with my son. This is a difficult skill for him.
I love the idea of using a rubber band as each sound is said slowly. I will try this strategy with my daughter.
I love using this strategy with kids. Its a great visual for kids to connect the sounds they are saying and the band as you stretch the sounds. Tapping the sounds on your fingers also helps support this skill.
Beginning readers must have a solid foundation in recognizing the letters of the alphabet both upper and lower case letters and be able to match the sound with the correct letter.