explaining the 'rules' of blending words

[DreamTeamGirl]

Hi
Does anyone have a good website or resource that explains how to blend the sounds at all?

Ds (5.7 and Y1) seems to not get it all explained much at school, and I dont know much about how to explain it.

I know there ARE rules about how to pronounce 'ght' ending words for eg, but I know tacitly what they are and dont have it written down anywhere

I know MRZ mentioned that very few words break the rules but having spent a while explaning that 'ea' sounds 'ee' in tea, and lead and please, I then get to 'break' and go 'argghhhhhh' I dont know!!!

ideas anyone?

Jolly phonics do some good resources.

It's not something you can explain, it's something you demonstrate, a bit like riding a bike! Good resource to teach the how to of reading to a beginner is Beginning Reading Instruction(BRI) books from www.piperbooks.co.uk

try Alph Code overview with teaching points - A4x7.pdf

Thanks all, I will take a look at that book.

Mrz its the sort of things in there that I need- like 'double constenant informs reader that preceeding vowel is said in short form'
A lot to take in tho- I do worry if I am doing it right ...

At our school we have big charts which shows all the different ways a sound can be spelled. It's the Read Write Inc scheme by Ruth Miskin. It seems to work quite well.

Does she get the general idea of blending, ie that the three sounds in cat get pronounced together? ea is not actually blended as it is one sound but spelt with two letters. Does that make any sense?

DTG: for the double vowel pronunciations my daughter was taught a good rhyme: "When 2 vowels go a-walking, only the first does the talking, then it says its name". It usually works for the more straightforward (and not "tricky") words.

Hi Sassy, actually no, it makes no sense to me at all!!
I read really young self taught really, so my mum has no idea either. I thought ea was blended to make 'ee' sound ... Oh dear, I dont even have the basics I dont think to help him
yes he kinda gets c-a-t, but he is more a sight reader(albeit with a massive vocabulary of short words, (and a few longer ones like dinosaur, Mississippi, breakfast and so on) and of course that is no good for bigger words, and ones where he has to 'get' that the 'th' makes 'th' regardless of if it is at the front/ end or middle of a word.

Caurnie thanks for the rhyme! Its a good rule to follow