How to teach blending

[Donkeykong2019]

Dd is 5 and in reception. What's the best way to help teach her blending?

Do you mean consonant blends in words like
sit sat
spit spat
strip strap
spring sprang ?

This free online course might help you Donkeykong https://www.udemy.com/course/help-your-child-to-read-and-write/

School will teach her to blend.

Is she bringing home books with words in?

She’s only been at school such a short time.

But, to answer your question, you start with sounds that can be lengthened like s and m and you very slowly say each sound in the word s a t. Then you say the sounds less slowly until you eventually say the word.

If she can’t do it yet it’s not unusual or anything to be worried about.

The very easiest way to blend is to just add the last sound. E,g. sa t. ca t

It took until DC3 for someone to say that if you gradually decrease the emphasis on the sounds in a word it makes it much easier! So C A T - if you say all the letter sounds the same that's harder than tailing odd so that the T doesn't overshadow everything. Hope that makes sense!

At school they used to try and read like a robot so if they saw cat they'd say c a t in a robot voice then try to say the whole world also like a robot. They'd also do that backwards when trying to spell words out (they didn't worry about actual spelling eg c vs k in the word cat but just identifying the sounds that make up the word).

We used to play a game where I draw attention to things in the room: "Point to the fan! Point to the table! Okay... point to the /f/ /a/ /n/. Now point to the /ch/ /air/. Point to the /w/ /i/ /n/ /d/ /ow/" and so on, with a little "gap" between each sound. Keep the sounds as "pure" as possible without adding "uh" sounds. This really helped her to work out how to hear a bunch of separate sounds and then blend them back together in a word.

We are trying to get to grips on basic CVC words as she desperately wants to be able to do it but is really struggling

OP I'd not push the books and flash cards if she's not quite there yet (and don't worry either - she's very new to this!). Try and make it a game you play occasionally. e.g. in a robot voice "can you point to the d-o-g.?"

I'd avoid the "robot talk" as it can make it much harder to hear the word.
It's important to say the sounds are "purely" as possible (no adding uh) and as icecreamface says blending through the word adding one sound at a time can help children to build the word.

The free course really does explain things clearly and I recommend it to parents at the school where I'm SENCO

The worksheets with a button/dot under each sound are quite helpful to visually breakdown the sounds in a word

I'm a reception teacher and it's really common for children to be able to segment (sound each letter out) but not blend. We use robot arms and say each sound again and again, increasing in speed until they hear the word. Children find this really difficult. Use picture clues for words eg hen, tap, pin, dog and see if she/he can segment and blend with the help of the pictures.

For most children just lots and lots of practice is the key really.

As others have said, using words that start with continuent sounds - s, f, m, n, r, v, z will make it easier to start with.
I’d avoid robot talk. It’s better to say the sounds smoothly. You might find she needs to say the sounds several times, getting quicker each time to start with.

If you want to focus on blending, I’d be tempted to try and work with just the letters that she knows really well to start with. It’ll reduce the number of things she’s having to focus on.

As above, it doesn't work if you sound out letters with an 'uh' on the end of everything. It took ages for my dd to teach me this!

That's such a shame for your daughter. There is however a staged process for making blending much easier. The process is the result of research with many children who've had the greatest difficulty. Would you like to pm me?

Have you tried where you say the sounds and she just has to work out what the word is? DS finds it easier to blend when he doesn't also have to concentrate on reading the letters, and can give full attention to hearing the sounds.