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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

Blending letters help!

29 replies

Bubblemachine2 · 06/12/2023 18:12

In all honesty, why is it so hard? Please tell me how to make my reception year old kid to blend the letters and read simple CVC words? It’s driving me mad and I have zero capacity left.

She knows many letters like s,a,p,t,d,g,i,o etc. and recognises and says their sound quickly.

But when I ask her to read the word Cat, sad, bad, cot, tip, dot etc. she doesn’t get it!!!!

Helppppp

OP posts:

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ButterfliesSkies · 06/12/2023 18:42

Modelling and repetition. Can she blend 2 letters like at and in? If so, try blending c-at rather than c-a-t. If not, practice that.

I had a child in my Y1 class who started the year knowing his sounds, but being completely unable to blend. By the end of the year he was one of my best readers. It is painful but it will click eventually.

ButterfliesSkies · 06/12/2023 18:43

Also, you can try doing it verbally and not just in reading. For example, “I need to get my h-a-t. What do I need to get?” and practicing that way.

Hummusanddipdip · 06/12/2023 18:49

Modelling, repeating and also speed speech. So c - a - t, c-a-t, cat.

The faster you say the letters the more naturally they blend.

I was struggling with this with ds (also reception age) and I teach phonics as an intervention. I spoke to one of our reception ta's about it and she suggested it. It has worked.

mynameiscalypso · 06/12/2023 18:51

It just takes time and then it suddenly clicked. It clicked for my DS last week. He literally went from not being able to read a word to blending every single word in his reading book. I think you just have to keep plugging away. Assuming your child is in Reception, they sound like they're on track for where they should be.

Original poster

Bubblemachine2 · 06/12/2023 18:53

Thank you all! I may am overwhelmed and overthinking and overreacting at the moment as I am very tired but when do you think I should start considering dyslexia?

OP posts:

Frazzledandfried · 06/12/2023 19:03

What phonics system are the school/you using? Sounds like she has got the hang of the sounds so that's a great start. As a PP has said just do the sounds faster and faster. We have flashcards from the Read Write Inc system and we put them on the table and push them closer together til the letters are nearly touching and that really helped my DD4.

Original poster

Bubblemachine2 · 06/12/2023 19:36

Little Wandle…

We have flash cards at home but it doesn’t click - yet hopefully!

OP posts:

Chocoholic900 · 06/12/2023 19:36

Stage 1 - have objects in front of her and say pass me the 'h-a-t' and see if she gets it, with options in front of her of what it could be, it may help rather than just any word. Keep practicing this till she is very quick. Make sure to leave a gap between each sound 'h (pause) - a (pause) - t (pause)' if you say it too quick then she won't really be practicing her blending.

Stage 2 - practice blending any CVC word out loud (doesn't have to be letters she knows as it's all on hearing not sight) such as cat, hat, dig, box... say them out loud to her - b - o - x and keep doing this everyday until she can do it easily.

Stage 3 - write a CVC word down on paper or a whiteboard with letters she knows, such as 'sad' write sad in big letters, dots underneath each letter for her to put her finger on. Then have her say each sound as she touches it, then have her do it again, but you come in saying it with her and helping her to blend - s aaaaaaaaaaa and then have her do the last letter 'd' if she doesn't get it, just tell her 's aaaaaaaa d, sad'. Really drag out the middle letter, it helps to put it all together.

Honestly blending is the hardest part and some kids are stuck on this part for the entire year of Reception, but practicing at home will help her hugely, but it does take time and could be a few weeks till she gets it. Good luck!

WowOK · 06/12/2023 19:37

Get reading eggs. Honestly it's money will spent.

WGACA · 06/12/2023 19:43

Loads and loads of oral blending. She needs to be able to blend orally before anything else. Keep practising, she will get there!

Blessedbethefruitz · 06/12/2023 19:48

Loads of great advice on here. My ds4 is very bright with numbers/problem solving but blending is still an area he's working on! It's just starting to click now, with practise and the confidence that comes with. We're using a wall chalk board to blend th ch sh type things at the moment to reinforce what school is doing this half term.

I wouldn't be worried at all if they're not getting it yet - there are only 2 kids in ds's class who are the step above him.

RaraRachael · 06/12/2023 20:17

I'd try by blending the first 2 sounds then adding the final one. Try with sounds like - ba, ca, fa, ha, ra, sa etc then add a letter t at the end. I was a learning support teacher and had little cards made up with all the possible beginnings and endings and it often helped children who had trouble blending. Good luck!

itsmyp4rty · 06/12/2023 20:22

Mine knew all their phonics before they started school - but couldn't blend until after the Christmas hols. Just lots of fun games and practicing. Try doing words with 'at' ie h-at, c-at, m-at etc or words with 'an' ie c-an, m-an, f-an.

You definitely don't need to start thinking about dyslexia!! I don't think they will even consider it before 7.

napody · 06/12/2023 20:34

ButterfliesSkies · 06/12/2023 18:43

Also, you can try doing it verbally and not just in reading. For example, “I need to get my h-a-t. What do I need to get?” and practicing that way.

This and the tip about saying the sounds more quickly.
Used to teach reception and honestly blending is like a breakthrough and happens at different times for each child- you can encourage it but you can't force it! Not even a term into reception is waaaaay too early to consider dyslexia.

My son didn't click with blending until the end of reception and now a year and a half later is on the 'final' reading level. Not saying to boast but to illustrate that when blending clicks doesn't determine the rate of progress after that.

DappledOliveGroves · 06/12/2023 20:45

DD1 is now in her twenties but I remember she didn’t ‘get’ blending. In the end I bought 3D fridge magnet letters and for some reason, being able to physically ‘feel’ the letters, led to her blending instantly.

lavenderlou · 06/12/2023 20:53

Agree that lots of verbal practice is needed. I used to do it when we were in the car. Eg I would say p-o-t and DC would need to say "pot".

gemloving · 06/12/2023 21:02

Same boat here OP. He's still had the no word books. He knows lots of words but I am somewhat sure he has memorised them all rather than actually knowing how to blend.

CrispsandCheeseSandwich · 06/12/2023 21:09

My DD is also in reception and only got the blending maybe a couple of weeks ago. It just suddenly seemed to click.

Before that, I was blending two of the letters, so for example for cat, instead of trying to get her to blend c-a-t, I'd combine ca, and get her to blend ca-t which was easier. But really, it just seemed to click almost overnight.

Saxendi · 06/12/2023 21:10

Agree with earlier poster, c at is easier for some children, also before letters and sounds came into use formally in classes, children would have been taught how to make use of rhyming patterns eg, bat, cat sat, rat, mat etc.

bakewellbride · 06/12/2023 21:13

I used to teach - it's extremely common and not a sign of dyslexia. Some schools don't even start teaching phonics at all until after Christmas and interestingly those children actually pick it up quicker. I once worked at an outstanding school that did this. So try to reframe it in your mind - your child is miles ahead of the kids at those schools. These things just take time.

Dragonbed · 06/12/2023 21:20

Can she hear it if you do it?

onlyoneoftheregimentinstep · 06/12/2023 21:26

Rhyming games and activities are really helpful in developing the aural discrimination needed for blending. You can buy snap games with rhyming words, make up nonsense rhymes, read rhyming stories and pause for your DD to predict the rhyme at the end of the lines etc.

Labraradabrador · 06/12/2023 21:34

just like some kids learn to walk early or late, and there isn’t much you can do to hurry it on, some kids aren’t ready for reading when they enter reception and I am not sure loads of intervention makes a difference until they are ready. The UK starts pushing phonics ridiculously early - some kids are ready at 4, but many are not.mine definitely were not - one dd started to engage / had things click in second half of reception, other dd was well into y1 before it clicked for her. Both are meeting expectations in y2 now.

and you are WAY early to think dyslexia (diagnosis not possible before 7) - it is such a shame that your mind goes there, and an indicator of how wrong the uk approach to literacy is that you would even think that on the basis of not picking up blending in term 1 of reception .

fwiw my family is full of voracious and highly capable readers. We all ended school with similar level of competence in English, but we all picked up reading at different ages. My brother was notoriously late - according to my mom he wasn’t reading at all at 8yo, but it clicked overnight and the delayed start never held him back. Nowadays he gets through at least 1 book a week for pleasure, and is my go to source for reading recommendations.

mynameiscalypso · 06/12/2023 21:39

I'd also second the recommendation for Reading Eggs if you're happy with screen time. DS also watched a lot of alphablocks over half term and that made a huge difference too because he didn't feel like he was learning and there was no pressure at all.

LahnaMJA · 06/12/2023 21:46

We played:

Action games - S-i-t, r-u-n, S-t-o-p, h-o-p, …you get the idea. Take turns too, can your child sound out for you to do the actions?

Jumping on words. Pieces of A4 paper with a letter on each. Jump on each letter to make the word.

Lots of kinetic learning!

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