Title: "The Blending Slide"

Idea:

AUTHOR: Trish Uselman, Eugene Field School, Silverton, Oregon

GRADE LEVEL: Appropriate for grades K - 1

OVERVIEW: Getting kids to blend sounds to make words is an essential step in learning to read. This activity gives them a concrete and fun way to learn this skill.

PURPOSE: Once a child knows consonant and short vowel sounds, they can learn to blend these sounds together to make words. Once they learn how to do this, a whole world opens up to them. They are reading!

OBJECTIVE: Students will be able to blend sound together to form consonant/vowel/consonant words.

RESOURCES/MATERIALS:

1. A large picture of a slide in a park or playground. Make sure it has steps. Put a picket at the bottom of the slide to hold a consonant card.

2. Red cards with a consonant on each. Yellow cards with a vowel on each.

3. Copy of the slide for each child to use and small red and yellow letter cards for blending.

ACTIVITIES AND PROCEDURES:

l. Discuss the differences between consonants and vowels.

2. Make red cards with a consonant on each. Make yellow cards printed with a vowel on each.

3. Tell the following story. "The alphabet sounds were out at recess. Several of the sounds wanted to go down the slide. (Take out the large cardboard slide). All the consonants loved to play on the slide, but the vowels never went on the slide. One day "c" (use sound, not letter name) said to "a" (use short sound for a),"Come on, let's go play on the slide." "a" said, "No, thank you." You see all the vowels were really afraid to slide down. But "c" said, "It's really fun. I'll go down with you, so you won't be afraid." "a" thought about it, but said he was afraid he might fall off when he got to the bottom, so he still didn't want to go. Well, "t" heard them talking and said he would be glad to wait at the bottom to catch "a", so he wouldn't fall. After a little coaxing, "a" decided to try. So "c" and "a" went up the steps together.

4. Hold the "c" card and the "a" card together as you move them up the steps of the slide saying "ca, ca, ca, ca".  (Have the class say the sounds with you).

5. Have "t" card waiting in a pocket at the bottom of the slide. When "ca" reaches the top, they slide down saying "ca a a a a a" until they bump into "t", forming the word "cat."

6. Continue the story. "a" thought that was really fun, and they made a word. Did you hear what they said? They made "cat." "a" wanted to do that again. This time "p" (always use letter sound, not letter name) waited at the bottom of the slide and "c" and "a" went up the slide again. "ca, ca, ca, ca" (up the slide steps), "ca a a a a a" (on the way down), "p" (as they bump into p at the bottom). "Hurray!", shouted "a", "We made another word... cap!" Soon, the other vowels saw how much fun "a" was having, and they wanted to try ,too."

7. Continue the process of sliding down with different consonant and vowel sounds. Have the kids try on the large slide picture and give them a copy of the slide for their own desk.

8. Have kids experiment and practice on their own, blending CVC words. Remind them to always have a consonant (red card) go down with a vowel (yellow card) and always have a consonant (red card) waiting at the bottom to catch them coming down.

9. An alternate activity is to have each child wear a sound and go out to the real slide on the playground and act out the story and make CVC words by going down the slide themselves.

10. Hang your large slide up in your room and have the letter cards available so kids can use it to practice "sliding" into words.

TYING IT ALL TOGETHER: Use this lesson as an introduction to sounding-out words. Repeat the essence of the story several times during the week (or two) until the kids get the idea of "sliding" the sounds together to make words. Once kids get the idea, have them blend words without the aid of the slide.

Title: Sorting Pictures

Idea: In this activity, students sort pictures into different bins based on their beginning consonant sounds. There is also an "explore" mode in which the student must also correctly label the sorting bins.

Title: Creating consonant blends

Idea: Students are presented with a consonant on a card. They then choose from a variety of endings that start with a consonant, therefore producing a consonant blend. Each ending is labeled on the front of a bin. The student will walk around the room looking at several bins to find an ending that would produce a word (that happens to have a consonant blend).