10 Most important simple steps to teach your child to read: Step 8

Teach your child to read short vowel letter sound combinations called blends and digraphs

Letter sound combinations called blends and digraphs are fun to teach. In Step 8 of 10 Most important simple steps to teach your child to read I will provide some simple tips for how to teach these short vowel letter sound combinations.

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Like math, reading builds on skills that increase in complexity. You as the parent can “gamify” these words as much as you want so the complexity does not set up a road block. At the end of this post I list several games that have worked well for my students.

Five simple guidelines for teaching short vowel letter sound combinations

1. Teach words with short vowel sounds in them since your child should already be familiar with those sounds for the vowels. Short vowels with these sounds: a as in apple; e as in egg; i as in igloo; o as in ostrich; u as in umbrella.
2. Try to use the shortest words possible. Words with 4-5 letters are best. You don’t want to overwhelm your child.
3. Emphasize the sounds of the special combinations first and then attach the letters to those sounds.
4. Compile a word list from things around the house or objects that are already familiar to your child.
5. Practice reading and saying these sounds and words with your child by using a sound board and by playing games.

When students are playing games with words their defenses are down. And maybe, just maybe, this will let the learning in. For struggling readers this is even more true.

Let the learning in by playing games with sight words and letter sound combinations

I have found games really help as your reader adds more skills to their repertoire.

Struggling readers often throw up a block to learning. They are so used to having to work so hard and face so much frustration that they become subconsciously defensive. Many of these students are also very sensitive and may feel embarrassed about their reading.

This causes them to break down.

I don’t blame them. They are working very hard at tasks that others just “get.”

That’s when you might want to turn some of your work into games.

I work, work, work with my students, but I try to sneak in some games once in a while. My students have never once complained that all of the games we play involve sounds, letters, words or sentences.

When you teach your child to read short vowel letter sound combinations, have some fun with it.

Also, my students LOVE writing letters and words on little white boards with colored dry erase markers. To them, this is a treat.

And they are learning the whole time and don’t realize it.

Teach your child to read short vowel letter sound combinations

The next skill you will want to teach your child is how to identify, hear, say and read LETTER SOUND COMBINATIONS. These words are also called Digraphs and Blends words.

These letter/sound combos are a step or two up from the 3-letter words you taught your child in earlier steps.

Usually you would first teach Digraphs then Blends. However, I have seen many students have an easier time with Blends than with Digraphs. Do what works best for your child and adjust if necessary.

The key point I would like to get across here is that you are still emphasizing the SOUNDS in words. I always start with teaching and working with the sounds in the words, then I attach the letters to the sounds they represent.

Digraphs are letter sound combos with two letters that when they are together next to each other make a completely different sound than the letters on their own. Examples would be words with SH, CH, and TH in them.

Blends are letter sound combos with two letters next to each other that say their own sounds but say them very close together so they are “blended” together. These would be words like “slid,” “flit,” “stop,” “cram.”

To make it easy on yourself and your child, use only SHORT VOWEL 4 and 5 letter words to start.

SH, CH, TH words (Digraphs)

How to teach Digraphs

• Start with words that use the most common sound of the vowel. Some people will call this the “short” sound of the vowel. Use words with these vowel sounds: “a” as in apple, “e” as in egg, “i” as in igloo, “o” as in ostrich, “u” as in umbrella.
• Directly teach your child that in these combos the s and h join together to say a whole new sound (sh). Repeat for c and h (ch as in “chair”) and t and h (th as in “that” or breathy as in “thin”). Have them repeat each sound. Be sure to demonstrate that the “th” sound has two different sound possibilities.
• Have your child look in a mirror and watch their lips and mouths as they say these digraph sounds.
• Look around the house and find objects with these types of combos in them. For example, point to your chin and ask your child to say which combo is in the word for that object. So for “chin” your child would say, “ch.” Point outside to the shed in the backyard, and your child would say “sh.” If it is bath time, identify the “th” in the word “bath.”
• After practicing these sounds outloud, make a list of the words.
• Use your list and a sound board and have your child use magnetic letters to say the sounds and then place the letters that go with those sounds in the boxes. They should keep the combos together in one box since they represent one sound.
• For more information on sound boards, please see my post here.
• Practice with these words. Say the words and have your child write them on a small white board.
• You write the words and have your child say the sounds slowly and then repeat them the “fast way.”

An interesting side note: Some of my students say the “ff” sound at the ends of words when they are trying to say the “th” sound. I have noticed that when they are sound spelling words on their white boards they may often use the letter “f” at the end of a word.

If they do this I make sure to correct them and then have them practice saying the th sound. I demonstrate over and over how they should place their tongue so it is slightly sticking out between their teeth as they gently bite on it.

Consonant Blends

For some reason I think consonant blends may be easier for children to learn than the SH, CH, and TH words. However, I have noticed that there are some blends words that contain digraphs, so it is probably best to teach the digraph letter sound combo words first.

Many blends seem to involve the letters S, L, and R. Those letter sounds are easy to say alongside other letter sounds.

Remember, consonants are all letters except the vowels a, e, i, o, and u and sometimes y.

Once I teach my students about blends, I have them identify words that contain blends. Sometimes the words they identify are not words at all. The other day I had a student suggest the word “dwed.”

I asked her if that was a word. She could not say for certain that it was, so I assured her that it was OK. Sometimes non-words are blends. She had the right idea.

First, teach your child blends words with short vowels. These words should be 4 or 5-letter words. The 5-letter blends would be words that also have a digraph in them.

This is just easier for your child since long vowels may not yet have been introduced.

These are some examples of blends words: slip, snip, stop, spot, clip, clop, crop, glam, gram, and so on and so on and so on.

How to teach consonant blends

• Practice saying blends sounds outloud. Be sure to teach that each letter says its sound, but the two letters in the blend say their sounds very close together. Also, mention that at the end of saying the blend you will hear a little “uh” sound. Say “bl”, “cr,” “sn,” and you will hear it.
• Together with your child, identify more blends and make a list of the words.
• Use your list and a sound board and have your child use magnetic letters to say the sounds and then place the letters that go with those sounds in the boxes.
• Your child should keep the blends letters together in the same box to represent the idea of the blend being almost one sound.
• For more information on sound boards, please see my post here.
• Practice listening to, saying, reading, and writing these words.
• Say the words and have your child write them on a small white board with colorful dry erase markers. Now have them read them back to you, erasing each word as they go. They could make the blend a different color.
• Now, you write the words and have your child say the sounds slowly and then repeat them the “fast way.”

Games to help teach your child to read short vowel letter sound combinations

I found a card game called Crazy Vowels on the Teachers Pay Teachers website that looks fun for practice with blends. I also have a card game I use in my classroom to practice blends called GO READ! that is based on the card game Go Fish! My students love this game.

I have a game in my classroom called Tiki Challenge: Blends and Digraphs Game from Lakeshore Learning. It is a colorful board game I use to help teach my students to read short vowel letter sound combo blends and digraph words. It challenges students to make their way through a kind of high ropes course by drawing letter combo tiles and completing blends and digraphs words.

Practice short vowel digraphs and consonant blend words with your child and then check back here soon for Step 9 in the series. Step 9 will tackle long vowel words.

Shop this Post

Gamenote Sight Words Wooden Magnetic Fishing Game found on Amazon.com

Set up a little fake pond and throw in the colored wooden fish with sight words printed on them. Then fish with magnetic fishing poles. Kids read the word to keep the fish, or throw it back and try again. Somehow my students seem to be able to read the words on the fish better than if they are just in print on paper!

Gamenote fishing game

Gamenote Sight Words Swat Game found on Amazon.com

Throw the cardboard flies out on the table, yell out the word, and swat them with your colorful fly swatter. This can be a fast paced game, so it could help your child read the words “the fast way.”

Gamenote sight words swat game

Tiki Challenge: Blends and Digraphs game found on Lakeshore.com

This game is a board game in a colorful box that entices my students. I keep it for special occasions. It is challenging and makes my students think as they use the letter tiles to make words and follow a harrowing path to victory. There is even a cheat sheet included with the game that lists all possible words for each blend.

Tiki Challenge: Blends and Digraphs game

Check out some of my other posts for more tips on teaching your child to read at home

For some tips on what to do to get your child ready to learn to read, check out Steps 1 & 2 of my series 10 most important simple steps to teach your child to read Steps 1 & 2.

If you would like to learn more about using a sound board to teach your child to identify the sounds that make up words, check out Step 3 of my series.

Step 4 in the series teaches parents how to make a sound board and how to introduce letters to go along with the sounds in words.

Awareness of the world around them helps children when they are learning to read. Learn some ways to increase your child’s level of awareness in Step 5 of my series.

Next, learn all about how to teach your child to read simple 3 letter words in Step 6.

Learn how to help your child read and retain sight words in Step 7

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