digraphs and blends

Where do blends and digraphs fall in the order that we teach phonics?

In order to teach phonics, we begin with beginning sounds.

Then we blend those sounds to form words. I like to start with word families and then move on to CVC words.

Then, comes the -ck words and double consonant words ff ll ss zz.

After this, I like to teach kids digraphs sh, ch and th.

Then comes blends which take a while but once I finish teaching kids the blends, you will be surprised to see the improvement in their reading ability.

But blends and digraphs can be quite confusing between themselves.

Let’s understand the difference.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Digraphs – when two letters come together but you hear only one sound.

Example: shop

thin

chip

wheel

photo

Hear the sounds that sh, ch, th, wh and ph are making. Although there are two letters, there is only one sound. We call them digraphs. The above pack has 6 digraph words worksheets for reading short vowel digraph words. Read the words and highlight the digraph.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blends – when two letters come together but you hear both sounds.

Example:

blog

brag

clip

crack

twins

dwarf

swim

step

snap

smock

lamp

link

mist

wind

prism

Hear the sounds in the above blends. You will hear the sounds of both the words that form the blend. The above image is for l blend words. I have used only short vowel words. Read the words and highlight the blend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The above pictures are for r blend words worksheets. There are 4 worksheets to read short vowel ‘br cr dr fr gr pr tr’ words.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

s-blends are more difficult to read and understand compared to r-blend words and l-blend words. Try s-blends with kids after covering the other blends. The above worksheets include short vowel words for ‘sc sk st sm sn sp sw’ words. I have included tw words as well.

Blends can be in the beginning or towards the end. Reading them is a challenge but the biggest challenge is when it’s time to write words with blends. Children typically say the blend but record only one sound from the blend.

blot becomes bot

sent is written set

For that reason, I like to spend a lot of time studying blends with kids and I like to do a lot of writing practice as well.

Subscribers can download the consonant blends words worksheets free.

 

 

 

 

I have prepared a chart with pictures for children to practice blends and digraphs. The pictures in this chart will aid in understanding the sound better. I have only covered initial blends in this chart.

Click on the chart above to download it.

I hope you find this resource useful.