Christie Grover
Beginning Reading
The See-Saw: How to Blend
Materials: Chalkboard with chalk and letter cards for a, c, t, n, b, p, h, l, s, and m
Procedure: 1. Today we are going to find out how we take sounds and make them into words. Here’s an example. Tell me what I’m saying…cccccaaaaaaattttt. I said cat. It took me a long time to say that word like that. Imagine if all words were that long. It would take a really long time just to say one sentence. We are going to look at a lot of words but we are going to focus on words that have the letter a=/a/ in them.
2. Today we are going to blend words. Blending words is really easy to do if you understand how to do it. First I will draw a see-saw on the board and explain how it moves because of the weight differences on either side. When I play on the see-saw, I can go up and down. “C” wanted to play on the see-saw and so did “t”. (I will demonstrate on the chalkboard). Let’s just say for fun that “t” is a lot bigger than ”c” so “c” asks “a” to come and sit with him. Now, on one side of the see-saw “c” and “a” are together and they say /ca/. The other side says /t/. If the “c” and “a” slide to the other end of the see-saw, they say cat. When the “t” wants to play somewhere else, n, b, and p can take his spot saying can, cab and cap. I can then switch other letters in and out to suit the situation. (I will also use the words nap, hat, last, and slam.
3. Now I want you to figure out some words on your own. I will pronounce some words in a funny way. The sounds will be said one at a time. I want you to guess what I am saying. Here is an example; n-a-p. That’s right, I said nap. (If incorrect, I will say, sorry, the word is nap).
4. I will pass out copies of the book A Cat Nap to the children in the room. I will then ask them to find a quiet place in the classroom to read the book out loud to themselves. I will walk around the classroom and assess what they have learned. I will then help the one’s who are still having trouble with blending.
Reference: Murray, Bruce ed. (1998). Lessons For Learning to Read. (p.26). “See-Saw: How to Blend” by: Tiffany Hellwagner
Click here to return to Insights