Phoneme Isolation, Blending, and Segmenting to Help Young Readers
If you want to give your children or students a great start into learning to read and write, you’ll want to know about phoneme isolating, blending, and segmenting.
A child’s ability to understand that words are made up of individual sounds, called phonemes, and their ability to identify and rearrange these sounds are key predictors for reading and spelling success. This awareness and ability to play with sounds at the phoneme level is called phonemic awareness and exists along a continuum and is also a sub-section within a larger umbrella of language-sound recognition called phonological awareness.
Children need exposure to language in many different forms to help them develop an ear for language sounds and patterns. Before learning the skills of phoneme isolation, blending, and segmenting, they need experience with playing with sounds by singing songs, learning rhymes, and through practice with syllable division and rhyming games and activities.
Likewise, before being able to rearrange sounds in words to make new words (a phonemic awareness skill called phoneme manipulation), they first need to have the foundational phonemic awareness skills of being able to isolate, blend, and segment phonemes.
When we teach children these key phonemic awareness skills, we equip them with a better understanding of the relationship between sounds and letters, which translates into greater accuracy and fluency in both reading and spelling in the future.
So let’s dive in.
Foundational Phonemic Awareness Skills Overview
Phoneme
Isolation
Identifying and isolating individual phonemes in a word.
Involves recognizing and stating the specific sound at the beginning, middle, or end of a word.
Example: The learner identifies the sound /k/ as the first phoneme in the word “cat”.
Phoneme
Blending
Combining individual phonemes to form a word.
Requires the ability to blend sounds to decode and understand the complete word.
Example: A learner blends the individual phonemes /k/ /a/ /t/ to correctly say the word “cat.”
Phoneme
Segmenting
Breaking down a spoken word into its individual phonemes.
Requires the ability to identify and separate the distinct sounds within a word.
Example: The learner breaks apart the word “cat” into the individual phoneme sounds /k/ /a/ /t/.
Where to Start When Teaching Phonemic Isolation
Words are made up of a sequence of sounds. Phoneme isolation is the ability to recognize an individual sound in a word, and correctly identify where the sound is located – whether at the beginning, middle, or end of the word. The word ‘bat’ is called a CVC word as it contains a consonant-vowel-consonant pattern. These are the easiest words to start with when helping children learn their letter-sound relationships, especially when introducing written letters and text to children. In CVC words, each sound is represented by a single letter: 3 letters, three sounds. The initial sound is /b/, the end sound is /t/, and the middle sound is /a/ as in apple.
Start with Beginning Sounds
Activities aimed at phoneme isolation typically start with beginning sounds in words because the beginning sounds are the easiest to hear and isolate.
Alliteration books and games are a great way to help children hone their listening skills on the beginning sounds of words.
It is best to introduce phoneme isolation tasks as oral activities at first. For some activities, picture manipulatives can help create a more visual and engaging experience.
Isolate End Sounds Second
As children become proficient with isolating the beginning sounds of three-letter words, they can be challenged with recognizing the end sound of words.
Save Middle Sounds for the Last
After this, the middle sounds of words can be introduced. Isolating beginning and end sounds is much easier than middle sounds, which is why middle sounds are often saved till last. In common CVC words, the middle sounds are vowels.
Take a Systematic Approach
A targeted and systematic approach to teaching phoneme isolation typically starts with three-letter consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words and then progresses to three-letter CCV and VCC words.
When these are mastered, longer words can be introduced, adding one letter or sound (phoneme) at a time, as some sounds in words are comprised of more than one letter. You’ll want to pick developmentally appropriate word choices.
Keep these learning tasks on the simpler side for children just learning to read. It’s much better to take this process more slowly and not rush children into challenging themselves too quickly when it comes to phonemic awareness skills. Getting these foundations solid and consistent is a much better focus than speed.
How To Set Up Oral Activities to Teach Phoneme Isolation
Phoneme isolation activities don’t have to take much time or prep work at all. They DO, however, need to be taught with some enthusiasm and in a methodical manner that ensures children build on quick wins. At the start, only use words your child or student knows well, focus on oral activities, and start with initial sound (phoneme) recognition activities.
Spot the Pictures with the Initial Sound
In this activity, your child or student will try to pick out the pictures that have the initial phoneme sound you say. For example, you might line up the following row of picture cards, saying their names as you lay them down: fox, swing, fig, phone, snail, socks, and string. Next, you can say, “Can you find the words that start with the sound /f/.”
Note: there are both words starting with the letter f and ph that begin with this sound and finding both should be encouraged
Tips for this Activity:
- Start with words children know. Afterward, when laying out words each time, go over the words a couple of times to ensure your child or student is familiar with the words before being asked to find the sounds.
- Avoid vowel pairs and digraphs – where the combination of two letters sounds like one sound, such as /ea/ in the word eat or /sh/ in the word shoe.
- Change it up. When children have mastered finding pictures with the right initial phonemic sound you say, you can have them do the same activity but change it to ending sounds. For example: you may lay out pictures of a pen, bear, fan, boat, and can. With pen, fan, and can all sharing the same ending sound /t/.
- Be systematic. Leave middle sound recognition to the end, once initial and end sound recognition are mastered.
Which One Doesn’t Belong
This activity is similar to the oral activity above, but instead of finding the ones with the sound you say, they need to find the one(s) with a different sound.
For pictures of a bear, kite, bee, and blocks, the picture of the kite is the one that doesn’t belong because it starts with a /k/ sound and all the others start with a /b/ sound.
To do this activity, you will lay out four picture cards. Three of them should have the same initial sound. One should have a different initial sound. The challenge for your child or student is to find the one that doesn’t belong, the one with a different initial sound.
Tips for this Activity:
- Start with words children know. Afterward, when laying out words each time, go over the words a couple of times to ensure your child or student is familiar with the words before being asked to find the sound that doesn’t belong.
- Avoid vowel pairs and digraphs – where the combination of two letters sounds like one sound, such as /au/ in the word autumn or /ch/ in the word chicken.
- Change it up. When children have mastered finding the one with a different initial phonemic sound, you can have them do the same activity but change it to ending sounds. For example: you may lay out pictures of a dog, ring, rug, and goat. Goat is the odd one out because it ends with a /t/ sound.
- Be systematic. Leave middle sound recognition to the end, once initial and end sound recognition are mastered.
Keep in mind that short bursts of structured learning more often are best for younger kiddos. Avoid making early learning activities laborious.
Keep it fun. Keep it short.
Understanding Blending and Segmenting Skills
Two important phonemic awareness skills early readers must develop are the ability to blend and segment sounds in words. These skills are sometimes termed ‘make or break’ skills because they are critical building blocks for reading success.
You can know all the letter sounds or phonemes in a language, but without the skills of blending and segmenting children can become stuck with how to apply their sound-letter knowledge to read smoothly and spell words correctly.
Blending and segmentation are very closely linked and help children with applying phonics to sound out words, but they differ slightly from each other in their strengths.
Blending
Blending involves merging separate phonemes of a word together to create a pronounceable word. This skill is highly associated with reading fluency.
Segmenting
Segmenting involves splitting a word up into its separate phonemes and pronouncing each isolated phoneme in order – reading left to right. It is key in learning to spell.
For proficient readers, the process of segmenting and blending happens so quickly that we don’t even realize we’re doing them…. that is until we come across an unfamiliar, challenging, or particularly lengthy word.
These occasions make us slow down and attack decoding the word using various decoding strategies. The strategies we use to help us decode challenging words are highly dependent on the skills of segmenting and blending.
Doing fun and engaging phoneme blending and segmenting activities can help children with mastering these important phonemic awareness skills.
The Dynamic Duo
Help your little learner identify beginning, middle, and end sounds using visual aids like Elkonin boxes. For example, draw three boxes and use small objects or counters to represent sounds in words.
Phonemic awareness is the key to unlocking the world of reading! It’s perfectly fine if some kids need a little extra time to get the hang of it. Make learning fun by tailoring activities to their developmental level and watching them grow step by step!
Exploring Continuous and Stop Sounds for Effective Teaching of Phonemic Awareness Skills
Did you know that phoneme sounds can be continuous or stop sounds? Take for instance the sound /s/ which you can continue to make with ease, as opposed to the sound /k/ in the word ‘kite’ which feels unnatural to say continuously if we are pronouncing it properly. These are spoken sounds that are made when air is blocked and then released. They are also known as plosives.
The thing to know about teaching children how to blend sounds in words together while reading is that for some children stop sounds can be very challenging.
Catching ourselves with phoneme stop sounds can sometimes be tricky so being aware of them and noting how you are pronouncing them is a good practice to get in the habit of.
| Stop Sounds | b, c, d, g, j, k, h, p, q, t, and x |
| Continuous Sounds | f, l, m, n, r, s, v, w, y, and z |
Where to Start When Teaching Phoneme Blending
Start with Simple Sounds
Begin with simple and common sounds. For example, start with consonant-vowel (CV) combinations like /ba/, /ma/, /pa/.
Use Visual Aids
Utilize visual aids such as letter cards or a whiteboard. Write each phoneme on a card or the board, and then physically slide or move the cards together to represent blending.
Teach Word Families
Explore word families (e.g., -at, -in, -op) and help students recognize common phonetic patterns. Once they grasp the blending of a specific word family, they can apply it to multiple words.
Progress from CVC to Longer Words
Begin with simple Consonant-Vowel-Consonant (CVC) words and gradually progress to more complex words. This helps build confidence and reinforces the blending skill.
Real-World Application
Include blending exercises in daily activities, and encourage students to blend sounds during reading or when encountering new words and connect blending to real-world scenarios. Ask students to identify blended sounds in signs, labels, or environmental print. This helps them see the practical application of their phonemic awareness skills.
Repetition and Review
Practice and review are essential. Regularly revisit previously learned blends and words to reinforce the skill and ensure retention.
From Oral to Print Contexts
When children are excelling with oral blending activities and are consitently connecting sounds to the letters of the alphabet, your little one may be ready to start blending CVC words in written form (graphemes) and enter the exciting realm of decoding!
Where to Start Phoneme When Teaching Phoneme Segmenting
Segmenting in Syllables
Initially, practice segmenting words into syllables before moving on to individual phonemes. This step-by-step approach helps build a foundation for more detailed segmenting.
Start with Simple Words
Begin with simple words that have a clear phonemic structure. Consonant-Vowel-Consonant (CVC) words are a good starting point (e.g., cat, dog, sun).
Elkonin Boxes
Use Elkonin boxes or sound boxes to visually represent each phoneme in a word. Draw a box for each sound, and have students move a token or place a counter in each box as they segment the word.
Use Body Movements and Physical Objects
Body Movement: Incorporate body movements or gestures for each sound in a word. For example, students can tap their head for the first sound, touch their chest for the middle sound, and tap their knee for the final sound.
Physical Objects: provide objects that students can physically move or pull apart as they segment the word.
Progress from CVC to Longer Words
Begin with simple Consonant-Vowel-Consonant (CVC) words and gradually progress to more complex words and phoneme sounds. This helps build confidence and builds on successes, helping build your little learner’s ability to engage and apply themselves with determined effort.
From Oral to Print Contexts
When children are excelling with oral segmenting activities and are consistently connecting sounds to the letters of the alphabet, your little one may be ready to start writting CVC words. When children connect the sounds (phonemes) in a word to written symbols (graphemes), they can use this knowledge to help them with writing words. Learning to form letters takes significant motor control and fine motor skills.
At first, writting words can take the form of your little learner telling you how to write the word and you physically writting the word out until their letter formation skills start to take shape.
Phoneme Segmenting Methods To Try
Snail Talk
The skills of segmenting a word at the phoneme level often involve stretching or using what’s sometimes referred to as ‘snail-talk’ to ensure each sound is being given individual attention.
Reminder: it’s important to be mindful about not elongating stop sound phonemes.
Robot Talk
A great method where you don’t have to worry about getting stop souds wrong is called ‘robot-talk’. Robot-talk is where each phonemic sound in the word is said with a brief pause in between each sound. Watch this video to get a demonstration of the robot-talk method.
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Hi, I’m Julie, the passionate creator of Ox & Owl Literacy. I enjoy empowering families and educators with wonderful resources to inspire fun, imaginative, and joyful learning opportunities for young kiddos. You’ll find lots of recommended books, reading resources, and creative learning activities on this site aiming to help children fall in love with language, books, reading, and the transformational power of stories.
