The 'Dr' Blend

Consonant clusters or blends are two or three consonants that appear together in a word with each consonant retaining its sound when blended.

Words for the 'dr' blend:

Drab, draft, drag, dragon, drain, drake, drank, draw.

Dread, dream, dress, drew.

Drift, drill, drink, drip, drive.

Droop, drop, drove.

Drug, drum, dry.

Write the blend 'dr' set of words on individual cards. Underline the blend in every word. Explain your child that the set of two letters that needed to be spelt together or blended and help him in reading the first few words. Once he is comfortable reading individual words and recognizes the reading pattern, encourage him to read the story under your supervision.

Story for 'dr' blend:

Drake, the dragon

Drake the dragon, is my dream dragon.

Drake, the dragon, likes to draw and drive,
Drake, the dragon, loves to keep dry.

Drake, the dragon, loves to dress,
Drake, the dragon, likes to drill and make a mess.

Drake, the dragon, likes to drink,
Drake, the dragon, drips and drools, while he sips.

Drake, the dragon, beats drums all day,
Drake, the dragon, dreads all things grey.

Drake the dragon, is my dream dragon.

Have a nice day.

The 'Cr' Blend

Consonant clusters or blends are two or three consonants that appear together in a word with each consonant retaining its sound when blended.

Words containing 'cr' blend:

Crab, crack, cradle, craft, crane, crash, crawl, crayon, crazy.

Creek, creep.

Crib, cricket, cried.

Croak, crook, crop, cross, crow, crowd, crown.

Crumb, crunch, crust, cry.

Write the blend 'cr' set of words on individual cards. Underline the blend in every word. Explain your child that the set of two letters that needed to be spelt together or blended and help him in reading the first few words. Once he is comfortable reading individual words and recognizes the reading pattern, encourage him to read the story under your supervision.

Story for the day :







Crusty, the crafty crab.

Crusty, the crab, is one crafty crab.
Crusty, the crab, crawls by the map.

Crusty, the crab, has crooked ways,
Crusty, the crab, loves to wear a crown always.

Crusty, the crab, is cross with the crow,
Crusty, the crab, plays cricket, with his bro.

Crusty, the crab, loves cribs and cradles,
Crusty, the crab, likes crazy fables.

Crusty, the crab, got crushed by a crowd,
Crusty, the crab, lay all crouched.

Crusty, the crab, is one crafty crab.
Crusty, the crab, crawls by the map.

Take care.

The 'Br' Blend

Consonant clusters or blends are two or three consonants that appear together in a word with each consonant retaining its sound when blended.

The 'Br' blend words:

Brace, Brad, Braid, Brain, Braise, Brake, Bran, Branch, Brand, Brass, Brat, Brave, Brawl, Bray.

Bread, Break, Breathe, Breeze, Brew.

Brick, Bride, Bridge, Bright, Brim, Bring, Brisk.

Broad, Broil, Broke, Bronze, Brood, Brook, Broom, Broth, Brother, Bought, Brown, Browse.

Bruise, Brush.

Write the blend 'br' set of words on individual cards. Underline the blend in every word. Explain your child that the set of two letters that needed to be spelt together or blended and help him in reading the first few words. Once he is comfortable reading individual words and recognizes the reading pattern, encourage him to read the story under your supervision.

Repeat this exercise daily for the entire week, till your child is comfortable with blending.

Story for the 'Br' blend :

Brace and Brad.

She is Brainy Brace,
He is Brother Brad.

Brace likes Bread,
Brad loves Broth.

Brace likes Branches,
Brad loves Brooks.

Brace plays with Brooms,
Brad plays with Bricks.

Brainy Brace is Bright,
Brother Brad is Brave.

But when Brace and Brad have a Brawl,
They need Brother Brown, to Bring them to a halt.

Take care.

Blends & Consonant Clusters

Consonant clusters or blends are two or three consonants that appear together in a word with each consonant retaining its sound when blended. The term cluster refers to the written form and the term blend refers to the spoken form.

The major categories of consonant clusters are :

r-clusters

s-clusters

l-clusters

3 letter clusters

Consonant clusters can be taught as soon as children have learnt to read the single consonant sound-spellings.

The r-blends - br, cr, dr, fr, gr, pr, tr.

The s-blends - sc, sk, sl, sm, sn, sp, st, sw.

l-blends: bl, cl, fl, gl, pl.

Ending blends: ct, ft, ld, lp, lt, mp, nd, nk, nt, pt, rd, rk, sk, sp, st.

The consonant blends sounds are very reliable. But there can be exceptions. For example, the blend 'sc' can stand for the /sk/ sound as in 'scare' or the /c/ can be silent as in 'science'.

Teaching the consonant blends:

Write these set of words on individual cards. Underline the consonant cluster in every word. Bring your child's attention to the set of letters that needed to be spelt together or blended. Read aloud the first few words with him. Once he is comfortable reading individual words and recognizes the blending pattern, encourage him to read the story under your supervision.

Repeat this exercise daily. Next week, we shall study the different blends or consonant clusters and shall read small stories based on them.

Till then, happy blending.