Should I Teach Syllable Blending?

You might be wondering when it would be important to teach syllable blending. Is this a skill students even need?

The answer to that question is yes. This is a skill that students, in fact, need. But there are specific times when teaching this skill will be most important. 

So first, let's get clear on what syllable blending is.

Syllable blending is the ability to take individual syllables and string them together to make words. 

This is a crucial reading skill for a few reasons. 

First, students will recognize syllables before they recognize individual sounds. Understanding how syllables blend together is the first step in recognizing how words come together. 

Second, as humans, our memory can only hold so many things at once. This means that for longer words like "alligator," it is almost impossible for students to sound out each individual sound, and hold them in their minds long enough to blend them together. Instead, blending a few "chunks" like al-li-ga-tor is easier for our brains. 

So…when do we start teaching syllable blending?

Since students can generally recognize syllables at a young age, we incorporate blending drills into our PA instruction starting in Kindergarten.

However, these drills are even more important for older students.

As students get older, they need to read longer words. The longer the words get, the more critical syllable blending becomes. If we can support these skills early, we set students up with a necessary foundation.

How Do You Teach Syllable Blending?

With younger students, we typically start with easier, two-syllable words. We’ll ask, "What word do these syllables make? pan - cake” (pausing between each syllable). As students advance, we can increase the difficulty with longer and more complex words. For example, "What word do these syllables make? mo-tor-cy-cle"

Now, as we will mention again and again, this should be a quick activity or center-based activity in your lessons. This should not be a focus for an entire lesson as there are definitely additional valuable skills you need to make sure to fit in. If you're interested in learning more about how to fit it all in - you can check out our blog >>here<<.

To grab our Syllable Blending lesson and other activities to support PA development, check out our 5 Core Components of Literacy Activity Library below!