Consonant Blends Lesson Plan

Consonant Blends Lesson Plan for Interactive Whiteboard or Computer Lab

Overview

The consonant blend reading games software supports the teaching of consonant blends in a fun and exciting way. To ensure children can decode and spell words successfully they must be able to identify individual phonemes within a word where consonants are blended together.
The process of blending consonants can start as soon as the child can identify phonemes. The first stage is to blend simple CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words. Our software supports the continuation of this teaching by helping the child make the leap from CVC to CVCC / CCVC words.
The software’s blending activity presents partially constructed CVCC / CCVC words. The task is to listen to the word, look at and listen to the CV element of the word already constructed and then identify from the given consonants (including digraphs) what should be blended next. There’s plenty of opportunity to see what CVC words have been created and what CVCC / CCVC words have been created before the word is marked.
Digraphs: Remember that some blended consonants cannot be separated out into individual sounds, i.e. together the two graphemes make one phoneme. The software’s blending activity covers a wide range of digraphs including: words with ck, ff, ss, ch, sh, th and ll words.
This consonant blend's lesson plan provides: ideas for lesson starters, how to use the consonant blend reading software, and plenary activities. Resources are provided (e.g. alphabet cards and homework worksheets).

Context of Lesson

Learn to read words by: identifying individual phonemes then learning how to blend them together to form words.

Resources Required

Consonant Blends reading software, interactive whiteboard or computer suite/lab, consonant blend alphabet and digraph flashcards, mini alphabet and digraph flashcards, zebra puppet (needed for lesson starter 2), small sack or bucket (needed for lesson starter 2), mini individual whiteboards with pens (or paper and pens), homework sheets

Learning Objectives

a. Word recognition: decoding (reading) and encoding (spelling)

Identify the constituent parts of two-syllable and three-syllable words to support the application of phonic knowledge and skills
Read and spell phonically decodable two-syllable and three-syllable words

b. Word Structure and Spelling:

Spell new words using phonics as the prime approach
Segment sounds into their constituent phonemes in order to spell them correctly
Spell with increasing accuracy and confidence, drawing on word recognition and knowledge of word structure, and spelling patterns including common inflections and use of double letters.

Using the Reading Game: Consonant Blend Lesson Starters

Lesson Starter Option 1:

Ask four children to come to the front of the classroom and stand in a row. Give the first two children a consonant and a vowel card (e.g. b and a) - use the consonant blend alphabet cards printable resources.
Ask the class what sound the ‘b’ makes and then what sound the ‘a’ makes.
Give the third child the consonant n card. Ask the three children with cards to hold them up one at a time to show the class. As card is raised class to say the sound that the letter makes.
What word have we made? Class to agree that the CVC word ‘ban’ has been created.
Tell the class that we can make an even longer word by adding another sound. Give the g card to the fourth child. Children at front of class to repeat process of holding cards up one at a time and class saying the sound for the letter card.
What word have we made? Class to agree that the CVCC word ‘bang’ has been created.
What other words can we make by changing the final letter? Give the fourth child a ‘k’ consonant card and repeat above process. Move on to interactive whiteboard, or computers, for the Consonant Blends reading game.
If using the CCVC software then replace the above word with lad and glad, or nip and snip etc.

Lesson Starter Option 2:

Teacher to write a partially constructed CVCC word on the whiteboard, e.g. ba for the word bang. Introduce Little Mo (zebra puppet) and tell the class that Little Mo is learning to blend sounds together so that they make words. Can they help her with the word bang?
Let Little Mo sound out the CV phonemes on the whiteboard. Little Mo tries to sound out the phonemes but makes some silly mistakes (don't worry if your ventriloquist act is not brilliant – the class will love your efforts!). Class to correct Little Mo until she gets it right.
Using a bag/sack/bucket, little Mo to pull out the phonemes that might complete the word. For each phoneme, little Mo has a go at sounding the phoneme correctly, then the class agree or correct her. Is that phoneme correct for completing the word bang?
Continue until word is complete. Continue with a couple more CVCC word examples and then move on the consonant blends reading game on the interactive whiteboard or computers.
If using the CCVC software replace the above word with win and twin.

Lesson Starter Option 3:

Teacher to explain to class that they will be practising making words by blending different sounds together.
Teacher to write the graphemes b and a on the whiteboard. What sounds/phonemes do these sounds make? Class to make the correct sound for b and a. Ask the class if b and a makes a word. Class to agree that it doesn't make a word that makes sense.
What sounds can we add to these graphemes to make a word. Teacher to demonstrate adding the letter t to make the word bat. Teacher to remove the t grapheme and add the n grapheme. What word do we have now? Class to sound out the word ban.
Tell the class we can add other sounds/phonemes to make the word even longer. Teacher to suggest the grapheme g – what word have we made now? Teacher to swap g with k, what word have we made now? Class to agree... can any more words be made?
Move on to interactive whiteboard or computer suite for consonant blends reading game.
If using the CCVC then replace the above word with pot and spot.

Consonant Blends Reading Game: Main Activity

Load the consonant blends reading game software on to the interactive whiteboard and select a set of words to play from the left-hand navigation.
Explain to the class that Little Mo the zebra is in her secret garden; she’s blending consonants and earning special zebra coins for each word she gets correct... which means she can then visit Garden World to help her plants grow.Explain that we’re going to help her blend the consonants to make words.
Click start and then select the blending option.
Ask the class what kind of plant they would like Little Mo to grow today. Select the plant.
First partially constructed CVCC or CCVC word appears. Listen to the word (click the large speaker icon to listen to the word again).
Point to the CV graphemes; what sound do these letters make? Class to repeat sounds as mouse is rolled over graphemes.
Ask the class which graphemes at the bottom of the screen could be used to complete the CVCC / CCVC word. Teacher to roll mouse over each grapheme; encouraging the class to listen to each phoneme / sound as it is played. Class to choose which phoneme is correct. Teacher to demonstrate dragging and dropping the sound up to the partially constructed CVCC / CCVC word.
Repeat process until word is complete. Once word is complete, teacher to play the word again by clicking the large speaker icon. Teacher to roll mouse over the completed CVCC / CCVC word graphemes... class to decide whether the new blended word is correct.
Teacher to click the Check Word button. Interactive consonant blend software automatically marks the word.
Let's try another one. Teacher to repeat process for next word and then continue the interactive reading game by selecting children from the class to come to the interactive whiteboard to drag and drop the graphemes to complete the words.
Please note: as words are marked correctly Mo earns extra Zs (the local currency) which can then be spent at Garden World. Class to decide whether Mo should visit Garden World when the Spend or Save dialogue box appears. Click Spend to send Mo to Garden World or Save to continue with blending words.
Continue playing game until all 10 words are blended correctly and Little Mo's plants are fully grown.
If the lesson is taking place in the computer suite/lab then students to work in pairs and take turns to operate the mouse for blending consonants to make the CVCC / CCVC words and visiting Garden World.

Plenary 1:

Teacher to write the CV graphemes of the words in the game on the whiteboard. Teacher to hand-out individual mini whiteboards and pens to each student in the class. Teacher to sound out first CV element... and then ask the class which word from the game is this the beginning of (or end if using the CCVC software)? Students to write the word on their mini whiteboards. Continue until all words have been completed.

Plenary 2:

Give mini alphabet and digraph cards to child: working with a partner one child to shuffle the cards and present them one at a time to their partner. Partner to say what sound (i.e. phoneme) the grapheme makes. Partner to agree or disagree.

Plenary 3:

If the lesson is taking place in the computer suite/lab then teaching assistant to support students to load a word processing programme; working in pairs one student to say a word from the game and the other student to type the word. Partner to check the typed word by sounding it out. If further lesson extension is needed then write simple sentences that include a word from the interactive whiteboard game.

Literacy Homework:

Using the consonant blends homework sheet; student to complete the partially constructed words in the sentence so that the sentences make sense. Book marks from the interactive reading game are also available to aid word recognition.

Popular consonant clusters covered by this lesson plan and our software include:

CVCC Words

ng words, including: ring, sing, bang, song, wing, hang, long, king, sung, rang, ding, dong, ping, pong, lung, sang, hung
ld words, including: gold, fold, cold, mold, bald, bold, held, hold, sold, told
nd words, including: band, bend, bond, fond, fund, hand, mend, pond, sand, wind
lk words, including: bulk, hulk, walk, milk, silk, talk
nk words, including: bank, wink, sink, pink, honk, bunk, sank, link, junk, rink,, sunk, tank
sk words, including: busk, disk, mask, risk, task
lp words, including: help, pulp, yelp, gulp
mp words, including: bump, damp, dump, hump, jump, lamp, limp, lump, pump, ramp
sp words, including: gasp, lisp, wasp
ft words, including: daft, gift, left, loft, raft, rift, soft
lt words, including: belt, bolt, felt, halt, salt, silt, tilt
nt words, including: bent, dent, font, hunt, mint, rent, sent, tent, vent, went
ss words, including: less, pass, loss, mass, kiss, boss, mess, toss, moss, hiss, Jess
ff words, including: buff, cuff, gaff, huff, luff, riff
sh words, including: fish, dish, wish, hush, rash, mash, cash, dash, lash, bash, push, rush
ch words, including: rich, much, such
ll words, including: bell, ball, bill, call, doll, dull, fall, fill, full, hall, hill, roll, sell, tell, will, wall
ck words, including: sock, back, tack, rock, pick, neck, luck, buck, deck, tick, dock, duck, hack, kick, lack, lick, muck, pack