5. Blending.

When a number of consonant sounds are mastered, practice in blending may begin. When the need arises—when words are met which begin with a combination of consonants the blends are taught, e.g., bright—b, r,—br, br ight, bright. f, l,—fl, fl ower, flower. Keep a separate set of cards for these blends—and drill upon them as the list grows.

(br, pl, fl, sl, cr, gl, gr, bl, cl, fr, pr, st, tr, str, sp, sw, tw, sk.)

gr owdr awpl ay
s kysm allsl ay
fl owercr owst ay
st andcl eanfr ay
gl asspr aytr ay
br ownsp instr ay
bl uesw ingsl ow
st oresl ackbl ow
tr ackdw arfgl ow

The teacher must pronounce the syllables that the children have, as yet, no power to master, e.g., with the word "grow", (1) the children will blend g and r, gr; (2) teacher pronounces "ow"; (3) children blend "gr" and "ow" until they recognise "grow."

Teach also the digraphs sh, ch, th, wh, as they are met in the common words in use: when, they, chick, etc.

sh eepch ickwh atth at
sh ellch ildwh enth is
sh ych airwh yth ese
sh orech illwh ereth ose
sh inech errywh ichth ere
sh owch ildrenth enth eir
sh ech urchth eyth ey
sh allch ase
sh ouldch est

III. Teach the Short Vowels.

Since more than 60 per cent of the vowels are short, and since short vowels outnumber long vowels by about four to one, they are taught first. Teach one vowel at a time by combining with the known consonants. And what fun it is, when short "a" is introduced, to blend it with the consonants and listen to discover "word sounds." Henceforth the children will take delight in "unlocking" new words, without the teacher's help. She will see to it, of course, that the words are simple and purely phonetic at first; as:

c-a-n, canh-a-d, had
c-a-p, capm-a-t, mat
c-a-t, catm-a-n, man
r-a-t, ratf-a-n, fan
h-a-t, hats-a-t, sat