Does your guided reading table need a fun refresh? When students come to the table for small group time, they know they’re in for some super exciting learning going on! This is a serious time where students can make exponential growth because the instruction is specifically tailored to their needs.
However, learning serious skills doesn’t have to be boring! I’m gonna share tons of resources to support your students during guided reading. These hands-on activities will focus on blending and segmenting and are sure to keep everyone engaged!
The Importance of Segmenting and Blending
So what exactly is blending and segmenting and why is it important for students? Segmenting involves students breaking words down into individual sounds, such as /r/ /a/ /m/ , whereas blending is when those sounds get pulled together to form the entire word. While this is typically a skill developed in kindergarten, there are still students who struggle with this important skill through second grade and sometimes even higher.
But why is this particular skill so important? Think about how you read for a second. When you’re reading, do you have to stop often to decode a word? Most likely the answer is no. When we become fluent readers, we have learned a variety of decoding strategies which allows us to move from thinking about decoding words, to our brains shifting into automaticity so that we can comprehend the stories. This is the ultimate goal of reading. To move past the monotonous task of “reading” to having that movie play in our minds. Visualization is the power.
Hands-on vs. Traditional Guided Groups
Small group time is an extremely crucial part of the day where we can drive our instruction to help close gaps in learning. Unfortunately, this small group time is a SMALL amount of time and it can get challenging to fit everything in. I remember a time when I would rush to get everyone set up at the table, we would spend a few minutes doing a teacher led activity on the whiteboard where students would respond, next we’d pull out our books, do some reading, discuss the book quickly, maybe do some writing, and then we would rotate groups. Students were doing their part, I was doing my part, but it felt mechanical and progress seemed slow.
I decided it was time for a refresh. I had been studying how important play was in learning and one quote in particular sat on my heart so heavy. Listen to this:
According to research by Dr. Karyn Purvis, scientists have discovered that it takes approximately 400 repetitions to create a new synapse in the brain, unless it is done in play, in which case it only takes 10 to 20 repetitions.
How powerful is that? I knew I had to transform our time at the table. We were about to PLAY!
The Power of Play
I told you I was gonna give you all the resources and that they were going to be fun so let’s get into it! First up is an activity that will have kids RACING to your table! Make way for the race cars!!
When I brought this out, and gave each kid their own little race car people, the kids went CRAZY! They had a blast “racing” while blending. The best part is they didn’t realize how much they were learning because they were having SO much fun! These mats have dots at the bottom as a reminder for students to know where to start, slow down, and stop when they are segmenting and blending. These mats also include nonsense words for students to practice those as well!
The second activity is one of my favorites, I learned about these magnetic “wands” and knew they would be a BLAST with blending!
Magical Wand Blending and Segmenting
With these magnetic wands and magnetic counters, the students can “magically” blend words together and watch the sounds disappear onto the wand as they say the word! Talk about FUN! They LOVE blending with “magic” and think it is the most fun activity that they BEG to do. Again, just like the first activity, these are differentiated for students working at different levels. No matter where they’re at, they are sure to have TONS of fun!
And as much as kids love magic, they also love being detectives! Here’s an activity for our little investigators!!
Throw in a magnifying glass and boy do you have engagement and fun! I especially like this activity, because the students really have to rely on their beginning sounds to help them determine the letter that goes in the box to spell their word. It is such a fun way to practice and really has students being detectives deciphering the words and it’s beginning sound! When they determine the word, they are always SO excited because they really had no clue what it was! Talk about a fun time!!
The next activity involves some fun destruction. What kid doesn’t LOVE Play Doh and smashing things? Let’s be honest! When you pull out Play Doh and tiny mallets, kids just KNOW they’re going to have fun!
This is such a fun way to practice segmenting and blending! Students love smashing out the sounds with their Play Doh and mallets! You can even find green, yellow, and red really reinforce the visual of blending words.
Coming up next is another fan favorite because it involves the nostalgic toy of Slinkys! When you bring these things out, kids think this is going to be SO fun!
Slinkys are fun to use with blending because it shows students how we stretch out each individual sound but then we snap it back together to read the entire word! Another cool feature of this activity is that it allows students the freedom to choose their own picture card, as well as use the letters or write the letters. It provides great student choice!
This activity has your differentiation COVERED! While these are simple, they are VERY effective for students. Students use colored counters to practice segmenting each individual sound. This activity is effective because it allows students to see visually what it looks like to segment and blend words, while also includes that movement piece for them as well. When students get really good at this skill, add in the cards with the boxes for writing in the sounds. This allows students to practice writing the letters associated with the sounds and then blending and reading the entire word together.
Differentiated Blending and Segmenting
The next activity involves some popping fun. Let’s be honest… these fidgets are addicting even for adults! Bring in some popping fidgets and you are sure to have a blast blending and segmenting with kiddos!
The last activity is BRAND NEW and sure to swing a whole heap of fun into your group! This hula hoop blending resource is an exciting way to get kids up and moving to practicing blending in an entirely new way! Click on the picture to check out a video of the resource in action.
You didn’t think I’d share about all these awesome activities without a FREEBIE! If you subscribe, you’ll have exclusive access to a Slide Blending Freebie!
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These activities can be used in SO many ways. Students can work on beginning sounds, or work on isolating individual sounds, and of course they can work on blending words together! With all of these activities, I’ve tried to include as MANY different CVC words as possible for students to practice so that they aren’t practicing the same words over and over again. The best part is, after practicing ALL of these different activities in our small group setting, these same games can become center activities that students already know how to play and LOVE!
This growing bundle is the most wish listed and purchased resource in my ENTIRE store. Teachers tell me over and over again how much this resource helps their students and how often they use these activities as interventions for students. Read below some of the wonderful things teachers have to say about these activities.
“This has been a game changer for guided and practice for my students! Thank you!”
“Such a great resource for teaching students blending and segmenting. Creative manipulatives and lots of options make it stay exciting and fresh for my students who were really struggling.”
“I love using this with my small groups and with my RTI groups Excellent resource.”
“I have been using this resource since September, It has a lot of fun activities in it, especially for sounding. Would definitely recommend!!”
“This provides plenty of activities to help all of my students with blending. It was perfect for my small group lessons as well as word work activities for students.”
“Great activities, the students and myself are enjoying them, thank you.”
“Lots of creative ways to practice CVC words with your class. Especially great for centers or for guided reading. Thank you!”
“These are wonderful engaging activities for students. They love pop its!”
“This provides plenty of activities to help all of my students with blending. It was perfect for my small group lessons as well as word work activities for students.”
I LOVE coming up with more hands-on ideas for students and as I do, I continue to add them to the bundle! When you purchase the growing bundle, as each new resource gets added, you get it for FREE! Simply download the updated file and enjoy all the new activities! If you would like to learn more about these different hands-on activities, you can watch the videos below! To grab the 450 page growing bundle, simply click on the picture!
Blending and Segmenting Growing Bundle
I hope you enjoyed learning more about segmenting and blending and how to make it fun and enjoyable not only for the students, but for you as well! Don’t forget to subscribe to my email list! You will get the most up to date tips, tricks, and classroom projects… and of course more fun FREEBIES including the Slide Blending FREEBIE! If you would like to learn about this and other things happening in my classroom follow me @sweetnsauerfirsties on Instagram.
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