Blending and breaking apart sounds (grade 1) · lesson

Long and short vowels

💡 A long vowel says its name, and a short vowel does not.

Cake has a long a. The a says its name.

Cat has a short a, like in apple.

🧠 How to think about it

Say the word slow. Stop in the middle. Does the vowel say its name? Then it is long.

🏡 Try it at home

Say pairs: cap and cape, kit and kite. Which one has the long sound?

💡 A sound can be at the start, the middle, or the end.

Ship starts with shhh. Fish ends with shhh.

Sun and bus have the same middle sound.

🧠 How to think about it

Say the word like a snail. Stop at the spot you need. Say just that sound.

🏡 Try it at home

Say a word. Your child tells the first, middle, and last sound.

💡 Count the sounds you hear, not the letters you see.

Ship has four letters but just three sounds: shhh, i, p.

Frog has four sounds: f, r, o, g.

🧠 How to think about it

Hold up one finger for each sound. Say it slow. How many fingers?

🏡 Try it at home

Tap one finger for each sound in short words like cat, fish, and stop.

💡 Some words start with two sounds blended fast.

Star starts with s and t. Crab starts with c and r.

You hear both sounds, one fast after the next.

🧠 How to think about it

Say the word slow. Do you hear two sounds before the vowel? Name them both.

🏡 Try it at home

Find things that start with two sounds, like stop, tree, or frog.