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Words are made of sounds
- cat
A cat on a mat.
Say cat slowly.
You hear /k/. Then you hear /at/.
Get Ready
Push two sounds together and hear a word.
Words to know
- matA small rug on the floor.
Learn It
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Slow, then fast
/k/as in cup/at/as in catcatthe whole word
/k/ is hard for a computer to say on its own — it comes out as “kuh”. Listen for it at the start of cup instead.
| First sound | /k/, written c |
|---|---|
| Ending | /at/, written at |
| Blended | cat |
| Is it a word? | A word you know |
| Words you know ending in at | mat, cat, hat, pat, sat |
Say it slowly: /k/ … /at/ … cat. Then say it fast. That is blending — the sounds do not change, you just stop leaving a gap between them. Keep the at ending and change the first sound, and you get mat, cat, hat, pat, sat. One ending, lots of words.
Say /k/ … /at/. Leave a gap.
Now say it with no gap.
You said cat! That is blending.
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Use the sound, not the name
- cat
This letter is called "see".
But in cat it says /k/.
Say /k/ … /at/. Not "see-at".
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Keep the end, change the start
- cat
- hat
- mat
- sat
Keep /at/. Change the first sound.
/h/ … /at/. Sam has a hat!
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Some blends are not words
- hig
- pig
Blend /h/ and /ig/. Hig!
Hig is not a word. That is fine.
Try /p/ and /ig/. Pig!
Your Turn
Answer each question in the yellow box.
Question 1 of 8
Blend /p/ and /ig/. What animal is it?
Question 2 of 8
Blend /h/ and /at/. What goes on your head?
Question 3 of 8
Blend /m/ and /op/. What word is it?
Question 4 of 8
Blend /k/ and /an/. What word is it?
Question 5 of 8
Which word starts with /s/?
Question 6 of 8
Say cat and hat. Which end do they share?
Question 7 of 8
Blend /h/ and /ig/. Is hig a word?
Question 8 of 8
Blend /p/ and /an/. What do you cook in?
What You Learned
- Words are made of sounds.
- Say the sounds slow, then fast.
- Use the sound, not the letter name.
- Some blends are not words. That is fine.
For the grown-up
Blending an onset and a rime (/k/ + /at/ = cat) is the first step of phonological awareness. It is an ear skill: do it out loud, with or without letters in view.
Watch for letter names. "See-at" never becomes cat, so model the sound, not the name. When a blend lands on a non-word like hig, praise the blend: whether it is a word is a separate question.