Beginning 'R' Blends

: "I guess I should just give up." : "What seems to be the problem, Dee?" : "I'm trying to beat my personal record of climbing the tree, but I just can't make it past a certain point!" : "I can help you (...) if you help me." : For every word you make out of the sticks, I'll give you a boost..." : "that is, if the words have beginning blends in them. What are beginning blends? Blends are made up of consonants! You might already know that consonants are any letter except for the vowels... and that when there are two consonants in a row, we blend them together to make a new sound. When there are two consonants in a row, we can hear the sounds that each letter makes. Like in the word STIR. We can hear the and in the beginning of the word that make the /st/ sound. But, what happens when the letter follows the first consonant? Let's take a look at Dee's first word to find out! Here is Dee's first word (...) which has a beginning blend! To read beginning blends... First, say the sound of the first letter, here it is which makes the /t/ sound. Next, say the sound the second letter makes, which is and says /r/. Finally, BLEND the two sounds together faster to make the beginning blend! What do /t/ and /r/ make when they are blended together? They make the blend /tr/ (...) like in the word TREE! Let's practice more with Dee's next word. First we need to say the sound of the first letter, what sound does the letter make? makes the sound /f/. Next, say the sound the second letter makes. What sound does the letter make? makes the /r/ sound. Finally, BLEND the two sounds together faster to make the beginning blend! and blend together to make the sound /fr/. Like in the word FROG! Dee's final word starts with the letter ... and is blended with the letter . What sound do these two letters blend together to make? Remember to say the sound of the first letter... then the second... and then blend the two together by saying them faster! The letters and blend together to make the sound /cr/. Like in the word CRAB. Before we see how high Dee has climbed, let's review. Today we learned about beginning blends. We learned about blends that mix together to make a new sound... and how to blend them together! Now, how high do you think Dee has climbed? : "I made it! I made it to the top! I can't WAIT to tell Kala all about this!" : "Uh, just as soon as I figure out how to get down!"