Blend Phonics Supplement
1. Blend Phonics PowerPoint. This is a link to my Dropbox files of the entire Blend Phonics Program PowerPoint Slides that have been converted to PDF. I have taught many students to read with these slides.
2. Blend Phonics Timed Fluency Drills. These 61 Timed Fluency Drills are a very powerful yet easy-to-use means of boosting children’s word identification fluency. Minimum word reading speeds are given for each grade level. The timings only take one minute per drill. The fluency drills follow the same order as the Blend Phonics Lessons. The Drills set reading on a truly scientific basis with measurable parameters and predictable outcomes. Training Video for Blend Phonics Timed Fluency Drills. The YouTube training video is down, but here is a link that works for the Training Video.
3. Blend Phonics Spelling Families. These spelling families are helpful for developing spelling ability and word identification fluency. They are designed to be used after the students have first learn to decode the words with the Blend Phonics directional decoding technique.
4. Blend Phonics Sound-to-Symbol Association Chart. There are two charts here, one with picture for teaching the sounds and one without pictures for
for practicing the sounds. Here is my Training Video explaining the organization of the chart and how to properly articulate the phonemes. Here is a powerful chart: Blend Phonics Picture Chart.
5. Blend Phonics Phonics Flashcards. These are flashcards for teaching the sound-to-symbol (letter) associations.
6. Blend Phonics Reader: Standard Edition. I wrote this Reader for extra reading (decoding) practice to be read AFTER a Unit is taught in the classroom from the board. I have found it incredibly helpful. It follows Rudolf Flesch’s important, but rarely heeded advice, to REMOVE students from their whole-word guessing environment and TEACH ONLY PHONICS until they are able to overcome their guessing habit. Words of similar configuration are strategically grouped together to help students focus on the letters in order to identify the words. Numerous words not in the original program have been added to the Reader. This Reader is called, “Blend Phonics Fluency Drills,” in the paperback edition of Reading Made Easy with Blend Phonics for First Grade.
Numerous tutoring students of all ages have doubled or tripled their reading ability in as little as five hours with this Reader. This is an extremely valuable supplement. At one school fourteen fifth- and sixth-graders passed the Texas TAKS Reading test after finishing the Blend Phonics Reader: Standard Edition. A special “fluency feature” allows the teacher to use the Precision Teaching Technique to chart student’s progress in fluency.
7. Blend Phonics Decodable Lessons and Stories. These 62 delightful decodable storybooks were written by my associate, Elizabeth Brown. Each story is preceded by a list of the words containing the phonics patterns needed to read the story. I have written four comprehension questions and included a list of spelling words with each story. The children love these stories. The storybooks are now available as of January 20, 2015 in inexpensive paperback: Blend Phonics Lessons and Stories. Here is a Teacher Training Video showing exactly how to teach the program. They are also available as 62 individual Blend Phonics Booklets.
To prevent the development of the guessing habit, we have avoided all pictures and predictable text. A Progress Skills Chart is included with the storybooks.
8. Blend Phonics Decodable Stories in 62 individual stapled booklets. Here are the same Blend Phonics Decodable Stories in smaller booklet format.
9. Blend Phonics Alphabet Flashcards. These flashcards are simply for developing an automatic response to the Alphabet letter forms and names. Print and cursive are listed side by side on the same card. By the way, I always SAY the letter name when I write the words on the board. I spell as I write. This is part of the multi-sensory instruction and is VERY important. I tell the students that we reading with the letter sounds and spell with the letter names.
10. Alphabet Fluency. Nothing is more important in early reading instruction than a firm grasp of the letters of the alphabet, their names, order, recognition, and writing.
11. Shortcut to Manuscript. All phonics instruction should be coupled with handwriting. This is my Shortcut to Manuscript Video. Here is the supporting document: Shortcut to Manuscript. Here is the new Shortcut to Manuscript link, that I created when I lost my YouTube Channel.
12. Blend Phonics Reader: Uppercase Edition. This special edition is for very young children learning to read with uppercase letters or for older students overcoming the configuration guessing habit.
13. Unit Progress Chart. For keeping track of student progress. Parents like seeing how their children are progressing. I keep a copy of this in my tutoring students’ folders.
14. Blend Phonics Table of Contents: Scope & Sequence
15. Certificate of Completion. All kids love certificates of successful completion as evidence of their hard work and progress.
16. Blend Phonics Sound to Spelling Charts. These charts are for parents and teachers.
17. Beyond Blend Phonics: English Morphology Made Easy. This is the followup to Blend Phonics, teaching the Anglo-Saxon, Romance, and Greek levels of English. This will boost students’ reading levels. Here is a link to an Interview. Teacher Training Video. People who purchase my book are welcome to use the Beyond Blend Phonics Slides. Here is a special presentation of the words in Beyond Blend Phonics in Columns organized for visual impact.
18. Phonovisual Phonics Charts. The Phonovisual Charts are not required to teach Blend Phonics, but they are a very helpful and inexpensive aid to teaching the sound-to-symbol correspondences in a scientifically organized way. They have seen constant use in American classrooms since 1942. See my Phonovisual Review for more information. Here is a Phonovisual YouTube that I did to explain how to use the charts. I am delighted to find that the 1960 Phonovisual Manual is available from the Internet Archive Library. Have a good look at the 1960 Manual, and you will want to purchase the new edition. Here is my YouTube explaining the Vowels Chart and Consonants Chart.
19. Blend Phonics Sample Cursive Training Sheets
20. The Alphabet Code & How it Words by Mr. Charlie Richardson. This is a brief introduction by a dear friend of mine who passed away in 2008.
21. Blend Phonics Lesson and Stories: Spelling Flashcards. Here are 638 3×5 flashcards for developing decoding fluency. These cards are very helpful.
22. Blend Phonics Nonsense Words. This is special supplement especially designed for older students needing to overcome the guessing habit. Comprehension will improve as decoding accuracy increases through brief daily use of these Nonsense words.
23. Blend Phonics Decodable Stories. This is a convenient document for reviewing the stories without the lessons and spelling words.
24. Blend Phonics Facial Diagrams for Articulation Training and Phonemic Awareness improvement.
25. A Sound Track to Reading. This is an advanced intensive phonics program and reader for teens and adults. This can be taught as a folowup to Blend Phonics or as a standalone program. It is far too advanced for first through second grade.
26. Word Mastery: Phonics for the First Three Grades (1913) by Florence Akin. This is a superior phonics instrucion and comprehensive spelling program. It is ideal for using in parallel with Blend Phonics.
27. For Comprehension Practice, here are 400 online graded passages with questions and answers. They are very informative and lots of fun for kids of all ages.