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Teaching kids to blend, or combine, sounds in order to pronounce new words is an important element to first grade reading. Segmenting the sounds that make up a word, and then blending those sounds to pronounce them correctly, can be a tricky skill to master. This lesson helps take first graders through this process, with guided practice and helpful examples.

In this lesson, preschoolers focus on the alphabet by learning the letters L, R, and K. Kids are guided through the classic children's story of The Lion and the Rat, with an accompanying curriculum that targets each child's understanding of the unique sounds these letters make. Seeing the letters in a fun, engaging environment also reinforces the letter recognition skills crucial for early readers.

This lesson guides students in understanding letter-sound correspondence for consonants M, S, B, R, P, K, T, G, F, L. It also introduces other techniques for pronouncing the most frequent sounds that these consonants make, including sound-to-letter correspondence and sound-to-image correspondence. This will help kindergarteners to read more fluently, with enhanced understanding of new texts. The lesson also engages listening skills that are a crucial part of the kindergarten curriculum.

Bag, cat and cap are all examples of short A words that kindergarteners will be learning to read this year. You can support this learning with a guided exploration of the short A sound. Kids will be taught how to identify the short A within text, in addition to the corresponding sound. Check out our short A printables for more phonics practice.