Segmenting Words into Phonemes

• Objective: Segment words into separate phonemes (sounds) including consonant blends or clusters at the beginnings and ends of words.

Introductory Video

Introduction:

Learning to segment words into separate sounds, or phonemes, helps us understand how words are built and makes reading and writing easier. Let’s explore how to break down words into sounds, how to change sounds to make new words, and how to blend sounds to form words.

Segmenting Words into Sounds:

1. Simple Words:
   • Example: Let’s take the word “cat.”
     • Break it into sounds: “c-a-t.”
     • Say each sound separately: “c” “a” “t.”
   • Another Example: The word “dog.”
     • Break it into sounds: “d-o-g.”
     • Say each sound separately: “d” “o” “g.”
       
2. Words with Consonant Blends:
   • Beginning Blends:
     • Example: The word “spoon.”
       • Break it into sounds: “s-p-oo-n.”
       • Say each sound separately: “s” “p” “oo” “n.”
   • Ending Blends:
     • Example: The word “fist.”
       • Break it into sounds: “f-i-s-t.”
       • Say each sound separately: “f” “i” “s” “t.”

Substituting Sounds to Make New Words:

1. Medial Sounds (Middle Sounds):
   
   • Example: Start with the word “pin.”
     • Change the “i” sound to “e”: “pen.”
     • Change the “i” sound to “a”: “pan.”
       
2. Final Sounds (Ending Sounds):
   • Example: Start with the word “pet.”
     • Change the “t” sound to “g”: “peg.”

Blending Sounds to Form Words:

1. Blending Sounds Together:
   
   • Example: Let’s blend the sounds:
     • “s,” “m,” “ar,” “t.”
       • Say the sounds together quickly: “smart.”

Conclusion:

Understanding how to segment words into sounds, change sounds to make new words, and blend sounds to form words helps us read and write better. Practice breaking words into sounds, substituting sounds, and blending sounds together. This way, you’ll get really good at recognizing and using the sounds in words, making reading and writing fun and easy!