We hate to admit it, but sometimes phonemic awareness instruction is, well, a bit of a bore. Banish the phonemic awareness blahs and watch student engagement soar. Using blending boards, students practice the two essential phonemic awareness skills – blending and segmenting – to build a strong foundation for reading success.
Now with seven full-color animals, your students can create over 300 wacky combination-creatures. Give your students the power to craft their own animals. Happy, motivated kids = happy, motivated teachers.
See the Mix-And-Match Blending Board Book of Animals in action:
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a blending board, you ask?
Blending boards help younger and less-able students build essential phonemic awareness skills. Students need blending and segmenting skills to read or write even the simplest words.
The blending board is broken into three sections: the head, the torso, and the tail. Each section of the animal represents the initial, medial, and final phoneme. Using manipulatives such as blocks, beans, or poker chips, students place markers for each sound they hear. They can then blend the sounds together by touching each of the manipulatives in the sequence they hear them.
Do blending boards really work?
Blending boards can be used to build the most important phonemic awareness skills: blending and segmenting. The National Reading Panel concluded:
Teaching one or two types of phoneme manipulation—specifically blending and segmenting phonemes in words—is likely to produce greater benefits to your students’ reading.
Blending boards are a fun twist on the classic Elknonin boxes. Elkonin boxes are blank squares used to represent phonemes. Elknonin boxes have been demonstrated to help students:
- Segment words into phonemes and syllables.
- Teach students to count phonemes.
- Master the alphabetic principle.
So what’s included in this download?
The Mix-And-Match Blending Board Book of Animals is a 10-page, full-color PDF. The file you will receive is oriented horizontally (8-1/2” tall x 11” inches wide), and is ready to be printed from your home, office, or school computer.
After I print the book, how do I use it?
We recommend stapling 2 or 3 times along the top edge of the book. Then, using scissors, cut along the dotted lines on the inside pages. And that’s it!
Alternatively, you can laminate the pages and have the book spiral bound at your local copy shop.
Alright, I’m in. How do I get this book?
Click the ‘Add To Cart’ button below. The Mix-And-Match Blending Board Book of Animals will be added to your shopping cart, in the upper-right-hand corner of this page. After you check out, you’ll be able to download the file directly. Additionally, you’ll receive a download link and receipt via email.
What if I have second thoughts?
No problem. Just contact us, and we’ll issue you a full refund.