Glossary · Sounds and phonemic awareness
What is successive blending?
Definition
Successive blending is reading a word one sound at a time and joining each new sound to the ones before it, rereading as you go.
For the word step, the student says /s/, then /st/, then /stĕ/, then /stĕp/. Each step adds one sound and rereads the chunk so far. Memory never has to hold more than the last chunk and one new sound.
It suits longer words and words that start with stop sounds, where stretching doesn't work. It also helps students who drop sounds from the middle of a blend, because each sound gets its own turn.
Many teachers use both methods: continuous blending for short words with sounds that can be held, successive blending once words reach four or five sounds.
In a lesson
On a whiteboard, uncover one letter of crust at a time. “/k/ ... /kr/ ... /krŭ/ ... /krŭs/ ... /krŭst/.” The student repeats each chunk, then reads the word.
Examples
Each word with its spelling units, one per sound.
- crustc·r·u·s·t
- blondb·l·o·n·d
- spends·p·e·n·d
Words come from our lexicon, checked against a pronouncing dictionary. Words a student sees in our assessments are left out.
Why does this matter for the record?
If a student reads three-sound words well but falls apart at five, note it and try successive blending before you assume the pattern itself is the problem.
Rate each skill as you teach it
Needs support, Developing, Secure. The rating schedules the review and builds the report.