In the Being a Reader program, the teacher and students use continuous blending for phonological awareness and reading decodable words. In continuous blending, words are “sounded out” without stopping or pausing between sounds. For example, in sounding out the word am, the sound /a/ is held for 2 seconds, because it is continuous, and then the sound /m/ is said without any break between the two sounds. Phonemically, the result is /aamm/. Continuous blending offers critical support in blending individual sounds to make a word. Presenting sounds without continuous blending (for example, /aa/ [slight pause or break] /mm/ while reinforcing the individual sounds, does not present the same opportunity to hear them in combination and recognize the word.
For students in Set 1, the Small-Group Reading Teacher's Manual: Extended Instruction and Practice (included in Set 1 print and digital materials) is intended to support readers who place into Set 1 but who struggle to read connected text once they are asked to blend decodable words in Week 3. This Teacher’s Manual provides:
- Additional blending practice
- Fluency practice with text-only story posters for choral reading
- High-frequency words that are underlined on the story posters for easy recognition