Blends Bonanza

Blends and Cluster Activities

There are over 325 activities for 25 initial blends and clusters on this page. You may want to "blend" the sets for mixed practice. I've also added 5 sets of dominoes and am working on a game that I'm calling "Blends Blingo." If you have suggestions for other activities, please let me know at carl1404@msn.com.

Blends Bonanza Collection

Blends Bonanza is a full color reproducible collection that has 26 blends sets as well as support materials for teaching this skill. Included are updated posters, puzzles, poems and songs, configuration and cloze activities, crossword puzzles, skill wheels, shape books, big book, word cards, sorts, word searches, alphabetizing, charts, dominoes and other new games and activities. New to the set are little reproducible readers!

Available in website catalog at no cost

Bl Blends Set
Anchor Word: blow

Br Blends Set
Anchor Word: braces

Cl Blends Set
Anchor Word: climb

Cr Blends Set
Anchor Word: cry

Dr Blends Set
Anchor Word: drink

Fl Blends Set
Anchor Word: flake

Fr Blends Set
Anchor Word: fries

Gl Blends Set
Anchor Word: globe

Gr Blends Set
Anchor Word: grow

Pl Blends Set
Anchor Word: plant

Pr Blends Set
Anchor Word: present

Sc Blends Set
Anchor Word: scooter

Scr Clusters Set
Anchor Word: scrub

Sk Blends Set
Anchor Word: skate

Sl Blends Set
Anchor Word: sleepy

Sm Blends Set
Anchor Word: smile

Sn Blends Set
Anchor Word: snack

Sp Blends Set
Anchor Word: spaghetti

Spl Clusters Set
Anchor Word: splash

Spr Clusters Set
(17 pages)
Anchor Word: spray

St Blends Set
Anchor Word: stuck

Str Clusters Set
Anchor Word: string

Sw Blends Set
Anchor Word: swing

Thr Cluster Set
Anchor Word: thrifty

Tr Blends Set
Anchor Word: trike

Tw Blends Set
Anchor Word: twirl

Wr Silent Cluster Set
Anchor Word: write

Shr Cluster Set
Anchor Word: Shred

Blends Dominoes

Blends Dominoes, Set 1
(spr, sn, sm, str, scr, st)

Blends Dominoes, Set 2
(sp, sk, sw, sl, sc)

Blends Dominoes, Set 3
(cl, cr, bl, br, dr)

Blends Dominoes, Set 4
(pl, pr, gl, gr, thr)

Blends Dominoes, Set 5
(tr, tw, fr, fl, wr)

Blends Blingo

Blends Blingo, Set 1
(spr, sn, sm, str, scr, st)

Blends Blingo, Set 2
(sp, sk, sw, sl, sc)

Print these Blingo (Bingo) games on vellum and laminate for durability. Use with the picture cards from the database below. This game is meant to be played one-on-one with a tutor, parent volunteer or peer coach. Small group sets (6) will be available in the future.

Blends Chart

These charts contain the most common blends, consonant digraphs, clusters, and silent clusters (kn) and an anchor picture for each. It is recommended that teachers/parents use this as a reference for beginning and/or struggling writers. If a child hesitates when writing a word with a blend at the beginning, ask him or her to look at the chart. Do they see a picture of something that starts like the word they’re trying to spell? Reproduce and laminate these charts to place in writing folders or to use in small writing groups, and/or for tutorial sessions. Enlarge at Kinkos to poster size and read it like you would the Alphabet Chart for automaticity.

Blends Poster Project

This poster project idea came from Jaime, a first grade teacher. She posted it on www.Teachers.net and I asked her if she would mind sharing it on this page. It’s a great project to enhance the phonemic awareness of initial blends while working together as a family at home. Let me know what you think so that I can pass the compliments on to Jaime. On reflection, I think this project would work well for lots of other skills! Thanks again, Jaime! Included in the packet: letter to parents, sample and scoring rubric.