First Grade · Reading · week 7

Four-Sound Words

Blend words with four sounds that combine a beginning and/or ending blend with a vowel in the middle.

You have learned beginning blends and ending blends. Now you will put them to work in one word with FOUR sounds, like "flag": f-l-a-g.

Go sound by sound, then squeeze them together. Four sounds feels like a lot at first, but it is just two blends you already know, plus a vowel in between.

📋 For the teacher
Teach it (10–15 min):
  • Break a four-sound word into two smaller pieces your child already knows -- the beginning blend and the rest, or the rest and the ending blend.
  • Do not rush; let your child sound out all four sounds before blending, especially on new words.
  • Point out that these are not new rules, just old blends showing up together in the same word.
  • Celebrate when a long-feeling word turns out to be easy once it is broken into chunks.
Talk about it:
  • How many sounds are in the word flag?
  • What two blends do you hear in stamp?
  • Which part of a long word do you sound out first?

Mastery looks like: They blend four-sound words by chunking a beginning and/or ending blend around the vowel.

Common stumbles: Trying to say all four sounds at once instead of blending in smaller chunks first.

See it visually

Interactive, spoken-aloud tools that show this idea in motion.

Blending & SegmentingSlide sounds together to read a word — /s/ /u/ /n/ → “sun”.try →
Homework for this lessonType it, write it with a stylus, or print it for pencil & paper.open →
Records attendance + 15 min of Reading for this learner.
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