If you’re after a simple way to teach beginning blends like FR-, CL-, DR- and SK-, you’ll love these 10 free picture sorts.

Simply print, color, cut, sort and paste! Grab your set below and then hop over and grab a copy of our blend clip cards, too.  For more fun with words, snag our Inflectional Ending Centers!

 

Teaching Beginning Blends

When introducing beginning blends to my students, I said the individual sounds of each letter and then the sound they made when I put the sounds together.

For example, I explained, “We know that F makes the /f/ sound and R makes the /r/ sound. Now let’s put those two sounds together quickly. Ready?! /Fr/!”

I wanted kids to begin recognizing the blend in words so I gave them an example and challenged them to brainstorm more. “Fruit starts with a /fr/ sound. Can you think of any other words that start with /fr/?” I’m often “wowed” by some of the words kids come up with on their own!

Beginning Blends Sort

Next, I gave each child a sorting sheet and had them color and cut out the pictures.

Using the extra copy I had printed out to use as an example, I laid out all of the pictures and picked up one at a time to read it out loud.

“Frog  – /f/ /r/ /o/ /g/. Frog starts with a /fr/ sound!” I grabbed my glue stick and pasted the frog in the “fr” column.

After showing the kids two more examples, I sent them off to complete their own sorts.

Let's Sort Blends - Playdough To Plato

When all the pictures were pasted, I asked each child to look at the two columns and say all of the words that started with each blend. The extra step helped reinforce the blends one more time.

Grab Your Copy

Ready to work on 20 of the most common blends?! Click the download button below to grab your FREE copy and then hop over and snag the Blend Pack , too!  If you’re in the mood for more learning fun, our Inflectional Ending Centers are the perfect accompaniment to blends!

 

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14 Comments

  1. Hello,
    The free downloadable teaching aids & games are very helpful.Great efforts by you and your team.

  2. I kept asking one teacher about the awesome worksheets and activities she was doing in her class. She kept saying Playdough to Plato. So now I’m the teacher with all the awesome worksheets. Thanks for making me look so good. I do pass on the site name.

  3. Hi, I love this resource! However, I’m just wondering if you have a colored version?

    1. Hi Yuki,
      Thanks for reaching out. We do not have this printable in color form.
      However, we do have these Blends Clip Cards, which are in color.
      Let me know if I can be of any further help.
      Warmly,
      Ashley // Happiness Ambassador

  4. on the sm/sn sorting page there is a picture of two fish. One is big, one is small. I had my students doing this page today and they were all confused because I am assuming the word was supposed to be small, but it says __own. I made my students throw this picture out, but I wanted you to be aware so you can edit it for future users.

    1. Hi Allee,
      You are correct.
      Thank you so much for bringing it to our attention.
      Warmly,
      Ashley // Happiness Ambassador

    2. Hi Allee,
      Just wanted to let you know that it has been updated ?
      Thanks again for bringing it to our attention.
      Warmly,
      Ashley // Happiness Ambassador

  5. Hi There!
    I am not able to download the blend sort files…when I put in my name and email it is just saying it is “working” and not doing anything.
    Thank you!

    1. Hi Kristen,
      Thanks for reaching out. I’m sorry you’re having trouble downloading. We never want that. Please check out our troubleshooting video HERE for help. You’ll also want to make sure you have the most recent version of Adobe Reader Other and that you’re allowing pop ups from our site. If you still can’t get it to work, you can email me at hello@www.playdoughtoplato.com
      Warmly,
      Ashley // Happiness Ambassador

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