✕

Important update from TheSchoolRun

For the past 13 years, TheSchoolRun has been run by a small team of mums working from home, dedicated to providing quality educational resources to primary school parents. Unfortunately, rising supplier costs and falling revenue have made it impossible for us to continue operating, and we’ve had to make the difficult decision to close. The good news: We’ve arranged for another educational provider to take over many of our resources. These will be hosted on a new portal, where the content will be updated and expanded to support your child’s learning.

What this means for subscribers:

  • Your subscription is still active, and for now, you can keep using the website as normal — just log in with your usual details to access all our articles and resources*.
  • In a few months, all resources will move to the new portal. You’ll continue to have access there until your subscription ends. We’ll send you full details nearer the time.
  • As a thank you for your support, we’ll also be sending you 16 primary school eBooks (worth £108.84) to download and keep.

A few changes to be aware of:

  • The Learning Journey weekly email has ended, but your child’s plan will still be updated on your dashboard each Monday. Just log in to see the recommended worksheets.
  • The 11+ weekly emails have now ended. We sent you all the remaining emails in the series at the end of March — please check your inbox (and spam folder) if you haven’t seen them. You can also follow the full programme here: 11+ Learning Journey.

If you have any questions, please contact us at [email protected]. Thank you for being part of our journey it’s been a privilege to support your family’s learning.

*If you need to reset your password, it will still work as usual. Please check your spam folder if the reset email doesn’t appear in your inbox.

Blending CVC words (Phase 2 phonics)

Blending CVC words
It's so exciting when children start to put sounds together and realise that they can read! Practise some CVC words together with this handy activity sheet created by an experienced teacher and watch their confidence grow.
or REGISTER now ►

Keystage:  EYFS, Reception

What is an example of blending in phonics?

Here is a simple example of blending in phonics:

To read the word 'cat', children will need to look at each letter and blend the sounds. 

c/a/t

They will slowly make the sound of each letter out loud, then blend them together more quickly. This will then lead to the child reading the word smoothly. 

Blending helps the child go from recognising individual sounds to understanding how they come together to form a word.

How do you teach your child to blend CVC sounds?

Teaching your child to blend CVC (Consonant-Vowel-Consonant) sounds is a key step in helping them learn to read. Here's a step-by-step guide to make this process fun and effective:

  • Start with individual sounds
    Begin by making sure your child is familiar with the individual letter sounds (phonemes) in CVC words. For example, for the word cat, they should know the sounds /c/, /a/, and /t/.
  • Practise each sound: Use flashcards or simple letter blocks to practice saying each sound separately. For cat, practise saying /c/, /a/, and /t/ one by one.
     
  • Model blending
    Start by modeling how to blend the sounds together. Say each sound slowly and with a small pause in between: /c/ ... /a/ ... /t/.
    Gradually shorten the pauses: /c/ /a/ /t/.
    Finally, blend the sounds into the whole word smoothly: cat.
     
  • Practice with fun activities
    Use online phonics games, apps, or board games that focus on blending CVC words. 
    Create simple stories or sentences using CVC words and read them together.