Blending
Blending means saying the sounds in a written word one after another and pushing them together to hear the whole word, like /c/ /a/ /t/ → cat.
Learning Wiki
Phonics and early reading
Sounds, letters, blending and the first steps in reading.
Around ages 3–7
First steps
Digraphs
A digraph is two letters that make one sound, like sh in ship, ch in chip, ck in duck or ai in rain.
Phonics
Phonics teaches children to read and spell by linking sounds (phonemes) with the letters that write them (graphemes), then blending and segmenting those sounds.
Segmenting
Segmenting means breaking a spoken word into its separate sounds so you can spell it, like hearing dog as /d/ /o/ /g/ and writing a letter for each sound.
Tricky words
Tricky words are common words with a part that does not follow the phonics children know yet, like the, said, was and you. Children sound out the regular part and learn the tricky bit.
Around ages 5–11
Primary
Syllables
A syllable is a beat in a word, built around one vowel sound. Cat has one syllable, rab-bit has two, el-e-phant has three.
Vowels and consonants
The vowel letters are a, e, i, o and u (and sometimes y); all the other letters are consonants. Almost every English word needs a vowel sound.