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Consonant Blends |
Definition: Consonant blends are 2 or 3 single consonants that work together to create specific sounds. Each consonant within the blend can be heard. There are 4 major categories of consonant blends: l-blends, r-blends, s-blends, and middle/end blends.
Examples of L-Blends: black, clean, flat, glad
Notice the position of the l; it is located at the end of the blend. Also, in these examples, the l-blend begins the word; however, the blend may appear anywhere within the word.
Examples of R-Blends: brown, credit, dream, frame, grade
Notice the position of the r; it is located at the end of the blend. Also, in these examples, the r-blend begins the word; however, the blend may appear anywhere within the word.
Examples of S-Blends: skin, smooth, spike, state
Notice the position of the s; it is located at the beginning of the blend. Also, in these examples, the s-blend begins the word; however, the blend may appear anywhere within the word.
Audio practice with l and r-blends: Click here
Audio practice with s-blends: Click here!
Practice with l and r-blends: Click here!
Practice with s-blends: Identify the s-blends found in these short fables from the Aesop fable collection!
The Wolf and the Lamb
WOLF, meeting with a Lamb astray from the fold, resolved not to lay violent hands on him, but to find some plea to justify to the Lamb the Wolf's right to eat him. He thus addressed him: "Sirrah, last year you grossly insulted me." "Indeed," bleated the Lamb in a mournful tone of voice, "I was not then born." Then said the Wolf, "You feed in my pasture." "No, good sir," replied the Lamb, "I have not yet tasted grass." Again said the Wolf, "You drink of my well." "No," exclaimed the Lamb, "I never yet drank water, for as yet my mother's milk is both food and drink to me." Upon which the Wolf seized him and ate him up, saying, "Well! I won't remain supperless, even though you refute every one of my imputations." The tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny.
The Kingdom of the Lion
THE BEASTS of the field and forest had a Lion as their king. He was neither wrathful, cruel, nor tyrannical, but just and gentle as a king could be. During his reign he made a royal proclamation for a general assembly of all the birds and beasts, and drew up conditions for a universal league, in which the Wolf and the Lamb, the Panther and the Kid, the Tiger and the Stag, the Dog and the Hare, should live together in perfect peace and amity. The Hare said, "Oh, how I have longed to see this day, in which the weak shall take their place with impunity by the side of the strong." And after the Hare said this, he ran for his life.
The Fisherman Piping
A FISHERMAN skilled in music took his flute and his nets to the seashore. Standing on a projecting rock, he played several tunes in the hope that the fish, attracted by his melody, would of their own accord dance into his net, which he had placed below. At last, having long waited in vain, he laid aside his flute, and casting his net into the sea, made an excellent haul of fish. When he saw them leaping about in the net upon the rock he said: "O you most perverse creatures, when I piped you would not dance, but now that I have ceased you do so merrily."
Practice with middle/ending blends: Re-read the paragraphs from Aesop listed above! Find middle/ending blends!