Core Strategy: Tapping, Stretching, and Blending

When students encounter an unknown word, they need a positive, effective strategy to decode the word.

No more guessing. No more silently waiting for the word to come. No more (as one student used to do) copying the word while muttering curses at herself. 

A core strategy we use is called Tapping, Stretching, and Blending.

This core strategy is the first response a student should employ when stuck.

Student says the first sound while tapping the desk with the left hand’s open palm, then says the vowels sound while stretching both fists apart as if stretching a rubber band, then says the last sound while the tapping the other palm, then finally moves the hand aside as if brushing the word away while saying the entire word.



The separate skills that go into Tapping, Stretching and Blending:

• Student produces each sound correctly.

• Student really stretches out the vowel sound, saying it clearly, committing to it.

• Student Taps and Stretches, out loud, every single sound. (No going half-way into the word and then making a guess! Develop good habits and tap/stretch the word all the way to the end!)

• Student blends sounds into word.

Each one of these skills takes practice to master.