branches
PronouncedBRAN-chuhz
The parts of a tree that grow out from the trunk and have leaves on them.
Phonics breakdown
Phonics Rule: BR Blend
Sound“br”·/br/
B and R blend together — you hear both sounds! Like in 'brown' and 'bring'.
The blend BR combines /b/ and /r/ spoken quickly together.
Examples
When the letter A appears in a closed syllable (a syllable that ends with a consonant), it usually makes the short A sound “a”. This is one of the first vowel sounds students learn.
Tip
A says “a” like a cat that sat on a mat.
Examples
Phonics Rule: NCH End Blend
Sound“nch”·/ntʃ/
NCH at the end of a syllable makes the “nch” sound, like in 'lunch', 'bench', and 'ranch'.
NCH combines the nasal /n/ with the digraph CH (“ch”). The result is “nch” — three sounds blended smoothly together at the end of a syllable.
Tip
NCH crunches — “nch” lunch, bench, punch!
Examples
Phonics Rule: Suffix -ES
Sound“iz”·/ɪz/
When a word already ends in a hissing or buzzing sound, -ES adds a whole extra syllable that says “iz” — like 'boxes' and 'pages'.
Try saying 'boxs' — you can't, the two hissing sounds run together. So the ending opens up into its own syllable: box → box-es. This happens after s, x, z, ch and sh (boxes, buzzes, watches, wishes), and also after a soft c or soft g, which are hissing and buzzing sounds themselves (faces, pages, bridges). When the word does NOT end in one of those sounds, the e goes quiet and the ending is just an /s/ or a /z/ — cakes, shoes.
Tip
-ES adds a whole extra syllable — box-es, wish-es!
Examples
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