Students put consonants and common word endings together to build simple words. Color - coded Reading Rods make beginning reading an enjoyable hands - on activity! Students will learn to recognize short - and long - vowel word patterns, group rhyming words, identify initial consonant sounds and initial consonant blends use spelling patterns to build words. Convenient storage bucket contains 90 rods, including consonants, beginning blends and 2 - , 3 - and 4 - letter word families. Use alone or with any Reading Rods Word Families materials.