Learning Resources Reading Rods Phonics Word-Building. Help pupils build advanced word segmenting and blending skills with this hands-on phonemic awareness resource. Students use the colour-coded rods featuring upper and lowercase consonants, vowels, vowel teams and affixes to build words as they practise their phonics skills for reading in English. The 70 rods are in a box with dividers for organisation and includes a Teachers Guide with free downloadable content.