SOUND CITY READING

Sound city Reading Blog

  • Sequential Phonics Program
    • Welcome
    • Copyright Information
    • How To Navigate This Site
    • Information About The Sound City Reading Program
    • Information About The Author
    • How Was This Program Developed?
    • Why Are There So Many Different Books?
    • How To Get Started
    • What If I Can't Do Everything In This Program?
    • Information About Reading Street Materials
    • Reading Readiness
    • Understanding Consonants
    • Understanding Vowels
    • What Happened To The Old Web Site
    • Other Recommended Sites
  • Program Overview
    • Step Charts
    • Flow Charts
    • Teaching Levels
    • Books Used At Each Level
    • Color-Coded Vowels
    • Skill Sequence
    • General Information About Instruction
    • Integrating Phonics And Whole Language
    • Sound Story
    • Level 1 - Learning The Alphabet Overview
    • Level 2 - Exploring Sounds In Words Overview
    • Level 3 - Short Vowels Overview
    • Level 4. Phonics Patterns Overview
    • Level 5. Advanced Phonics Patterns Overview
    • Phonemic Awareness Picture Pages Overview
    • Handwriting Books Overview
    • Charts, Flashcards, And Games Overview
    • Newer Wall Charts
    • Previous Wall Charts
  • PDF Files
    • How To Work With PDF Files
    • Printers And Printing Supplies
    • PDF Files For Any Level
    • PDF Files For Handwriting
    • Level 1 - Learning The Alphabet PDFs
    • Level 2 - Exploring Sounds In Words PDFs
    • Level 3 - Short Vowels PDFs
    • Level 4 - Phonics Patterns PDFs
    • Level 5 - Advanced Phonics Patterns PDFs
    • PDF Files For Flashcards
    • PDF Files For Activities And Games
    • PDF Files For Newer Wall Charts
    • PDF Files For Older Wall Charts
  • Reading Street
    • PDFs Decoding Practice Pages
    • PDFs Spelling Worksheets
    • PDFs Word And Phonogram Cards
    • PDFs Reading Street Tests
    • PDFs Reading Street Stories
  • Pictures
    • Sound Story Pictures
    • Keyword/Sound Chart Pictures
    • Level 1 And 2 Pictures
    • Level 3 Pictures
    • Level 4 Pictures
    • Consonant Blends
    • Level 5 Pictures
  • Audio
    • Sound Story Part 1 - Alphabet Sounds
    • Sound Story Part 2 - Beyond The Alphabet Sounds
    • Sound Pictures With Letters - Part 1
    • Sound Pictures With Letters And Letter Patterns - Part 2
    • Individual Sound Pictures - Part 1
    • Individual Sound Pictures - Part 2
    • Individual Alphabet Sounds - ABC Order
    • More Letter Sounds - sh, th, ch, ng, oi, oy, ou, ow
    • Level 1 And Level 2 Sound Charts
    • Level 3 - Short Vowels - Sound Charts
    • Level 3 - Advanced Short Vowel Sound Charts
    • Level 4 - Book 1 - Sound Charts
    • Level 4 - Book 2 - Sound Charts
    • Two-Letter Sound Blending - Short U
    • Picture-Word Page Short U
  • Video
    • Sound Story Part 1 Videos
    • Robot Game a_e/safe Video
    • Advanced Sound Charts Videos (All SCR Patterns)
  • Blog
    • Contact Me
    • Share Your Experience
    • Take This Expanded Survey

5/17/2017

Today I Added A New Handwriting Book

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I added a new handwriting book as a PDF file today.  You can see the description and sample pages in the overview of materials handwriting section.  This book has smaller letters than the introductory books printed on legal paper and ledger paper.  It would be best used to review letter formation at the beginning of the year for students who have already learned to write the letters.  Or it could be used as extra practice after beginning students have been introduced to the letters using the larger patterns.
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I'm still trying to finish the book of sequence charts with an overview of teaching materials.  I keep having to add pieces like the new handwriting book described above.  Hopefully soon....  
​I do  apologize for the delay. 

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5/13/2017

I Added An Overview Of Sound City Reading Books And         Two Cursive Handwriting Books

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Today I added a page to this site that shows an overview of all the Sound City Reading books.  You can find it under these menu headings: A Phonetic Reading Program - Teaching Levels And Materials - Overview Of Teaching Books.  I've listed the books by levels with a brief explanation of how they relate to each other.  I hope this is helpful. I'll be adding it to the Sequence Charts Book.

I also added two cursive handwriting books.  The first one is to be printed on legal paper.  Students trace and copy large cursive letters in this book.  The second one is to be printed on 11 by 17 inch ledger paper, if you have that printing capability.  Students trace large letters only in this book.  To find the books go to PDF Files For Phonics Books And Workbooks - Scroll down to the cursive handwriting heading.  I've used large handmade cursive patterns in my second grade classroom years ago.  I've used the handwriting books I just uploaded with my grandchildren and students that I've tutored.  If you're willing to take the time to have students trace these large letter patterns, I think you'll be pleased with the results.  

My granddaughter was very slow to pick up manuscript handwriting, so I used the cursive patterns for a few weeks before she started third grade to prepare her for her initial cursive handwriting instruction at school.  We had to work very hard together to get to the point that she could write the letters accurately.  We didn't get through the whole alphabet, but we managed to cover enough letters so that she did well when she began third grade.

I tutored a student who went through the large manuscript handwriting patterns and then the following year he went through the large cursive patterns. It has taken a lot of practice but he is now writing cursive very nicely.

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5/2/2017

Trying To Finish The Sequence Charts Book

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I have been trying for weeks now to finish a book of sequence charts so that I can put it on this site.  I usually don't see how time consuming a job will be until I'm in the middle of it.  The book has been helpful for me to use when planning, and I know it will be helpful for others.  The charts include a list of the letters and phonics patterns taught in each book, in the order in which they are taught.  I decided I needed to add a short description of each book to provide a better idea of what is taught at each level.  This has slowed me down quite a bit.  I thought it would be helpful to provide a few small pictures, including the cover and some sample pages for each book. I think this will be worthwhile but it is taking much longer than I expected  - with me this is usually the case.  

The first set of sample pages I inserted had a resolution far too high - the file became so large it crashed repeatedly.  So I had to redo the pictures in a lower resolution.  In order to provide the small cover pictures I had to finish revising the covers so that they're all in color, and I still have a few left to do.  

Before I can finish making the sample page images I have to make sure all of the books are complete and the pages are up to date and accurate.  There are several books that still need to be completed, including some handwriting books and a short vowel workbook.  I'm too stubborn to leave out those things because I want anyone who downloads the book to get a complete picture of what is available and be able to see how all the parts of the program fit together.  I've been working with the materials for years, but there are many pieces to the program and it is truly challenging to explain them all. 

I am continuing to work on all of this as much as possible and still hope to get the book finished soon.


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4/11/2017

Creating Color Covers For The Sequence Charts Book

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I've been working on creating color covers for all of the Sound City Reading books, even the books that have all black print on the inside pages.  This makes them look a lot more appealing, but it has been a time consuming process to redesign so many covers.  To make things more difficult, I design them in Microsoft Publisher but must save the new file as a pdf file to share with others and the colors don't turn out exactly the same going from a Publisher to a PDF file.  It takes a lot of time to tweak the colors going back and forth between the two types of files.

I'm anxious to get the covers finished because I want to use images of the covers, as well as images of a few of the inside pages, to create an overview of all the books in the Sound City Reading program, with a brief written explanation for each book.  I'm adding this overview to a Sequence Charts book that I've created for my own use for many years. The book has the sequence charts for all the books in this program.  It includes which patterns are taught and shows the order in which they are introduced, along with a list of phonetic words taught for that pattern and any related sight words.  I realized not long ago that I need to add the Sequence Charts book to this site so that anyone who is using various parts of the program can benefit from it.  I'm in the process of expanding the book to include a description with images for each book at each level.  It always takes me much longer than I had hoped to complete projects like this.  I'm anxious to finish soon and get the book posted for those of you who need it.

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11/26/2016

Earlier Posts To This Site - What I've Uploaded Previously

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March 11, 2016 - Videos - I have done a test video for the a_e/safe pattern in which I record lessons from Phonetic Words And Stories, Book 2.  The lesson has ten words on the right page and ten pictures on the left page.  I'm using screen capture so that the student sees the pages in the book on the computer screen.  I'm able to record my voice and move the mouse to point out different parts of the page as the lesson proceeds.  I go through the lesson sequence as follows.
  1. I do a phonemic awareness exercise in which I say the sounds in the words in the first column so that students can find the related pictures. Ideally students will watch and say the sounds with me.  
  2. I point to each picture, name it, and ask students to find and read the related word in column one.
  3. I read the words in the second column going down and back up the column.  Ideally students will read the words with me.
I've already gotten positive feedback from teachers who like the video.  It is my goal to create videos for every lesson in the Phonetic Words And Stories books.  The videos could possibly serve three purposes.  First, teachers could preview how to teach the lessons for themselves.  Second, individual students could listen to each lesson to introduce or review the material on each page.  Third, teachers could display the video on a large screen using a projector to teach the lesson to a whole class.  I'm not sure how well these three ideas will work, but I'm hoping the videos will be useful to teachers and students.  

So far I haven't found time to record more videos, but I'm hoping to do so within the next few months.
March 11, 2016 -  Reading Levels - I received a question about reading levels for the stories on this web site, and have posted my answer here for others who may have the same question.  The question is "Are the pdf stories leveled?"  

I don't know the reading levels for the PDF stories in the Reading Street section. They are all from the first grade basal reading program, but in my opinion some of the stories that are introduced near the end of the school year seem more advanced and I suspect they are at a second grade level. I haven't used a formula to calculate this. 
​

Apart from the Reading Street section, all of the other materials on the website follow a specific phonetic sequence. The sentences and stories that I wrote to fit into this sequence have not been officially evaluated for readability level. However most of the words should be readable because the stories only use words with the phonetic patterns that have been taught up to that point. The stories also include a few sight words that have already been taught before students see the story. I would guess that in general they are all at a first grade level, from early first grade for the first stories and late first grade for the last stories. I used them in my first grade classroom before I retired. I have used the program and stories with good results with second and third grade students who needed a phonetic program to help them with word recognition and comprehension skills. If you want to try to level any of the stories, I found a web site at www.readabilityformulas.com that explains how to do it. I also saw on another web site that there's a way to use Microsoft Word to check readability levels for the text in a Word file.

I HAVE looked up the reading level for the trade books used with Advanced Phonics Patterns From Children's Books, both the Grade Level Equivalent and Accelerated Reader level. A list of the trade books with the levels is included in the current Advanced Phonics Patterns book, which is on this web site.

​The same trade book list is also included in a Sound City Reading Sequence Charts book which I will post to this web site within the next week, as soon as I've looked it over carefully and revised it as needed. I've used this book myself for many years to keep track of what I'm doing when I'm teaching or tutoring. It includes the sequence charts for all the Sound City Reading books so that you can see an overview of the whole program. The charts include the phonetic patterns taught, phonetic words taught, sight words taught, suffixes, prefixes, and contractions taught, and the names of the stories.
 

November 21, 2016 - Over the past week I've been making sample video pages for a few lessons from Phonetic Words And Stories, Book 1.  My presentation is not polished but I was able to obtain several "rough draft" video screencasts to see which settings would work to create clear images of the words and pictures on the pages.  The sound quality is poor because I was not using a good microphone.  I've since purchased a nice one and I'm encouraged that it will sound a lot better.  I will be working through all the pages in each book creating video lessons for each new phonetic pattern.  I'll post them to this web site as I complete them.  It will be a slow process.  


November 5, 2016 - Today I uploaded the newest version of Phonetic Words And Stories, Books 1-8 and the Phonics Patterns Workbook For Books 1-4 and Phonics Patterns Workbook For Book 5-8.  I also uploaded Rhyming Short Vowel Words And Sentences and Mixed Short Vowel Words And Sentences along with the Rhyming Short Vowel Workbook and Mixed Short Vowel Workbook.  Go to the PDF files section on the navigation bar to find them.  Instructions for the teacher can be found in the back of the books.

​October 8, 2016 - I am continuing to revise and expand the page that explains the various teaching levels and the materials used at those levels.

October 5, 2016 - Today I uploaded the newest version of the Basic Phonics Patterns books.  
This includes Books 1 through 8.  Due to the large number of charts in the last few books, I've combined Books 5 and 6, and combined Books 7 and 8.  The first four books are bound separately.

I have revised the explanations about each type of phonics book on the page that shows the Teaching Levels.  I apologize for the difficulty of the previous descriptions and hope the newer version will be more clear.  If you have any questions you can type them in on the blog page on this site.  

I've worked this summer to revise some of the phonics books at the short vowel level.  I've also revised the sound charts at the phonics patterns level and added the charts to each of those books.

I'm still finalizing the Phonetic Words And Stories books and hope to add them to this web site soon.

September 5, 2016 - I uploaded a newer, expanded version of 
Exploring Sounds In Words, Books 1 and 2.  The new books have these additions for each letter:  large handwriting tracing pages for the capital and lower case letters, a page on which students circle pictures with the designated beginning and ending sound or medial vowel sound, and a rhyming page.  The instructions are at the end of Book 1.  They have been expanded and revised.  

I will be adding short vowel books next, followed by the phonogram pattern books.


September 1, 2016 - I have begun to load some of the older files from my previous web site onto this new site.  I'm starting with the Reading Street first grade materials, since these are still being downloaded often.   Look for the Reading Street heading in the navigation list above.  I'll be adding more files as time permits.  I'm not able to access the site building program for the old web site on my new computer. I'll be taking down the previous site in a few months after I have transferred as much as possible to this site.  

August 19, 2016 - I've added many PDF files today that can be downloaded and used at home or at school.  These are the latest versions of previous materials.  Click on the PDF FILES TO DOWNLOAD heading above to go to the files.  I'll be adding more files as I finish editing and proofing the remaining materials.  Unfortunately, I'm sure there will be a few errors on the pages.  If you see any, let me know and I will fix them and reload the corrected file.​

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11/26/2016

11-26-16  Learning To Record Screencasts Of Phonics Lessons

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I'm going to use this blog to update readers about any additions to this web site or changes that I make.  I'm using a blog format because that allows visitors to make comments.  This will allow you to ask questions about the web site, teaching materials, pdf files, etc.  If you are using any of the materials and have comments I would love to hear them.  

I've purchased screen recording software (Camtasia) and have learned how to record my voice -  modeling how to teach the picture/word lessons in the Phonetic Words And Stories books - while I point to the words and pictures on the page with the mouse.  I'm planning to record each page in all eight books.  This will provide a resource for parents, teachers, and tutors who want to use the books with students but are unsure of how to proceed.  It will take some time to record so many pages.  I'll post them as I complete them.

 I've discovered that I can post these screencast recordings as well as any of my regular videos on a web site called Vimeo.  This allows me to control what is shown so that anyone who watches will see only my videos and no others.  This is important, so that random, possibly inappropriate videos won't pop up at the end of one of my teaching videos.  Vimeo also provides excellent streaming so that the videos play smoothly when you watch them.  I'll post the links to the Vimeo videos on this Sound City Reading site, so you will be able to reach them from here.

I'll start by recording the sound story and sound charts for each book.  This will be a big help for adults who aren't familiar with the letter and phonogram pattern sounds.  I'll post these on a "sound chart" page in the video section.  Look for the video tab on the menu bar.

Whenever I complete and upload a new screencast or video I'll post that information on this blog so that you'll know what is available.  

​Kathy Davis

​


​

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9/22/2016

First Blog Post

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I haven't had a blog before, so I'm new to this.  It seems like this would provide a good way to communicate with visitors to the Sound City Reading web site.  If you have comments or questions, you'll still be able to e-mail me at kathjdavis@gmail.com, but you can also post them here.  I'll try to answer any questions you may have.

As you can see, this site is still under construction.  I'm working hard trying to get the pdf files for all of the newest materials loaded onto the web site. For each item that I upload, I have to check it to try to eliminate any errors, create a new table of contents, and think carefully about adding instructions.

The new materials are similar to the books, workbooks, and games that I've loaded onto my old website at www.soundcityreading.com.  They use many of the same stories and pictures.  What I've done is rearrange, in some cases, the order of introduction for the phonetic patterns, which also involves changing the order of some of the stories.  I'm really happy with the way the new books are turning out.  

I've gone to a rhyming format for two of the new short vowel books.  Two other short vowel books have both rhyming and body-coda word lists (words that begin with the same letters).  I'll explain more about the short vowel books in another post.

I'm hoping to add more videos after I've uploaded all of the new books and workbooks.  It will take me some time to get to that point.

I hope you find something on this site that you can use. 

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Sound City Reading

All Materials Copyright 2023 or earlier by Kathryn J. Davis, All Rights Reserved
Teachers, parents, tutors, and schools may download and print PDF files to use with the students they teach.  They are not to make a profit from distributing the materials.     
If you download one or more PDF files from this site, you may not make the files available from a different site.  However, you may share links to any of the pages on this website, including the pages that have PDF files.    
​Teaching videos are free to watch, and they may be downloaded for use with your own students, at home or in the classroom.  

In special cases I may grant written permission to individuals to use the materials in other ways.  
You can contact me at kathjdavis@gmail.com.
  • Sequential Phonics Program
    • Welcome
    • Copyright Information
    • How To Navigate This Site
    • Information About The Sound City Reading Program
    • Information About The Author
    • How Was This Program Developed?
    • Why Are There So Many Different Books?
    • How To Get Started
    • What If I Can't Do Everything In This Program?
    • Information About Reading Street Materials
    • Reading Readiness
    • Understanding Consonants
    • Understanding Vowels
    • What Happened To The Old Web Site
    • Other Recommended Sites
  • Program Overview
    • Step Charts
    • Flow Charts
    • Teaching Levels
    • Books Used At Each Level
    • Color-Coded Vowels
    • Skill Sequence
    • General Information About Instruction
    • Integrating Phonics And Whole Language
    • Sound Story
    • Level 1 - Learning The Alphabet Overview
    • Level 2 - Exploring Sounds In Words Overview
    • Level 3 - Short Vowels Overview
    • Level 4. Phonics Patterns Overview
    • Level 5. Advanced Phonics Patterns Overview
    • Phonemic Awareness Picture Pages Overview
    • Handwriting Books Overview
    • Charts, Flashcards, And Games Overview
    • Newer Wall Charts
    • Previous Wall Charts
  • PDF Files
    • How To Work With PDF Files
    • Printers And Printing Supplies
    • PDF Files For Any Level
    • PDF Files For Handwriting
    • Level 1 - Learning The Alphabet PDFs
    • Level 2 - Exploring Sounds In Words PDFs
    • Level 3 - Short Vowels PDFs
    • Level 4 - Phonics Patterns PDFs
    • Level 5 - Advanced Phonics Patterns PDFs
    • PDF Files For Flashcards
    • PDF Files For Activities And Games
    • PDF Files For Newer Wall Charts
    • PDF Files For Older Wall Charts
  • Reading Street
    • PDFs Decoding Practice Pages
    • PDFs Spelling Worksheets
    • PDFs Word And Phonogram Cards
    • PDFs Reading Street Tests
    • PDFs Reading Street Stories
  • Pictures
    • Sound Story Pictures
    • Keyword/Sound Chart Pictures
    • Level 1 And 2 Pictures
    • Level 3 Pictures
    • Level 4 Pictures
    • Consonant Blends
    • Level 5 Pictures
  • Audio
    • Sound Story Part 1 - Alphabet Sounds
    • Sound Story Part 2 - Beyond The Alphabet Sounds
    • Sound Pictures With Letters - Part 1
    • Sound Pictures With Letters And Letter Patterns - Part 2
    • Individual Sound Pictures - Part 1
    • Individual Sound Pictures - Part 2
    • Individual Alphabet Sounds - ABC Order
    • More Letter Sounds - sh, th, ch, ng, oi, oy, ou, ow
    • Level 1 And Level 2 Sound Charts
    • Level 3 - Short Vowels - Sound Charts
    • Level 3 - Advanced Short Vowel Sound Charts
    • Level 4 - Book 1 - Sound Charts
    • Level 4 - Book 2 - Sound Charts
    • Two-Letter Sound Blending - Short U
    • Picture-Word Page Short U
  • Video
    • Sound Story Part 1 Videos
    • Robot Game a_e/safe Video
    • Advanced Sound Charts Videos (All SCR Patterns)
  • Blog
    • Contact Me
    • Share Your Experience
    • Take This Expanded Survey