SOUND CITY READING
  • A 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
  • Teaching Materials
    • 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 All Levels
    • 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
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If you can't see the main menu at the top of the page, you can click any of the main menu headings here: 
A Sequential Phonics Program - Program Overview - PDF Files - Pictures - Audio - Video - ​Reading Street - Blog

Charts, Flashcards, And Games


Other Sound City Reading materials used at all levels include large versions of the sound charts that are in the books to hang on the wall in a classroom, letter and phonogram flashcards, and games to help students remember the alphabet and phonogram sounds. Games vary from one level to the next and are designed to reinforce the alphabet letters and phonogram patterns taught at that level.
Note: A phonogram is a written symbol that represents a sound.  Letters are phonograms, and letter patterns, such as sh, th, ee, igh, and oy are also phonograms.

Large Sound Charts To Put On Bulletin Boards Or The Wall

In this program, students review many of the sound charts every day.  This repetition helps students to remember the letters and letter patterns they must learn.  The sounds charts are found at the beginning of each student's book.  Sound pictures from the sound story appear with the letters and patterns to show the correct sound.  These charts should be done first.  Other charts show patterns with key words and pictures.  These should be introduced after students are already familiar with the patterns.  
At the beginning of level four, students see only a few phonics patterns on the sound charts.  Some of the charts will have blank areas to hold the place for patterns that have not yet been introduced.  As more patterns are taught in the subsequent books, those spaces are filled as new patterns are taught.  
While individual students are able to work with the sound charts in their books, it is very helpful to have larger versions of the charts to put on the wall when working with a whole class.  This way the teacher can use a long pointer to go from one pattern to the next.  Students watch and say the sounds in unison.  The wall charts can be used to introduce new patterns, review patterns, and point out patterns that students have forgotten so that they can remember them.  I often had students stand up to say the sounds on the charts.  Sometime we hopped, leaned back and forth, clapped, or performed another movement as we said the sounds.
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Vowel Code Chart - Book 1
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Vowel Code Chart - Book 6
Click here to go the the page that has PDF files for the large wall charts.  It shows sample pages for many of the sound charts. 
Another benefit of using wall charts is that students can use the wall charts independently as a reference while doing independent creative writing activities.  If they are not sure how to spell a particular sound in a word, they can look at the charts to see all the letter patterns that represent that sound.  For example, they can see that the oa, oe, o_e, ou, ow, old, oll, olt, and olk patterns can all represent the long o sound.  They may see and recognize the correct pattern, or at least they will see the possible options and have a better chance of choosing the correct one.
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Multi-Letter Consonant Patterns And Alternate Sounds For C And G
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Consonant Patterns Used After A Short Vowel
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Odd O Patterns With Sound PIctures
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Odd O Patterns With Key Words

Sound Flashcards

Sound cards are used daily to review the sound symbols that students have learned.  This time students must remember the sound or sounds for each symbol without the sound pictures.  The goal is for students to be able to say the sounds instantly when they see each card.  
The cards are numbered in the order in which they are introduced.  Show the cards in order each day.  This predicable order will help students remember each letter or letter pattern and sound. ​
Sound picture cards are also available. 
  • Students can say the sound for each sound picture card.
  • Students can write the letter or letter pattern for each sound picture card.
  • Students can do sorting activities on a pocket chart, matching letters or letter patterns with the related sound pictures.  
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Sight Word Flashcards

In this program words that are spelled and/or pronounced in an irregular way are taught as sight words.  
PDF files are available for large and small sight word flashcards.  The vowels on these cards are color-coded.    ​
New and review sight words for each level are listed near the beginning of the student books.  Students can practice reading the words that have been introduced from these lists.  
In most cases, a new word is introduced after students have learned  phonetic words that contain the same pattern.  For example, after studying phonetic words with the following patterns, students will learn any words that are not pronounced as expected as sight words.  The sequence charts at levels three and four show when to introduce each sight word.  ​
  • ee/feet, see, weed, peel, week - been
  • ai/rain, paid, sail, main, fair - said
  • ay/play, stay, gray, may, way - says  
     x    
     i     
twö
been
Sight words are introduced during the spelling dictation period.  The teacher shows the sight word card, pronounces it, and points out the part of the word that is irregular.  Students copy the new word onto their dictation papers, saying the sound for each letter or letter pattern as they write.  Then, with the teacher's guidance, they mark the letter or letter pattern that is not pronounced as expected by writing a small letter above that section of the word that shows the sound that is pronounced.  In some cases, one or more letters in the word are not pronounced.  Students place a small x above that letter to show that it is "silent."  (Adjust these instructions as needed, depending on the individual words taught.)     ​
After students have learned a new sight word, the teacher should review it on a regular basis during the spelling dictation period and include it when possible in written sentences.
Sight word cards are reviewed during the small group rotations with the teacher.  The teacher shows each word that has been taught.  Students read the words.  
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Games And Activities

At each level there are games which provide practice recognizing and saying the letter and phonogram sounds.  The games are designed to play in small groups under the supervision of the teacher.  Students who are not very interested in letters and sounds often love these games and become much more focused when playing.  
There are also a few activities that provide practice in various skills.  
  • Students build letters with circles, lines, and curves in the Letter Shape activity.  
  • Students match pictures to beginning sound letters in the Beginning Sound Picture Sort activity.  
  • Students practice putting two sounds or more sounds together smoothly in the Letter Connections activities.  
  • Students practice reading short vowel words in the Picture-Word Lotto file folder activities.  ​
​Not all of the games are pictured here.  See the list of games below.  Some games can be useful at more than one level.
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Level One - Apple Alphabet Game
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Level Two - Raspberry Game
Use with the Learning The Alphabet and
​Exploring Sounds In Words books.  Apples are placed face down on the table.  Students take turns selecting an apple.  If they can say the correct sound for the letter on the apple, they can place it above their basket.  The student with the most apples at the end of the game wins.
Games To Use At Level One
Alphabet Lotto
Apple Alphabet
Apple Concentration
Letter Shapes
Beginning Sound Picture Sort
Use with the Exploring Sound In Words books.  There is a different set of pieces  for each short vowel.  The raspberry pieces are placed face down on the circles on the game cards (raspberry bushes).  Student take turns "picking" the raspberries from their own bush.  It they can pronounce the two-letter combination on the game piece correctly, they remove it from the bush.  The first student to "pick" all of their raspberries wins. 
Games To Use At Level Two
Apple Alphabet
Apple Concentration
​Raspberry Game
Beginning Sound Picture Sort
Ending Sound Picture Sort
Games To Use At Level Three
Apple Alphabet
Apple Concentration
Raspberry Game
Letter Connections 1
Picture-Word Lotto
Train Game (Optional)
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Level Four - Caterpillar Game
Use with the Phonetic Words And Stories books, Basic Phonics Patterns books, or
Know The Phonetic Code books.  The caterpillar body pieces are placed face down on the table.  Each student takes a caterpillar head.  Students take turns selecting game pieces from the table.  If they can say the correct sound or sounds for the letter or letter pattern on the piece , they may place it in a row after their caterpillar head.  At the end of the game, the student with the most caterpillar body pieces wins.   
Games To Use At Level Four
Train Game
Caterpillar Game
Letter Connections 2
​Truck Chart Games
​Long Vowel City
Game To Use At Level Five
Treasure Chest Game


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Sound City Reading

All Materials Copyright 2025 or earlier by Kathryn J. Davis, All Rights Reserved
My goal is for as many people as possible to use this reading program to teach students how to read.  All of the materials you need are available on this site as free PDF files.  The materials are copyrighted, but I give permission to all teachers, parents, tutors, and school systems to download and print any of the PDF files for use with the students they teach.    However, they are not to make a profit from distributing the materials.  If you don't have a printer, using a print shop is allowed.  If preferred, you may work with the PDF files directly from a computer screen, without printing them.  This makes it possible for tutors to teach the program online.  Audio and video files are free to watch and to listen to, and they may be downloaded if desired for use with your  students.  In special cases I may grant written permission to individuals to use the materials in other ways.  You can contact me at [email protected].  
  • A 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
  • Teaching Materials
    • 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 All Levels
    • 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