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
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    • Newer Wall Charts
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  • PDF Files
    • How To Work With PDF Files
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    • PDF Files For All Levels
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    • 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)
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    • Blog Information
    • Contact Me
    • Share Your Experience
    • Take This Expanded Survey
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How To Present The Picture-Word Pages


Use This Procedure With 

Level Three
Rhyming Short Vowel Words And Sentences
Mixed Short Vowel Words And Sentences
Two-Page Short Vowel Words And Sentences
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Level Four
Phonetic Words And Stories, Books 1-8

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Scroll down to hear a sample picture-word page lesson.  

What Are Picture-Word Pages?

The picture-word pages are facing pages with pictures on the left page and words on the right page.  The pictures are not arranged in the same order as the words.  The pages are used to teach one new set of ten phonetic words each day.  In the short vowel books, all of the words will have a short vowel sound.  In the Phonetic Words And Stories books, each list will teach a new phonetic pattern.  All of the words on the list will have the same pattern.  This may be the same vowel pattern, consonant pattern, or syllable pattern.  ​

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How Are The Picture-Word Pages Used?

Picture-word pages are taught in three steps, with an option for a fourth step.  The first two steps of the teaching sequence are oral blending exercises.  The procedure for teaching the picture-word pages prepares students to be able to read the words fluently by the end of the lesson.  These lessons can be done with a full class or with individual students.  

Follow These Steps For Each Set Of Picture-Word Pages

 You can follow these steps with any of the picture-word pages that introduce short vowel words, words that contain phonetic patterns, or multi-syllable words.  You can listen to a sample lesson below. 
  1. Step One - Students Find The Pictures - This is an oral blending activity.  The teacher looks at the words.  The students look at the pictures.  The teacher pronounces each sound in the first word separately, with a slight pause between each sound.  The students listen to the sounds and put them together mentally to try to figure out the word.  The teacher calls on a student to point to the correct picture and pronounce the word normally, without stopping between the sounds.  The teacher and students continue in the same way with the remaining words.   The teacher goes down the word list going in order from one to ten. 
  2. Step Two - Students Find The Words - This is another oral blending activity.  This time the teacher looks at the pictures.  The students look at the words in the first column.  The teacher pronounces each sound in the name of the first picture separately, with a slight pause between each sound.  The students listen to the sounds and put them together mentally to form a word.  This time they must find the word that has letters that match the sounds pronounced by the teacher.  The teacher calls on a student to point to the correct word and read it aloud.  The student should say the word normally, without a break between the sounds.
  3. Step Three - Students Read The Words - This is a decoding activity.  In the decoding process, students say the letter sounds from left to right in each word, putting the sounds together smoothly to pronounce the word.  For this part of the lesson students look at the words in the second column.  The teacher calls on students one at a time to read a word going down the column.  If a student gets stuck on a word, he or she should go to the same word in the first column and pronounce each letter sound going from left to right, following the arrows, putting the sounds together smoothly.  Then the student should go back to the second column and read the word normally.  When all the words have been read by individual students, the whole class will read the words again, going down and back up the second column in unison as the teacher points to them.
  4. Optional Step Four - Questions And Answers - This is a language activity.  The teacher calls on individual students to answer questions in a guessing game related to the current set of words.  The teacher asks a question about each new word, going in random order.  The selected  student looks at all of the words, finds the word that answers the question correctly, and reads it aloud.  Sample questions might include the following when working with words that have the sh pattern.  Provide extra clues and assistance as needed.  
         What do we call a very large boat that can go across the ocean?  A ship.
         What can we use to pay for something that we buy?  Cash
         What is a living creature that lives in the water?  A fish.
         Where would you go to buy something to wear?  A shop.
When you are working with words that have ending consonant blends (as in fast, lamp, hand), say each sound of the ending blend separately: f-a-s-t, j-u-m-p, h-e-l-p.  The teacher will introduce ending consonant blends and students will practice building them with plastic letters and pronouncing them from a sound chart before studying words with ending blends.
When you are working with words that have beginning blends, say the beginning blend as a single unit: cl-a-p, dr-u-m, sp-o-t.  In my experience this option works best for the students.  The teacher will introduce beginning consonant blends and students will practice building them with plastic letters and pronouncing them from a sound chart before studying words with beginning blends. 
When you are working with two-syllable words, you will say each syllable, instead of each individual sound: muf-fin, but-ton, cab-in, pet-al, ba-by, pan-cake, con-nect, as-tro-naut, re-act, ze-ro, to-fu.

Sample Lesson - Short U Words

The lesson below is taught from the Rhyming Short Vowel Words And Sentences book.  The students are studying short u words. ​ You can follow these steps with any of the picture-word pages that introduce short vowel words, words that contain phonetic patterns, or multi-syllable words.  

Download this audio file.
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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
    • Blog Information
    • Contact Me
    • Share Your Experience
    • Take This Expanded Survey