SOUND CITY READING
  • Sequential Phonics Program
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    • What If I Can't Do Everything In This Program?
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    • Understanding Consonants
    • Understanding Vowels
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    • Level 1 - Learning The Alphabet Overview
    • Level 2 - Exploring Sounds In Words Overview
    • Level 3 - Short Vowels Overview
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    • Level 5. Advanced Phonics Patterns Overview
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    • Level 1 - Learning The Alphabet PDFs
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    • Level 5 - Advanced Phonics Patterns PDFs
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  • Reading Street
    • PDFs Decoding Practice Pages
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  • 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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Two-Letter Sound Blending, With Short U Words


Sound blending is the process of sliding two letter sounds together smoothly, without a break between the sounds.  This exercise prepares students to read short vowel words.  It should be used with students who are working at Level 2, Exploring Sounds In Words, and Level 3, Short Vowels.  Sound blending exercises are included in the following books.
Level 2 
Exploring Sounds In Words, Book 1
Exploring Sounds In Words, Book 2
Level 3
Rhyming Short Vowel Words And Sentences
Mixed Short Vowel Words And Sentences
Two-Page Short Vowel Words And Sentences
Basic Short Vowels

Background
In the Sound City Reading program, the first words students learn to read are two- and three-sound short vowel words: an, cat, fox, off, it, will, up, sun, egg, mess.  There are several reasons that this is a good place to start.
  1. There are many common short vowel words. This provides a lot of practice for beginning readers.
  2. Almost all short vowel words can be pronounced phonetically.  This means that if you say the sound for each letter in the word, going from left to right, putting the sounds together smoothly, you will be pronouncing the word.  This process is called decoding.  
  3. The words studied at the short vowel level have only one syllable, with only two or three sounds in the word.  This makes learning how to decode words as easy as possible.
  4. The short vowel words practiced at level three do not contain any consonant blends (fl, sk, gr), consonant digraphs (sh, th, ng) or vowel patterns with other vowel sounds (ee, ai, ou, or).  This makes it possible for students to begin reading many words as soon as they have learned the sounds for the letters of the alphabet. 
  5. Once students have mastered the decoding process with short vowel words, they will be able to make rapid progress when they are introduced to words with new consonant and vowel patterns.​
Decoding
Learning to decode begins as a physical process.  Students must use their eyes to track the letters from left to right and use their lips, mouth, tongue, voice box, and lungs to pronounce them.  It is necessary to practice this skill physically in the same way that practice is important to learn to ride a bike or shoot a basketball.  With enough practice, decoding becomes automatic, and students will be able to read/decode words silently, without pronouncing them out loud.
Why Sound Blending Is Important
When students learn the letters of the alphabet they learn to recognize each letter and pronounce its sound.  However, reading words is a much more complex task because the letter sounds must be connected smoothly, without a break between the sounds.  This is relatively easy for some students, a bit of a challenge for many students, and quite difficult for some students.  The purpose of this sound blending exercise is to teach students to put the sounds together smoothly when they are reading words.  Because two sounds can be put together much more easily that three or more sounds, we start by blending just two sounds together before attempting to read three-sound words.  Separate sound blending exercises are done with the students for each short vowel sound.   When working with the students, these two-letter combinations are called "silly sounds" because they are meaningless; they are not real words.    

Two-Letter Sound Blending With Short U


Listen to the sound blending exercise below.  In the left column, students look at sound pictures and practice putting the sounds together as they pronounce them.  In the right column, students look at letters and practice pronouncing the letters one after the other, without a break between the sounds.  The sound pictures and letters in each row show the same sound sequence.  Students are told to point to the star and move their finger to the right, following the arrow, as they pronounce the sounds.  They "start at the star."  
Download this audio file.
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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