Author: Kathy

Rhyming
Oral Blending

Segmenting
Syllable Awareness

Beginning And Ending Sounds

With Bonus Print Awareness And Language Overview Lessons

Phonemic Awareness
Picture Pages

Rhyming Oral Blending
Segmenting Syllable Awareness
Beginning And Ending Sounds

Kathryn J. Davis

Sound

City

Reading

Entire contents © 2017 By Kathryn J. Davis
7223 Cedar Lane Drive
Germantown, TN 38138
(901) 737-4466
All rights reserved.
Permission is hereby granted to teachers, parents, and tutors to print and use the material in this book for individual or classroom use. Permission is granted for school-wide reproduction of materials.
All other use is prohibited.
Printed in the United States of America
Free materials for teaching reading are available
as pdf files at www.soundcityreading.net.
The handwriting fonts used in this book are available from
Educational Fontware, Inc, 1-800-806-2155
http://www.educationalfontware.com

Table Of Contents

Oral Blending: The Robot Game, Instructions 5
Segmenting: Breaking Words Apart, Instructions 7
Working With Two-Syllable Words 10
Working With Three-Syllable Words 11
Segmenting Two-Sound Words 12
Segmenting Three-Sound Words 13
Segmenting Four-Sound Words (lamp, frog) 14
Segmenting Five-Sound Words 16
Oral Blending And Segmenting - Lists Of Words, Dashes Show Where To Pause 17
Oral Blending And Segmenting Pictures
Compound Words 21
Two-Syllable Words 24
Two-Sound Words 30
Three-Sound Words 38
Four-Sound Words With Ending Consonant Blends 46
Four-Sound Words With Beginning Consonant Blends 50
Five-Sound Words 54
Six-Sound Words 59
Rhyming Pictures, Instructions 60
Rhyming Pictures, Answer Key, List Of Words 61
Rhyming Pictures 63
Beginning, Ending, And Middle Sounds, Instructions 89
Beginning, Ending, And Middle Sounds, Answer Key 90
Beginning, Ending, And Middle Sounds Pictures
t_, _t 95
i_, _i_ 96
h_, _i_ 97
l_, _l 98
n_, _n 99
w_, _i_ 100
u_, _u_ 101
b_, _b 102
m_, _m 103
r_, _r 104
Beginning, Ending, And Middle Sounds Pictures, Continued
f_, _f 105
_x, _u_ 106
e_, _e_ 107
s_, _s 108
j_, _e_ 109
o_, _o_ 110
c_, _o_ 111
d_, _d 112
a_, _a_ 113
v_, _v 114
g_, _g 115
p_, _p 116
k_, _k 117
y_, _a_ 118
qu_, _a_ 119
z_, _z 120
Syllable Awareness Pages, Instructions 121
Syllable Awareness Pages, Word Lists, Answer Key 122
Syllable Awareness Picture Pages 125
Print Awareness Lessons 1-8
To Be Read Aloud By The Teacher To Students Who Are Learning The Alphabet 143
Language Overview -
To Be Read Aloud By The Teacher To Students Who Are Already Reading 162

Phase One
Put Syllables Together
To Make Words
Phase Two
Put Sounds Together
To Make Words
This activity is a listening game that prepares students to read words. It works well for students of any age who need practice hearing how sounds go together to make words. You can work with individual students, small groups, or a whole class using the oral blending pages in this book. If you don’t have enough copies of the book, you can download the pdf file for this book to a computer (www.soundcityreading.net) and show the pages on a large screen using a projector. Follow the instructions below, calling on individual students to answer during the activity.
During the game, the teacher will say the word for each picture "like a robot," by pronouncing each syllable or sound in the word separately. This is called “segmenting” the word. The student’s job is to listen carefully to the individual parts of the word, connect the sounds mentally, identify the word, and say it smoothly, without a break. This is called “oral blending.” Make it clear to the student that in this activity he is not to copy the teacher’s robot voice. He should “blend” the word by “saying it fast,” pronouncing the word in the normal way.
Begin with the Compound Words, Set 1, and work through the pages in order. Do one or more pages daily, over a period of time; don't attempt to do all the pages at once. Students need time to internalize this idea. If students have clearly mastered one type of word, you don’t have to do all of those pages. Go on to the next type of word.
The first pages are compound words: flag-pole.
The next pages are two-syllable words: po-ny.
The next pages are two-sound words: g-o.
The next pages are three-sound words: c-a-t.
The following sets of words are more difficult. Use these pages with Phonetic Words And Stories, Book 1.
The next pages are four-sound words: m-a-s-k, d-r-o-p.
The next pages are five-sound words: s-t-u-m-p.
The last page has six-sound words: s-t-r-i-c-t.

hip......po

hippo

Hear the syllables.

Say the word.

f......a......n

fan

Hear the sounds.

Say the word.

Before you begin, you may want to talk about the pictures on the page to be sure students know the name of each picture. Then say the name of one picture at a time, going in random order, speaking “like a robot,” separating the word parts completely, with a pause of a second or two between each part. The word lists show dashes in the words; these indicate where to pause. In the two syllable words, the pauses will come between the syllables. In the one syllable words, the pauses will come between each individual sound in the word.
Follow These Steps
The students look at the pictures. The teacher uses the word list for that page. The words are listed in the order that they appear on the page; however, the teacher should go through the words in random order so that students must find the correct picture.
Say the sounds for one of the words, going from left to right, with a pause between each syllable (for two-syllable words) or between each sound (for one-syllable words). For example, if the word is fan, the teacher would say "f.......a.......n." Be sure each sound is completely separate. For example, don't say "fa......n" or "f.....an." Also, be careful not to add the "uh" sound to the consonants, "fuh.....a.....nuh."
Call on a student to look at the pictures, put the sounds together mentally, and find the picture represented by those sounds. The student should point to it and say the word in the normal way (not with separated sounds). If the student separates the sounds, the teacher should tell the student to "say it fast." If you see that the student is not familiar with the word or is having trouble finding the picture, give hints until the student is successful.
Pronounce the next word, and then the remaining words, one at a time, in the same way. Remember to go in random order. Dashes indicate where to pause in each word. Continue calling on students until all the words have been completed.
The students respond in the same way each time, listening to the sounds, finding the picture, pointing to it, and saying the word normally.
Pronounce double letters, vowel pairs, and consonant digraphs as a single sound, for example j….a….zz, r…..ai…..n, and f….i….sh.
You may want to have students mark the pictures as they are found. For example, they could circle, underline, or put an X on the pictures. Or you could instruct them to draw squares, circles, or triangles around the pictures. If desired, you could give a variety of instructions on the same page so students have to listen carefully to follow them. Marking the answers provides practice holding and using a pencil, preparing students for handwriting activities, while also developing listening skills.
You will use the same pictures again for the segmenting activity.

Separating The Sounds In Words
This activity is done without using letters. Students see a picture and listen carefully to the word to identify the individual sounds, in the correct order. Students say each sound separately, with a slight pause between each one. This is just the opposite of the oral blending activity, in which the teacher says the separate sounds and students have to put the sounds together.
It is important that students say the sounds, not the letter names. This skill prepares students to spell words accurately. It also helps students understand the phonetic structure of words, helping them learn to read words as well.
Encourage students to say the sounds correctly, with a distinct pause between the sounds. For example, for the word fan they should say f.....a.....n. Do not allow them to add “uh” to each sound, as in fuh.....a.....nuh.
Materials
Use the same picture pages in this book that are used for the oral blending activity. Students can each have their own books open, or for a small group you can display just one book as long as all the students can see it. Alternately, you could make a copy of the page with the pictures, cut the pictures apart, and display one picture at a time as you do the activity. You’ll need between three and six small objects for each student, depending on which list you do. Use two objects for two-syllable or two-sound words. Use three objects for three-syllable or three-sound words. Use four objects for four-sound words and five objects for five-sound words, and so on. Colored cubes or teddy bear counters are available from school supply stores. If these are not available, you could use other items, such as buttons, dried beans, bottle caps, etc. Small slips of colored paper about one inch square will work, too.
Sometimes I use three different colors of cubes or teddy bear counters, lined up from left to right in this order - green, yellow, and red. I talk about the colors on a stoplight with the student. Green means go, yellow means slow down, and red means stop. This activity works well with a small group working at a table. Provide each student with the correct number of cubes or other tokens. They should line the cubes up in a straight line.
Segmenting frame patterns are provided at the end of this book to help students line up the cubes correctly. Students place the cubes in the bottom row, one in each box. They push a cube to the top section as they say each sound in a word, continuing from left to right until all the sounds have been pronounced and all the cubes are in the top area.
The frames are larger or smaller depending on the number of sounds in the words. For one student, remove the sample pages from this book, cut out the frames, and glue them to pieces of cardstock or construction paper. For a group of students, copy the patterns onto card stock and cut out. While these frames are helpful they are not absolutely necessary. Students can work with the cubes or other tokens directly on a table or on their desks.
To Do The Activity
Use the same word lists that you use for the oral blending activities. Choose which page you want to practice. Generally, this will be the same page that you have recently completed doing the oral blending activity. Pass out the correct number of cubes to each student, along with a frame with just enough boxes at the bottom to accommodate the cubes. At the beginning, and whenever you move to a higher number of cubes, provide cubes and a frame for yourself, so that you can model the process for the students. Point to the first picture on the page. For this activity its fine to go in the order in which the pictures appear on the page.
To start, say the word normally and have the students repeat. Then model for the students how to break the word apart. Dashes in the words show where the students should pause. Multi-syllable words will be broken into separate syllables: rain-bow. One-syllable words will be broken into separate sounds: c-a-t.
Start with the cubes in a row, side by side. Model how to segment the word. As you say the first syllable or sound, push the first cube forward about an inch. Push another cube forward for each remaining syllable or sound, working from left to right. The diagrams on the following pages show how to move the cubes while pronouncing the sounds for various word configurations.
After watching you, students repeat the process with the same word, moving their cubes while they pronounce the sounds. For one-syllable words be sure the sounds are completely separate. For example, cat should be c....a.....t, not ca.....t, and not c.....at.
Continue in the same way for each picture. Model as many times as needed. As soon as students catch on, say the word for each picture and let the students try to segment the words on their own. You can call on individual students to segment, then have the group segment the word again, in unison, moving their cubes all at the same time. Provide guidance as needed. The goal is for students to hear the word, move the cubes, and simultaneously say each part of the word clearly, without help from you.
This process is called “segmenting.” Being able to break a word apart prepares students to spell words. Because it helps students understand the phonetic structure of words, students will also be able to read new words more easily .
Skill Progression
Practice segmenting skills in this order.
Compound Words
Two-Syllable Words
Two-Sound Words
Three-Sound Words
Five-Sound Words
Six-Sound Words
This skill is fairly easy with compound words and two-syllable words. You can do the compound words in two different ways. Some of the compound words have two syllables and some have three syllables. After doing a few sessions, if students have mastered this level, move on to the two-sound words.
It is more challenging to work with two-sound words and even more so with three-sound words. Spend plenty of time on the two-sound words. When students are comfortable with two-sound words, go on to the three-sound words. Do a little each day, continue to model as needed, and give the students time to learn.
Young students may not be ready for two and three-sound words. Continue to practice multi-syllable words if this is the case.
The four and five-sound words can be quite difficult. Don’t try to do these until later. Use them with students who are studying consonant blends in Phonetic Words And Stories, Book 1.

Say the whole word.

Say the sounds.

fan

f

a

n

Working With Two-Syllable Words

1.			Starting / Point

1.			Starting / Point

Say The Syllables

Say the whole word.
“Mailbox.”

2.			mail

Push the first block up.
Say the first syllable.

3.			box

Push the second block up.
Say the second syllable.

Say the whole word.
“Mailbox.”

Move the blocks forward, one at a time, saying one syllable for each block. Students will not see any letters. The letters shown here are only to show what should be pronounced.

Working With Three-Syllable Words

1.				Starting / Point

Say The Syllables

Say the whole word.
“Butterfly.”

2.				but

Push the first block up.
Say the first syllable.

3.				ter

Push the second block up.
Say the second syllable.

4.				fly

Push the third block up.
Say the third syllable.

Say the whole word.
“Butterfly.”

Move the blocks forward, one at a time, saying one syllable for each block. Students will not see any letters. The letters shown here are only to show what should be pronounced.

Segmenting Two-Sound Words

1.			Starting / Point

1.			Starting / Point

Say the whole word.
“Toe.”

Say The Sounds

2.			t

Push the first block up.
Say the first sound.

3.			oe

Push the second block up.
Say the second sound.

Say the whole word.
“Toe.”

Move the blocks forward, one at a time, saying a sound for each block. Students will not see any letters. The letters shown here are only to show what sounds should be pronounced. Be sure to pronounce the sounds, not the names of the letters.

Segmenting Three-Sound Words

1.				Starting / Point

Say the whole word.
“Cat.”

Say The Sounds

2.				c

Push the first block up.
Say the first sound.

3.				a

Push the next block up.
Say the next sound.

4.				t

Push the last block up.
Say the last sound.

Say the whole word.
“Cat.”

Move the blocks forward, one at a time, saying a sound for each block. Students will not see any letters. The letters shown here are only to show what sounds should be pronounced. Be sure to pronounce the sounds, not the names of the letters.

Segmenting Four-Sound Words

1.					Starting / Point

Say the whole word.
“Lamp.”

Say The Sounds

2.					l

Push the first block up.
Say the first sound.

3.					a

Push the next block up.
Say the next sound.

4.					m

Push the next block up.
Say the next sound.

5.					p

Push the last block up.
Say the last sound.

Say the whole word.
“Lamp.”

Students do not see any letters. The letters shown here are only to show what sounds should be pronounced.
Be sure to pronounce the letter sounds, not the letter names.

Segmenting Four-Sound Words

1.					Starting / Point

Say the whole word.
“Frog.”

Say The Sounds

2.					f

Push the first block up.
Say the first sound.

3.					r

Push the next block up.
Say the next sound.

4.					o

Push the next block up.
Say the next sound.

5.					g

Push the last block up.
Say the last sound.

Say the whole word.
“Frog.”

Students do not see any letters. The letters shown here are only to show what sounds should be pronounced.
Be sure to pronounce the letter sounds, not the letter names.

1.						Starting / Point

Segmenting Five-Sound Words

2.						s

Say the whole word.
“Stand.”

Push the first block up.
Say the first sound.

3.						t

Push the next block up.
Say the next sound.

4.						a

Push the next block up.
Say the next sound.

5.						n

Push the next block up.
Say the next sound.

6.						d

Push the last block up.
Say the last sound.

Say the whole word.
“Stand.”

Oral Blending And Segmenting Pictures
Two-Syllable Words 1 / mail-box / foot-ball / sun-shine / rain-bow / foot-stool / blue-jeans / dog-house / back-pack	Two-Syllable Words 2 / flag-pole / in-side / grape-fruit / inch-worm / suit-case / swim-suit / pan-cake / down-town	Two-Syllable Words 3 / bun-ny / sor-ry / six-ty / fer-ry / cher-ry / jel-ly / emp-ty / pen-ny	Two-Syllable Words 4 / flip-per / win-ter / but-ter / soc-cer / riv-er / un-der / lad-der / num-ber
Two-Syllable Words 5 / bor-row / pil-low / shad-ow / pu-pil / min-now / fol-low / hol-low / sor-row	Two-Syllable Words 6 / tu-lip / mea-sure / ro-bot / stu-dent / bro-ken / yel-low / mu-sic / po-ny	Two-Syllable Words 7 / o-ver / pro-gram / clo-ver / ti-ger / vi-sor / pi-lot / o-pen / do-nut	Two-Syllable Words 8 / qui-et / te-pee / ti-ny / si-lo / Ve-nus / is-land / ze-ro / i-vy
Three-Syllable Words 1 / but-ter-fly / bas-ket-ball / pock-et-book / o-ver-coat / pep-per-mint / thun-der-storm / waste-bas-ket / news-pa-per	Three-Syllable Words 2 / sky-scra-per / Thanks-giv-ing / ex-er-cise / o-ver-alls / vol-ley-ball / un-der-ground / po-ny-tail / fer-ry-boat	Three-Syllable Words 3 / oc-to-pus / ham-bur-ger / as-tro-naut / i-ci-cle / gas-o-line / vol-ca-no / xy-lo-phone / op-po-site	Three-Syllable Words 4 / zuc-chi-ni / el-e-phant / med-i-cine / en-ve-lope / de-tec-tive / gym-nas-tics / e-nor-mous / sax-o-phone

Oral Blending And Segmenting Pictures
Three-Syllable Words 5 / kan-ga-roo / ma-gi-cian / com-pu-ter / di-no-saur / ac-ro-bats / in-stru-ments / u-ni-form / fu-ri-ous	Three-Syllable Words 6 / al-li-ga-tor / wa-ter-mel-on / su-per-he-ro / es-ca-la-tor / au-to-mo-bile / rhi-no-cer-os / Jan-u-ar-y / mo-tor-cy-cle	Two-Sound / Words 1 / ea-t / i-ce / u-p / p-aw / b-ee / i-n / t-ea / z-oo	Two-Sound / Words 2 / ea-r / wh-o / th-ey / a-dd / k-ey / s-aw / d-ay / h-igh
Two-Sound / Words 3 / u-s / a-d / o-n / p-ie / t-o / o-ff / g-o / h-ay	Two-Sound / Words 4 / w-e / p-ay / t-ee / m-ow / o-dd / m-y / j-aw / t-oe	Two-Sound / Words 5 / e-gg / b-ow / i-ll / e-dge / m-e / i-tch / a-pe / j-ay	Two-Sound / Words 6 / b-oo / h-e / c-ow / oi-l / a-che / oa-k / s-ee / t-ow
Two-Sound / Words 7 / ou-ch / r-ow / ai-m / sh-oe / ou-t / y-ou / b-oy / ow-l	Two-Sound / Words 8 / sh-e / m-oo / t-oy / sh-ow / b-ow / p-ea / ee-l / s-ew	Three-Sound / Words 1 / t-a-g / m-a-ze / p-i-g / c-o-ne / m-o-p / f-aw-n / n-u-t / t-ai-l	Three-Sound / Words 2 / g-a-s / m-ai-l / qu-i-ll / h-aw-k / r-o-d / b-oo-t / r-u-n / w-oo-d

Oral Blending And Segmenting Pictures
Three-Sound / Words 3 / j-a-m / sh-i-p / z-i-p / f-i-sh / d-o-ll / w-i-g / sh-e-ll / r-a-m	Three-Sound / Words 4 / b-o-th / th-a-t / th-u-mb / qu-a-ck / b-a-th / t-a-b / th-i-s / ch-o-p	Three-Sound / Words 5 / ch-i-ck / n-a-p / ch-e-ss / g-oo-se / r-i-ch / b-oo-k / y-a-m / s-ea-l	Three-Sound / Words 6 / ch-ee-se / th-a-t / th-u-mb / qu-a-ck / b-a-th / t-a-b / th-i-s / ch-o-p
Three-Sound / Words 7 / m-oo-n / c-oi-n / k-i-t / g-a-p / g-a-te / b-oi-l / r-oo-f / k-i-te	Three-Sound / Words 8 / c-oo-k / d-aw-n / h-ow-l / s-oi-l / n-oi-se / f-oo-t / y-aw-n / g-ow-n	Four-Sound / Words 1 / m-a-s-k / n-e-s-t / w-i-n-d / j-u-m-p / c-o-s-t / h-a-n-d / s-e-l-f / m-i-l-k	Four-Sound / Words 2 / f-i-s-t / r-a-f-t / b-e-n-t / s-a-n-d / t-u-s-k / d-e-s-k / m-e-l-t / l-a-m-p
Four-Sound / Words 3 / p-o-n-d / s-o-f-t / v-e-n-t / y-e-l-p / b-e-n-d / m-i-n-t / w-i-l-t / m-a-s-t	Four-Sound / Words 4 / b-ea-s-t / p-o-s-t / ch-i-l-d / b-o-l-t / c-oa-s-t / f-i-n-d / g-o-l-d / m-o-s-t	Four-Sound / Words 5 / s-k-i-p / s-n-a-p / s-m-e-ll / s-p-i-ll / s-w-i-m / s-t-e-p / s-c-u-ff / s-qu-i-d	Four-Sound / Words 6 / s-l-e-d / c-l-o-th / p-l-u-m / f-l-a-p / b-l-o-ck / g-l-a-d / d-w-e-ll / t-w-i-g

Oral Blending And Segmenting Pictures
Four-Sound / Words 7 / b-r-i-dge / p-r-e-ss / d-r-o-p / c-r-a-ck / g-r-i-ll / f-r-o-g / c-r-a-b / t-r-a-ck	Four-Sound / Words 8 / b-r-ai-d / f-l-oa-t / p-r-i-z-e / s-w-ee-p / t-r-ai-n / d-r-ea-m / s-t-oo-l / g-r-ee-n	Five-Sound / Words 1 / f-r-i-n-ge / s-t-u-m-p / s-t-a-n-d / t-w-i-s-t / c-l-a-m-p / p-r-i-n-ce / c-r-u-s-t / s-t-o-m-p	Five-Sound / Words 2 / s-t-r-ee-t / s-p-r-ea-d / b-l-i-m-p / s-c-r-a-tch / g-r-ou-n-d / s-w-i-f-t / s-c-r-ea-m / s-p-l-a-sh
Five-Sound / Words 3 / s-p-l-i-t / s-t-r-e-ss / s-p-r-i-ng / s-c-r-o-ll / s-t-r-i-pe / b-l-o-n-d / s-c-r-a-p / p-r-i-n-t	Five-Sound / Words 4 / p-l-a-n-t / s-p-r-u-ce / s-t-r-o-ng / s-qu-i-n-t / s-c-r-u-b / sh-r-i-m-p / s-t-r-u-m / b-r-a-n-ch	Five-Sound / Words 5 / g-r-a-s-p / s-t-r-i-ng / p-r-i-s-m / s-t-a-m-p / s-p-e-n-d / s-t-r-i-ke / s-k-u-n-k / t-e-m-p-t	Six-Sound / Words 1 / s-p-r-i-n-t / s-c-u-l-p-t / s-p-l-i-n-t / s-t-r-i-c-t / s-t-r-a-n-ge

Oral Blending And Segmenting	Two-Syllable Words 1
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Oral Blending And Segmenting	Two-Syllable Words 2
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Oral Blending And Segmenting	Four-Syllable Words 1
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Oral Blending And Segmenting	Two-Sound Words 1
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Oral Blending And Segmenting	Two-Sound Words 2
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Oral Blending And Segmenting	Two-Sound Words 8
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Oral Blending And Segmenting	Three-Sound Words 1
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Oral Blending And Segmenting	Three-Sound Words 2
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Oral Blending And Segmenting	Three-Sound Words 3
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Oral Blending And Segmenting	Three-Sound Words 4
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Oral Blending And Segmenting	Three-Sound Words 5
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Oral Blending And Segmenting	Three-Sound Words 6
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Oral Blending And Segmenting	Three-Sound Words 7
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Oral Blending And Segmenting	Three-Sound Words 8
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Ending Consonant Blends

Oral Blending And Segmenting	Four-Sound Words 1
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Ending Consonant Blends

Oral Blending And Segmenting	Four-Sound Words 2
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Ending Consonant Blends

Oral Blending And Segmenting	Four-Sound Words 3
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Ending Consonant Blends

Oral Blending And Segmenting	Four-Sound Words 4
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Beginning Consonant Blends

Oral Blending And Segmenting	Four-Sound Words 5
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Beginning Consonant Blends

Oral Blending And Segmenting	Four-Sound Words 6
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Beginning Consonant Blends

Oral Blending And Segmenting	Four-Sound Words 7
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Beginning Consonant Blends

Oral Blending And Segmenting	Four-Sound Words 8
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Beginning And Ending Consonant Blends

Oral Blending And Segmenting	Five-Sound Words 1
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7.	8.

Oral Blending And Segmenting	Five-Sound Words 2
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Oral Blending And Segmenting	Five-Sound Words 3
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7.	8.

Oral Blending And Segmenting	Five-Sound Words 4
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7.	8.

Oral Blending And Segmenting	Five-Sound Words 5
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7.	8.

Oral Blending And Segmenting	Six-Sound Words 1
1.	2.
3.	4.
5.

Use the list of rhyming words as a reference to identify the pictures on the pages. Students will only look at the pictures. They will not see the words.
When doing a new rhyming page, remind students that rhyming words end with the same sequence of sounds. Model several sets of rhyming words so that students get a feel for how rhyming words sound.
You may want to start by naming each picture on the page. Discuss any pictures that are unfamiliar.
Then say the name of the first picture at the top of the left column. Ask for a volunteer to find the rhyming picture in the right column and name it. Have the class repeat both words in unison and decide if the words really do rhyme. If correct, students draw a line from the first picture to the rhyming word in the right column. If incorrect, call on a student to try again.
Emphasize the rhyming part when you pronounce the words. Continue until each picture in the left column has been matched with a picture in the right column.
Sometimes students will need extra help on a page. If so, say the name of the picture in the left column followed by the name of each picture in the right column and ask if each set of two words rhyme. “Branch, fruit, does that rhyme? No. Branch, ranch, does that rhyme? Yes.”
Being able to recognize rhyming words orally prepares students to recognize and read rhyming words at the short vowel level. It will also help them read rhyming words when they study words with various phonogram patterns.
Bonus Activity: Copy one or more pages onto card stock. Cut out the pictures from each page and store in a labeled envelope along with a list of answers. Students place the pictures in several rows face down on a table and play concentration. They take turns turning over two cards at a time. If a student turns over two cards that rhyme, he or she can take the cards. When all the cards are taken, the student with the most rhyming cards wins.
Extension For Students Who Are Reading And Spelling:
Copy the words for each set of pictures. Underline the vowel pattern if it is the same. Circle the vowel pattern if it is different.
Copy the words for each set of pictures. When possible, write one or more extra rhyming words to go with each rhyming pair.

Rhyming Pictures
Set 1 / boulder /shoulder / couch / pouch / bear / pear / park / shark / yarn / barn	Set 2 / pout / shout / soup / group / parrot / carrot / nurse / purse / third / bird	Set 3 / dirt / skirt / collar / dollar / arm / farm / seal / meal / horn / corn	Set 4 / wizard / blizzard / torn / thorn / peach / beach / tray / spray / sport / short
Set 5 / ferry / berry / snail / nail / brother / mother / carriage/marriage / rain / chain	Set 6 / hair / pair / hamper/scamper / ball / wall / hose / nose / love / dove	Set 7 / pole / hole / ice / slice / dime / time / core / store / hike / bike	Set 8 / smoke / broke / stall / mall / clue / glue / rush / flush / splash / sash
Set 9 / lamp / clamp / cloth / moth / float / coat / deep / sleep / down / frown	Set 10 / twist / fist / stool / pool / frame / game / door / floor / dump / jump	Set 11 / me / ski / squawk / stalk / stood / wood / wilt / quilt / spill / hill	Set 12 / vest / west / noon / moon / drum / hum / crib / bib / frost / lost
Set 13 / slug / bug / split / hit / stripes / pipes / grill / fill / flap / cap	Set 14 / yield / shield / niece / piece / scuff / muff / screen / mean / grief / leaf	Set 15 / pie / tie / path / bath / dog / hog / strum / gum / sloth / broth	Set 16 / rope / soap / crank / tank / tape / ape / bull / pull / coach / roach

Rhyming Pictures
Set 17 / bunk / skunk / shelf / elf / flew / threw / willow / pillow / toad / road	Set 18 / branch / ranch / suit / fruit / wave / cave / belt / melt / trout / spout	Set 19 / wink / stink / tree / see / fawn / lawn / cast / fast / through / drew	Set 20 / haul / small / catch / hatch / push / bush / hollow / follow / mouse / house
Set 21 / swan / dawn / read / feed / sour / tower / ditch / pitch / bake / rake	Set 22 / pier / ear / tent / bent / four / pour / stomp / romp / blow / snow	Set 23 / cruise / bruise / coal / foal / inch / finch / soup / group / you / blue	Set 24 / wagon / dragon / zero / hero / find / blind / night / fight / bought / thought
Set 25 / ate / plate / wren / when / jaw / saw / join / coin / twinkle / wrinkle	Set 26 / boy / toy / little / whittle / over / clover / table / label / bunch / punch

Rhyming Set 1	Draw a line between each pair of rhyming pictures.

Rhyming Set 2	Draw a line between each pair of rhyming pictures.

Rhyming Set 3	Draw a line between each pair of rhyming pictures.

Rhyming Set 4	Draw a line between each pair of rhyming pictures.

Rhyming Set 5	Draw a line between each pair of rhyming pictures.

Rhyming Set 6	Draw a line between each pair of rhyming pictures.

Rhyming Set 7	Draw a line between each pair of rhyming pictures.

Rhyming Set 8	Draw a line between each pair of rhyming pictures.

Rhyming Set 9	Draw a line between each pair of rhyming pictures.

Rhyming Set 10	Draw a line between each pair of rhyming pictures.

Rhyming Set 11	Draw a line between each pair of rhyming pictures.

Rhyming Set 12	Draw a line between each pair of rhyming pictures.

Rhyming Set 13	Draw a line between each pair of rhyming pictures.

Rhyming Set 14	Draw a line between each pair of rhyming pictures.

Rhyming Set 15	Draw a line between each pair of rhyming pictures.

Rhyming Set 16	Draw a line between each pair of rhyming pictures.

Rhyming Set 17	Draw a line between each pair of rhyming pictures.

Rhyming Set 18	Draw a line between each pair of rhyming pictures.

Rhyming Set 19	Draw a line between each pair of rhyming pictures.
	wink-stink, tree-see, fawn-lawn, cast-fast, through-drew

Rhyming Set 20	Draw a line between each pair of rhyming pictures.

Rhyming Set 21	Draw a line between each pair of rhyming pictures.
	swan-dawn, read-feed, sour-tower, ditch-pitch, bake-rake

Rhyming Set 22	Draw a line between each pair of rhyming pictures.

Rhyming Set 23	Draw a line between each pair of rhyming pictures.

Rhyming Set 24	Draw a line between each pair of rhyming pictures.

Rhyming Set 25	Draw a line between each pair of rhyming pictures.

Rhyming Set 26	Draw a line between each pair of rhyming pictures.

In this section students circle words that begin or end with a given sound. On some pages, students look for words with a given short vowel sound in the middle of the word.
Strictly speaking, phonemic awareness activities do not involve written letters. The activities are done orally, with students listening for specific sounds in words. However, these pages have the letter that represents each sound printed on the page. This makes it easy for the teacher to give the students the sound to listen for as they complete the pages. Students do not need to know the sounds of the letters to do the pages since the teacher models the pronunciation of the letter sound. But if students have already learned the alphabet sounds, this activity will serve as a reinforcement for their knowledge.
A different letter sound is studied on each page. The sounds are studied in the same sequence in which they appear in A Sound Story About Audrey And Brad. The sequence is: t i h l n w u b m r f x e s j o c d a v g p k y qu z.
Some sounds appear often at both the beginning and end of words. For these sounds, students identify beginning sounds on the top half of the page and ending sounds on the bottom half of the page.
Other sounds appear rarely at the end of a word, if at all. For these sounds, students identify beginning sounds on the top half of the page and medial short vowel sounds on the bottom half of the page, using only the short vowel sounds that have been introduced.
How To Complete The Pages
Say the sound that students will be looking for in each section, and tell students if they will be looking for that sound at the beginning, end, or middle of the word. Help students identify the pictures. Have students stretch out the sounds as they pronounce the words, listening for the designated sound. If students have trouble, emphasize the target sound strongly when you pronounce the word. Have students circle the pictures that begin or end with the correct sound, and also the pictures with the correct short medial vowel sound. Work through the pages together, providing feedback as needed. The names of the pictures are included in the answer key for teacher reference. The correct answers are underlined on the answer key.
Notes
Students typically are able to identify beginnings sounds most easily. Identifying ending sounds will be more difficult. Provide support as needed. Identifying medial vowel sounds is the most difficult of the three tasks. For these words, emphasize the vowel sound as you pronounce the name of each picture.

Beginning, Ending, And Middle Sounds - Answer Key
Beginning Sound / t_ / tail / nest / tub / wagon / town / tent / purse / tea / zebra	Ending Sound / _t / buzz / cat / moon / cut / bat / gate / nut / fox / mop	Beginning Sound / i_ / moon / igloo / inchworm / feet / iguana / in / key / leaf / insect	Middle Sound / _i_ / him / cat / kiss / zip / bag / hill / gas / pig / sad
Beginning Sound / h_ / hammer / kite / hawk / horse / mouse / hat / hair / fork / jump	Middle Sound / _i_ / bib / dip / hop / pot / jog / fin / doll / lid / mix	Beginning Sound / l_ / gold / lamb / fire / leg / bubble / lock / light / ladder / cage	Ending Sound / _l / bed / mule / sail / swim / roof / seal / nail / cake / pool
Beginning Sound / n_ / nut / nurse / paper / nose / nest / leaf / rain / nickel / kangaroo	Ending Sound / _n / bus / rain / gate / door / pin / zip / moon / run / van	Beginning Sound / w_ / worm / vase / wink / soup / yawn / wind / zoo / web / wasp	Middle Sound / _i_ / quiz / win / nut / hit / sun / six / cup / fig / tub

Beginning, Ending, And Middle Sounds - Answer Key
Beginning Sound / u_ / volcano / under / rope / umbrella / pocket / up / umpire / upset / rabbit	Middle Sound / _u_ / wag / jam / hum / rug / tux / bun / mat / gum / pan	Beginning Sound / b_ / garbage / book / cow / door / boat / box / boy / hook / bird	Ending Sound / _b / cab / ram / cube / goal / tube / cuff / robe / log / lab
Beginning Sound / m_ / milk / match / cave / girl / badge / mouse / dance / mask / mail	Ending Sound / _m / robe / ham / gum / hook / swim / dime / dog / zoom / food	Beginning Sound / r_ / rice / neigh / sand / read / ramp / peach / rose / rope / taco	Ending Sound / _r / fire / ear / peel / door / vase / bear / talk / car / pain
Beginning Sound / f_ / robe / fox / fork / jam / tail / find / fish / gum / fire	Ending Sound / _f / safe / seed / leaf / cliff / roof / lake / doll / pig / scarf	Ending Sound / _x / fix / rope / five / pox / fox / sign / box / goose / fax	Middle Sound / _u_ / putt / kid / sun / tux / mitt / mug / sub / rip / fill

Beginning, Ending, And Middle Sounds - Answer Key
Beginning Sound / e_ / elf / egg / rake / elevator / elephant / bike / tape / envelope / pile	Middle Sound / _e_ / jet / bake / time / set / ride / bell / wet / game / hen	Beginning Sound / s_ / sail / milk / sing / salt / saw / sun / talk / waffle / zinnia	Ending Sound / _s / move / kiss / dress / bus / horse / house / ten / mess / snooze
Beginning Sound / j_ / jump / little / jeans / jeep / king / moth / jar / Jack-in-the-box / hay	Middle Sound / _e_ / beg / big / well / pill / bell / miss / kids / net / fed	Beginning Sound / o_ / ostrich / peach / octopus / target / rain / off / ox / olive / seal	Middle Sound / _o_ / mess / sun / box / pot / jet / mix / pop / doll / log
Beginning Sound / c_ / carrot / cab / beetle / castle / measure / find / cow / here / cuff	Middle Sound / _o_ / sod / bud / tug / wok / nod / hut / job / stop / fun	Beginning Sound / d_ / cone / dump / down / hose / fudge / dime / dinosaur / jaw / dollar	Ending Sound / _d / add / food / hid / hum / sad / keg / quail / mud / cliff

Beginning, Ending, And Middle Sounds - Answer Key
Beginning Sound / a_ / ant / candy / alligator / jet / bear / attic / dish / ankle / anchor	Middle Sound / _a_ / bat / pad / fib / sag / fish / can / hiss / tan / lips	Beginning Sound / v_ / you / vest / vine / raise / waffle / vacuum / tin / voyage / Valentine	Ending Sound / _v / lawn / dive / pour / cave / dove / curve / cot / glove / toss
Beginning Sound / g_ / girl / ball / gas / hanger / gold / farm / castle / ghost / garage	Ending Sound / _g / wig / dig / jug / swim / bug / rib / egg / mule / head	Beginning Sound / p_ / pickle / vulture / paper / sit / night / wall / pillow / pine / pie	Ending Sound / _p / sip / soap / jar / jeep / house / type / maze / rope / fight
Beginning Sound / k_ / kettle / jeans / finger / kite / kangaroo / book / kitten / keg / girl	Ending Sound / _k / rub / hook / duck / zoom / kick / talk / sniff / seed / lake	Beginning Sound / y_ / yo-yo / puzzle / yarn / tusk / yacht / volleyball / year / ram / yolk	Middle Sound / _a_ / hog / fan / lot / gap / bass / mad / bat / hot / moss

Beginning, Ending, And Middle Sounds - Answer Key
Beginning Sound / qu_ / ring / veil / quiet / safe / queen / quiver / paint / quart / quartet	Middle Sound / _a_ / nap / cub / bun / map / dad / suds / pass / rat / cut	Beginning Sound / z_ / zero / yard / zoo / vine / nurse / zebra / zucchini / quilt / zipper	Ending Sound / _z / freeze / sleeve / jazz / fizz / buzz / ear / mess / prize / ax

Beginning Sound / t_
		Look at the letter in the first box. Listen to your teacher say its sound. Say the name of each picture slowly, stretching out the sounds. / Circle the pictures that begin with the same sound.
Ending Sound / _t
		Say the name of each picture, stretching out the sounds. Look at the letter in the first box. / Circle the pictures that end with this sound.

Beginning Sound / i_
		Look at the letter in the first box. Listen to your teacher say its sound. Say the name of each picture slowly, stretching out the sounds. / Circle the pictures that begin with the same sound.
Middle Sound / _i_
		Say the name of each picture, stretching out the sounds. Look at the letter in the first box. Circle the pictures that have this sound in the middle.

Beginning Sound / h_
		Look at the letter in the first box. Listen to your teacher say its sound. Say the name of each picture slowly, stretching out the sounds. / Circle the pictures that begin with the same sound.
Middle Sound / _i_
		Say the name of each picture, stretching out the sounds. Look at the letter in the first box. Circle the pictures that have this sound in the middle.

Beginning Sound / l_
		Look at the letter in the first box. Listen to your teacher say its sound. Say the name of each picture slowly, stretching out the sounds. / Circle the pictures that begin with the same sound.
Ending Sound / _l
		Say the name of each picture, stretching out the sounds. Look at the letter in the first box. / Circle the pictures that end with this sound.

Beginning Sound / n_
		Look at the letter in the first box. Listen to your teacher say its sound. Say the name of each picture slowly, stretching out the sounds. / Circle the pictures that begin with the same sound.
Ending Sound / _n
		Say the name of each picture, stretching out the sounds. Look at the letter in the first box. / Circle the pictures that end with this sound.

Beginning Sound / w_
		Look at the letter in the first box. Listen to your teacher say its sound. Say the name of each picture slowly, stretching out the sounds. / Circle the pictures that begin with the same sound.
Middle Sound / _i_
		Say the name of each picture, stretching out the sounds. Look at the letter in the first box. Circle the pictures that have this sound in the middle.

Beginning Sound / u_
		Look at the letter in the first box. Listen to your teacher say its sound. Say the name of each picture slowly, stretching out the sounds. / Circle the pictures that begin with the same sound.
Middle Sound / _u_
		Say the name of each picture, stretching out the sounds. Look at the letter in the first box. Circle the pictures that have this sound in the middle.

Beginning Sound / b_
		Look at the letter in the first box. Listen to your teacher say its sound. Say the name of each picture slowly, stretching out the sounds. / Circle the pictures that begin with the same sound.
Ending Sound / _b
		Say the name of each picture, stretching out the sounds. Look at the letter in the first box. / Circle the pictures that end with this sound.

Beginning Sound / m_
		Look at the letter in the first box. Listen to your teacher say its sound. Say the name of each picture slowly, stretching out the sounds. / Circle the pictures that begin with the same sound.
Ending Sound / _m
		Say the name of each picture, stretching out the sounds. Look at the letter in the first box. / Circle the pictures that end with this sound.

Beginning Sound / r_
		Look at the letter in the first box. Listen to your teacher say its sound. Say the name of each picture slowly, stretching out the sounds. / Circle the pictures that begin with the same sound.
Ending Sound / _r
		Say the name of each picture, stretching out the sounds. Look at the letter in the first box. / Circle the pictures that end with this sound.

Beginning Sound / f_
		Look at the letter in the first box. Listen to your teacher say its sound. Say the name of each picture slowly, stretching out the sounds. / Circle the pictures that begin with the same sound.
Ending Sound / _f
		Say the name of each picture, stretching out the sounds. Look at the letter in the first box. / Circle the pictures that end with this sound.

Ending Sound / _x
		Look at the letter in the first box. Listen to your teacher say its sound. Say the name of each picture slowly, stretching out the sounds. / Circle the pictures that end with the same sound.
Middle Sound / _u_
		Say the name of each picture, stretching out the sounds. Look at the letter in the first box. Circle the pictures that have this sound in the middle.

Beginning Sound / e_
		Look at the letter in the first box. Listen to your teacher say its sound. Say the name of each picture slowly, stretching out the sounds. / Circle the pictures that begin with the same sound.
Middle Sound / _e_
		Say the name of each picture, stretching out the sounds. Look at the letter in the first box. Circle the pictures that have this sound in the middle.

Beginning Sound / s_
		Look at the letter in the first box. Listen to your teacher say its sound. Say the name of each picture slowly, stretching out the sounds. / Circle the pictures that begin with the same sound.
Ending Sound / _s
		Say the name of each picture, stretching out the sounds. Look at the letter in the first box. / Circle the pictures that end with this sound.

Beginning Sound / j _
		Look at the letter in the first box. Listen to your teacher say its sound. Say the name of each picture slowly, stretching out the sounds. / Circle the pictures that begin with the same sound.
Middle Sound / _e_
		Say the name of each picture, stretching out the sounds. Look at the letter in the first box. Circle the pictures that have this sound in the middle.

Beginning Sound / o_
		Look at the letter in the first box. Listen to your teacher say its sound. Say the name of each picture slowly, stretching out the sounds. / Circle the pictures that begin with the same sound.
Middle Sound / _o_
		Say the name of each picture, stretching out the sounds. Look at the letter in the first box. Circle the pictures that have this sound in the middle.

Beginning Sound / c_
		Look at the letter in the first box. Listen to your teacher say its sound. Say the name of each picture slowly, stretching out the sounds. / Circle the pictures that begin with the same sound.
Middle Sound / _o_
		Say the name of each picture, stretching out the sounds. Look at the letter in the first box. Circle the pictures that have this sound in the middle.

Beginning Sound / d_
		Look at the letter in the first box. Listen to your teacher say its sound. Say the name of each picture slowly, stretching out the sounds. / Circle the pictures that begin with the same sound.
Ending Sound / _d
		Say the name of each picture, stretching out the sounds. Look at the letter in the first box. / Circle the pictures that end with this sound.

Beginning Sound / a_
		Look at the letter in the first box. Listen to your teacher say its sound. Say the name of each picture slowly, stretching out the sounds. / Circle the pictures that begin with the same sound.
Middle Sound / _a_
		Say the name of each picture, stretching out the sounds. Look at the letter in the first box. Circle the pictures that have this sound in the middle.

Beginning Sound / v_
		Look at the letter in the first box. Listen to your teacher say its sound. Say the name of each picture slowly, stretching out the sounds. / Circle the pictures that begin with the same sound.
Ending Sound / _v
		Say the name of each picture, stretching out the sounds. Look at the letter in the first box. / Circle the pictures that end with this sound.

Beginning Sound / g _
		Look at the letter in the first box. Listen to your teacher say its sound. Say the name of each picture slowly, stretching out the sounds. / Circle the pictures that begin with the same sound.
Ending Sound / _g
		Say the name of each picture, stretching out the sounds. Look at the letter in the first box. / Circle the pictures that end with this sound.

Beginning Sound / p_
		Look at the letter in the first box. Listen to your teacher say its sound. Say the name of each picture slowly, stretching out the sounds. / Circle the pictures that begin with the same sound.
Ending Sound / _ p
		Say the name of each picture, stretching out the sounds. Look at the letter in the first box. / Circle the pictures that end with this sound.

Beginning Sound / k_
		Look at the letter in the first box. Listen to your teacher say its sound. Say the name of each picture slowly, stretching out the sounds. / Circle the pictures that begin with the same sound.
Ending Sound / _k
		Say the name of each picture, stretching out the sounds. Look at the letter in the first box. / Circle the pictures that end with this sound.

Beginning Sound / y_
		Look at the letter in the first box. Listen to your teacher say its sound. Say the name of each picture slowly, stretching out the sounds. / Circle the pictures that begin with the same sound.
Middle Sound / _a _
		Say the name of each picture, stretching out the sounds. Look at the letter in the first box. Circle the pictures that have this sound in the middle.

Beginning Sound / qu _
		Look at the letter in the first box. Listen to your teacher say its sound. Say the name of each picture slowly, stretching out the sounds. / Circle the pictures that begin with the same sound.
Middle Sound / _a _
		Say the name of each picture, stretching out the sounds. Look at the letter in the first box. Circle the pictures that have this sound in the middle.

Beginning Sound / z_
		Look at the letter in the first box. Listen to your teacher say its sound. Say the name of each picture slowly, stretching out the sounds. / Circle the pictures that begin with the same sound.
Ending Sound / _z
		Say the name of each picture, stretching out the sounds. Look at the letter in the first box. / Circle the pictures that end with this sound.

Students first become aware of syllables when they do the first oral blending and segmenting exercise at the beginning of this book. However, they are not taught explicitly during those lessons. After the initial multi-syllable exercises, students focus on one syllable words with two, three, or more sounds. It is crucial for students to focus on the individual sounds in words so that they can begin spelling and reading short vowel words. Once students master short vowel words, they will be ready to study words with various phonogram patterns made up of groups of two or more letters.
After students have learned to focus on individual sounds to spell and read w ords, they need to become reacquainted with multi-syllable words. It will take practice for them to understand the difference between the individual sounds in words and the syllable units in words.
Syllables are rhythmic units in words. They are made up of one or more letters. Every syllable must contain at least one vowel.
You can help students understand syllables by having them clap the syllables for words as they pronounce them. They are able to “feel” the syllables more easily in this way.
Students need to learn about syllables because they will need to be able to read multi-syllable words. There are specific rules about the vowel sounds in words that depend on where the vowel is placed in relation to the consonants. It is helpful for students to be able to identify the syllables in words before they are required to analyze them more closely in order to read them.
The pages in this section are the same as the pages found in the Short Vowel Words And Sentences books and Phonetic Words And Stories, Books 1-8. They are repeated here so that they will be easy to find, all in one place.
Doing The Syllable Awareness Pages
Each syllable awareness page has eight pictures. The names of the pictures can be found on the answer key pages for teacher reference. The correct number of syllables for each word is given on the answer key. On each page the number of syllables ranges from one-syllable up to three, four, or even five-syllables.
To do one of the pages, have students help you identify the pictures. Say the name of the first picture in unison, while everyone claps the syllables. Call on a student to identify how many syllables are in the word. Explain that the number of claps equals the number of syllables. Repeat any words that cause difficulty. Continue through the remaining pictures in the same way.

Syllable Awareness Answer Key
Syllable Awareness 1 / in / ba-by / waf-fle / up / ac-ro-bats / hip-po-pot-a-mus / tad-pole / mo-tor-cy-cle	1 / 2 / 2 / 1 / 3 / 5 / 2 / 4	Syllable Awareness 2 / ban-jo / eat / u-ni-form / paw / type-wri-ter / u-ni-ver-si-ty / rhi-noc-er-os / clo-ver	2 / 1 / 3 / 1 / 3 / 5 / 4 / 2
Syllable Awareness 3 / toas-ter / el-e-phant / kite / coat / ti-ger / chain / zuc-chi-ni / bush	2 / 3 / 1 / 1 / 2 / 1 / 3 / 1	Syllable Awareness 4 / mail-box / ham-bur-ger / barn / lla-ma / soap / vol-ley-ball / es-ca-la-tor / a-pron	2 / 3 / 1 / 2 / 1 / 3 / 4 / 2
Syllable Awareness 5 / cloud / piz-za / po-ny / ba-nan-a / el-e-va-tor / di-no-saur / clock / at-tic	1 / 2 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 3 / 1 / 2	Syllable Awareness 6 / oc-to-pus / key / rab-bit / gold / as-tro-naut / Jan-u-ar-y / inch-worm / news-pa-per	3 / 1 / 2 / 1 / 3 / 4 / 2 / 3

Syllable Awareness Answer Key
Syllable Awareness 7 / sail-boat / te-pee / cube / pock-et-book / cur-tains / zoo / en-ve-lope / rhi-noc-er-os	2 / 2 / 1 / 3 / 2 / 1 / 3 / 4	Syllable Awareness 8 / e-mu / ex-cla-ma-tion / fire / un-der-ground / ze-ro / ro-bot / sax-o-phone / car	2 / 4 / 1 / 3 / 2 / 2 / 3 / 1
Syllable Awareness 9 / su-per-he-ro / ta-ble / neck-lace / flew / med-i-cine / ap-ple / book / an-chor	4 / 2 / 2 / 1 / 3 / 2 / 1 / 2	Syllable Awareness 10 / slice / gi-ant / wheel / um-brel-la / tow-er / gym-nas-tics / bird / shield	1 / 2 / 1 / 3 / 2 / 3 / 1 / 1
Syllable Awareness 11 / au-tumn / pig / op-po-site / an-kle / jack-et / un-u-su-al / tree / ceil-ing	2 / 1 / 3 / 2 / 2 / 4 / 1 / 2	Syllable Awareness 12 / rain / cow-boy / tooth-paste / dime / al-li-ga-tor / e-nor-mous / tea / ea-gle	1 / 2 / 2 / 1 / 4 / 3 / 1 / 2

Syllable Awareness Answer Key
Syllable Awareness 13 / sign / la-dy / u-ni-form / goat / ma-gi-cian / tel-e-vi-sion / muf-fin / kan-ga-roo	1 / 2 / 3 / 1 / 3 / 4 / 2 / 3	Syllable Awareness 14 / flow-er / chick-en / or-na-ment / pitch / bar-rel / clown / de-tec-tive / u-ra-ni-um	2 / 2 / 3 / 1 / 2 / 1 / 3 / 4
Syllable Awareness 15 / com-pu-tor / pan-da / town / a-corn / ad-di-tion / xy-lo-phone / u-ku-le-le / moun-tains	3 / 2 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 3 / 4 / 2	Syllable Awareness 16 / wag-on / bowl / gar-den / shad-ow / fu-ri-ous / cheese / en-cy-clo-pe-di-a / gas-o-line	2 / 1 / 2 / 2 / 3 / 1 / 6 / 3
Syllable Awareness 17 / grow / bor-row / vol-ca-no / wa-ter-mel-on / cush-ion / i-ci-cle / is-land / owl	1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 2 / 3 / 2 / 1	Syllable Awareness 18 / pter-o-dac-tyl / scrap-book / but-ter-fly / see / bas-ket-ball / tool-box / men-u / in-stru-ments	4 / 2 / 3 / 1 / 3 / 2 / 2 / 3

Syllable Awareness 1

Say each word. Clap and count the syllables.

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Syllable Awareness 2

Say each word. Clap and count the syllables.

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Syllable Awareness 3

Say each word. Clap and count the syllables.

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Syllable Awareness 4

Say each word. Clap and count the syllables.

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Syllable Awareness 5

Say each word. Clap and count the syllables.

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Syllable Awareness 6

Say each word. Clap and count the syllables.

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Syllable Awareness 7

Say each word. Clap and count the syllables.

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Syllable Awareness 8

Say each word. Clap and count the syllables.

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Syllable Awareness 9

Say each word. Clap and count the syllables.

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Syllable Awareness 10

Say each word. Clap and count the syllables.

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Syllable Awareness 11

Say each word. Clap and count the syllables.

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Syllable Awareness 12

Say each word. Clap and count the syllables.

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Syllable Awareness 13

Say each word. Clap and count the syllables.

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Syllable Awareness 14

Say each word. Clap and count the syllables.

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Syllable Awareness 15

Say each word. Clap and count the syllables.

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Syllable Awareness 16

Say each word. Clap and count the syllables.

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Syllable Awareness 17

Say each word. Clap and count the syllables.

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Syllable Awareness 18

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Print Awareness Lessons
To Be Read Aloud By The Teacher
To Students Who Are Learning The Alphabet

Lesson 1: Learning About Words
When we talk to each other or read stories, we are using words. Words are the bits and pieces that make up our language. Some words tell us the names of people or things, such as truck, mother, and apple.
truck mother apple
Some words tell us what someone or something is doing, such as run, jump, and sing.
run jump sing
Some words, such as huge, pretty, and black, describe things.
huge pretty black
If you want to learn to read, you must learn to read words. Here are some words that you will learn.
cat bus mop
Notice that the words don’t look anything like the pictures. When we use words, we are using symbols. This means that words tells us about something, but they aren’t the real thing.
When we talk, we don’t just use one word at a time. We use a lot of words together. If we use our imagination, the words can make a picture in our minds. For instance, if we hear words that say “a small, black kitten” we can think of what that would look like, since we have seen a kitten before. We know that a kitten is a baby cat. We also know what the color black looks like, and we know that small means not very big. Can you draw a picture of a small, black kitten to show how it would look?

Lesson 2: How Words Are Arranged On The Page
When people write stories, they use lots of words together, to tell us about things. Sometimes there are pictures with the stories, to show us what the words are saying. Sometimes there aren’t any pictures, and then you have to listen to the words and make a picture in your mind of what the words are saying. Can you do that? It’s a good idea to have someone read stories to you every day, so that you can learn to listen to the words and make those pictures in your mind. This is called using your imagination. I’m going to read a story to you right now. Listen carefully, because after the story, you will draw a picture to show what happened.
(Read a short story with pictures and large print. An oversized “big book” would work well. When you finish the story, continue as described below.)
Before we draw our pictures, let’s look at the words in this story. Notice that each word is separate from all the other words. There are little white empty spaces between the words, so that we can see each word by itself. If there weren’t any blank spaces between words, it would be hard to tell where each word started and each word stopped. That would make it a lot harder to read.
We can see that there are many, many words in a story. When we are reading, how do we know which words to read first? The answer is easy. When we see words in a book, they appear on the page in order. We start at the top of the page, on the left side, and read each word from left to right, like this. When we get to the end of the line, we move down, go back to the left side, and start again. We go across the new line, word by word, moving toward the right. We keep moving down and starting each line in the same way, until we get to the bottom of the page. Then we turn the page and start again at the top. (Demonstrate on the page.)
You can see that this is true for yourself. I’m going to read a page in this story and point to each word as I read it. You’ll see that my finger follows each line from left to right, beginning at the top of the page and going down.
Now I’m going to read part of this page backwards, starting at the bottom of the page and going from right to left. Do the words make sense? Do they tell us a story? No, they don’t! Reading only makes sense if you’re reading the words in the right direction.
Sometimes it’s hard to remember where to start and which way to go when we’re reading. We can use a special arrow to remind us about this.

Put your finger on the star and then pull your finger to the right, along the line, following the arrow. You’ll find some cards with the star and arrow in this book. When you start to read by yourself, you can lay the card above your book or on the page, to show you which way to go when you read and write.
Now I want you to draw a picture to show something that happened in this story. Think of the words you want to use to describe your picture. I'll come around to each desk and write the words on your paper for you.
[Help students remove the page with the stars and arrows from their books. They can cut out the strips and keep them. Collect the part of the page with the word cards to be used in lesson three.]

Lesson 3: Recognizing Words
[Students should turn to the two pages with pictures of Mittens the cat as you read this section aloud. A sentence about the cat is on each page, with blank spaces below each word. Hand out the pages with the word cards left over from lesson number two. Students will cut out the word cards and paste them below the same words in the sentences, with the teacher’s guidance.]
You may know some words already. You might know your name, your parents names, the name of your street, or the name of your favorite restaurant or cereal. You might know some of the words in your favorite books.
You can learn new words in several ways. First, someone can show you a word and tell you what it says. You can look at the word carefully and remember it, just like you remember the face of a friend. Every word is a little bit different from every other word, so if you can remember how they look, you can tell them apart.
We’re going to play a little game to show you what I mean. Let’s look at these pictures. There are some words to tell about each picture. The words go together to make a sentence. Do you see the dot at the end of this sentence? It is called a period, and it tells us that we are at the end of the sentence. I’m going to point to each word in the first sentence as I read it to you. “Mittens...is...a...gray...cat.” You do it. Point to the words and say the sentence. Now I’m going to do the same thing with the second sentence. “Mittens...climbs...up...a...tree.” Can you point to the words and say this sentence, too? Give it a try.
Now, let’s see if we can recognize these words. Here are some cards with the same words that are in the first sentence. We’re going to cut them out and paste them under the words in the sentence. Can you find the word that matches the first word, “Mittens.” Paste it right underneath. Can you find the next word? It’s a little word that says “is.” Paste it here. Now find this little word; it says “a.” Where will you put it? This word says “gray.” And this word says “cat.” Good, you were able to match every word, just by looking carefully. Let’s match the words in the other sentence in the same way.

Lesson 2 - Cut out the arrow strips. Keep these strips to use when students begin to read and write. They can be placed above the page to show which direction to go.

Remove this page from the book.

Lesson 3 - Cut out the words for each sentence. Put each word in the correct place under the kitten pictures on the next two pages.

Mittens is a gray cat.

Mittens climbs up a tree.

This page is left blank on purpose, so that the page can be removed and cut apart.
See the directions on the other side.

Lesson 3

Mittens is a gray cat.

Lesson 3

Mittens climbs up a tree.

Lesson 4: Learning About Letters
There are lots and lots of words, and it can be hard to remember all of them. Even though every word is different, some of them look almost alike. It may be hard to tell them apart. For instance, look at these three words. They look almost the same, don’t they? Can you see how they’re different?
cat cap cab
To help us recognize different words, it helps us to know about the little tiny pieces that go together to make up words. These little pieces are called letters. There are twenty-six different letters that we use to make up our words. Here they are.
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
Each letter has a certain shape to it.
Some letters have round parts that look like a circle, like this + o.
Some letters have straight parts that look like a line, like this + l.
Other letters have lines that curve, but don’t make a circle, like this + s.
Some letters have round parts and straight parts stuck together, like this + b.
All twenty-six letters together are called the alphabet. Whenever you draw pictures with circles, lines, and curves, you are helping yourself get ready to learn to write the alphabet.

When letters are printed in books, they often look a little fancier. They have little lines sticking out at the top and bottom of the letter, like miniature flags. The little flags are called serifs. Here are the letters of the alphabet written with serifs.
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
Can you see that most of the letters look pretty much the same as the first alphabet we looked at? Did you notice that two of the letters look different?
This letter + a turned into this one + a,
and this letter + g turned into this one + g.
Why do we care about letters? First of all, it’s because letters go together to make words. But there’s more to it than that. There is something almost magic about letters. Letters are symbols, kind of like words. This means that they tell us something secret, something that we can’t see just by looking at them. But letters don’t tell us the names of things like words do. Here is the secret about letters: each letter tells us about a sound.
For instance, this letter + m tells us about the sound you make when you are humming, mmmmm.
This letter + s tells us about a sound that is like the hissing of a snake, sssssss.
Learning about the letters and their sounds is the first big step towards learning to read. Give yourself a pat on the back for the great work you are doing to learn how to be a good reader.

Lesson 5: Letters Have Names And Sounds
We're going to start today by talking about farm animals and the sounds that they can make. This will help us learn more about letters and their sounds.
Animals And Their Sounds
Look at the pictures of these animals. (Point to each animal as you proceed. Call on individuals to answer.) What is the name of this animal? (horse) How about this one? (pig) What is this animal? (sheep) And this one? (cat). Who can name this animal? (cow) What is the name of this animal? (dog) Great job! You could tell me the name of all of these animals.
I want you to think for a minute. Can any of these animals make a sound? (Yes) What sound does a horse make? (Neigh) Let's all sound like a horse together. (Neigh) What sound does a pig make? (Oink, oink) Everybody say it. (Oink, oink, oink) What about a sheep? (Baaa.) Let's say it. (Baa, baa) What sound does a cat make? (Meow) Everybody say it. (Meow) What sound can a cow make? (Moo) Everybody... (Moo) What about a dog? (Ruff, ruff) Together... (Ruff, ruff) Good job!
Do you call this animal a neigh? (Point to the horse.) (Nooo!) What do we call it? (A horse.) That's right, it's name is a horse. And what is it's sound? (Neigh) That's right. Are the name and the sound the same? (No.) Do you call this animal an oink? (Point to the pig.) (No!) What is it's name? (A pig) What is it's sound? (Oink, oink, oink. Is the name the same as the sound? (No!) OK! You guys know about this very well! Fantastic!

Neigh

Oink

Baaaa

Meow

Moo

Ruff Ruff

Letters And Their Sounds
Now we're going to talk about the names of letters and their sounds. Let's talk about these letters. Does anyone know the name of this letter? (Point to T.) That's right, T. And this letter? That's right, H. What is the name of this letter? That right, W.
Look at the picture beside the letter T. It's a clock. When it ticks, it sounds like this: t, t, t, t. (Say the t sound.) You say it. Good. The sound for the letter T is /t/.
Look at the picture beside H. It shows a boy running. He's out of breath. He sounds like this: h, h, h. (Say the h sound.) You say it. Yes, that's right. The sound for H is /h/.
Look at the picture beside W. It shows the wind blowing. The wind sounds like this: wwwwww. You say it. The sound for W is /w/.
I'm going to point to each letter and it's sound picture. Give me the name of the letter, and then give me the sound. I want you to think about whether the letter name is the same as the letter sound. Be ready to tell me. (Point to the letter T and the picture. Students give the letter name and then the sound. Model as needed.) Is the name the same as the sound? (No!) (Point to the letter H and the picture. Students say the letter name and sound.) Is the name of this letter the same as the sound? (No!) (Point to the letter W and its picture. Students say the letter name and sound.) Is the name of this letter the same as the sound? (No!)
You have done a great job learning about letter names and sounds. Here is something important to know. When you read words, you don’t use the letter names. You use their sounds. So when we look at our letters on flashcards, we’ll always say their sounds. This will help us get ready to read real words.
You've done a great job listening. Give yourself a pat on the back!

T

H

W

Lesson 6: How We Speak - Making Sounds To Say Words
Every day we talk to people around us to tell them things. We might say, "I'm hungry," or, "I hurt myself," or, "Thank you for helping me." Another word for talking is speaking. Today we're going to learn how different parts of our body work together so that we can speak.
First, I want everyone to quietly blow on your hand, like this. (Blow on your hand to model.) What did you feel? You felt air. Air is all around us, but you can't see it. We know it's there because we can feel it. Air is what you feel when the wind blows. You might be surprised to know that air helps you to speak.
Now I want you to take a big, deep breath and hold it.......(model holding your breath)......OK, now you can breathe out. When you breath in, what is happening? Air is going down into a special place inside of you called your lungs. When you breath out, you're pushing the air back out of your lungs. We breathe in and out all day, every day, because we need oxygen from the air to help our bodies work.
It's a good thing we can push air out of our lungs, because that's what we need to do when we speak. But just breathing out, by itself, won't make the sound come out. We have to do something else, too.
Put the tips of your fingers on your throat, like this. (Model finger placement.) Now keep your fingers on your throat and say, "La, la, la, la, laaaa." What do you feel? If you don't feel anything, move your fingers a little and try again until you do feel it. There are two little flaps of skin inside your throat that are vibrating. Vibrating means moving back and forth really fast. These are your vocal cords, and you use them to make sounds when you talk. When you make sounds, you can feel the vibration with your fingers.
We also need to use our mouth when we talk, to make the words come out right. We might need to move our jaw (model moving jaw up and down), our lips, or our tongue to make the right sound. Put your lips together and make this sound, "Mmmmm." That's right. Now put your tongue under your teeth and make this sound, "Thhhhh." Good! Now open your mouth and say "Aaaahhhh." Perfect.
When we talk to each other, we say more than just sounds. Sounds all by themselves don't really mean anything. When we speak to each other, we use words. Words mean something. To say a word, we have to put more than one sound together. This happens so fast we never even think about it. Let's try it. Say, "Father." What does the word "Father" mean? Now, let’s say that word very slowly, and listen carefully. We want to try to hear the sounds in it. “Fffffaaaaathhhherrrr.” What sound did we say at the beginning of “Ffffather?”

Let’s say that sound all by itself. “Ffff.” What’s the next sound we hear in “Faaaaather?” That’s right. It’s “Aaaahhhh.” Can you hear the next sound? “Fathhhhhhher.” It’s “Thhhhh.” You try it. Let’s listen for the last sound. “Fatherrrrrr.” Who can hear it? It’s “Rrrrrrr.” Say it with me.
It sounds really strange to separate the sounds in a word, doesn’t it? When we do that, it’s called segmenting the word. Segmenting means breaking something into separate parts. Segmenting is not something we usually do when we are speaking, so we’re not used to it.
The funny thing is, babies segment words all the time. Have you ever heard a baby talk? It doesn’t say the whole word, does it? It just says parts of words, like “ma, ma, ma, ma,” or “da, da, da, da.” When babies talk this way, it’s called babbling. That’s how they learn to pronounce all kinds of sounds, so that they can eventually put them together to make whole words.
We’ll be doing a lot of practicing, saying the separate sounds in words, to help us learn how to do it better. That will really help us learn to read. You’ll find out why in the next lesson. For now, I just want you to remember that when we say a word, our vocal cords and our mouth are forming all the sounds in the word. It happens so fast we don’t even think about it.

Da, da, da, da, da

Lesson 7 - Words Are Made Of Sounds, Letters Show Us Those Sounds
Let’s look at our alphabet chart. Did you know that these letters that tell us about sounds can help us learn to read? It seems a little strange, because after all, we don’t talk to each other with sounds. We talk to each other with words. But words have a secret, too, just like letters. We learned yesterday that words are made up of separate, individual sounds. Here is the secret. The letters in words tell us those sounds. Remember, we don’t usually hear the sounds in words, because we say words fast, and slide the sounds together when we talk. But if you say a word slowly, in just the right way, you will be able to hear the separate sounds, just like we did with the word father.
Let’s look at this word. It says man.. We’re going to use the letter sounds to help us read this word. Do you see the star and arrow above the word? We’ll start with the letter under the star and follow the direction of the arrow when we look at the letters.
m a n
We’re going to say the sound for each letter. Are you ready? Stretch the sounds out and pay attention to what your mouth is doing. You’ll notice that your mouth, lips, and tongue are working to make each sound in the word come out.
The first letter is + m. It shows us the mmmmmm sound.
The next letter is + a. It shows us the aaaaaaaa sound.
The last letter is + n. It shows us the nnnnnnn sound.
Let’s put the sounds together, very slowly: Mmmmmaaaaaaannnnnn. When you say the word man, slowly, you can hear that you are really saying three separate sounds. When you put the sounds together fast, man, the sounds get all smushed together. Then it sounds like the regular word, man. What we just did is called decoding. Decoding means saying the sound of each letter in a word, one at a time, so we can figure out what the word says.
These ideas sound pretty silly and are probably a little confusing because we don’t usually stop to think about how our mouth makes the sounds in words. We learned to talk when we were babies, and now our mouth just forms the words automatically. But thinking about how this happens will help us learn to read words, so that someday you can read stories, poems, newspaper articles, and anything else you want.

Lesson 8: More About Letters In Words
Here is the word man that we talked about yesterday. Do you remember how we looked at the letters and said the sounds? We’re going to use this word to show you something important. We must understand that the letters in words are always written in a certain order.
The first letter in a word is always on the left side, like this.
m a n
À
The next letter is just to the right of the first, like this.
m a n
Á
And the next letter is to the right of the second one, like this.
m a n
Â
Since there are no more letters in this word, the third letter is the last letter. Let’s look at the same word again, with each letter numbered.
m a n
À Á Â

Let’s say the sounds one at a time to read this word, like we did yesterday. Remember we start with the first letter, then go to the second letter, and then the third letter. Mmmmaaaaannnnn. Say it fast, man.
m a n
Here is another word. It has five letters.
s t a m p
À Á Â Ã Ä
Point to the letter that is first. Point to the letter that is last. Point to the letter that is second. Point to the letter that is third. This word says “stamp.”
stamp
It doesn’t matter how short or long a word is. We can use as many letters as we need. But we know that the first letter in a word is always on the left side, and that we look at each letter in order, starting at the left side and moving to the right.
You’re probably wondering why all of this is so important. It’s because, if the letters in a word get out of order, if they get mixed up, then it won’t be the same word anymore. Look at these letters. They are the same letters that we saw in the word stamp. Do these letters show us that word?
t p m a s
NO, they don’t, because they’re not in the right order. The s should be first and the p should be last and the other letters should be in just the right place in between.

Now why do the letters need to be in a certain order? To answer that question we need to remember the wonderful, magic part about words. Almost every word uses its letters to tell us the sounds that are in it. The first letter in a word tells us the sound that comes first when we say the word. The second letter tells us the sound that comes next, and so on. The letter at the end of the word tells us the sound that we say last when we say the word.
Why is this so wonderful? Because this helps us to figure out what a word says even if we don’t know or can’t remember. If we know the sound of each letter in a word, we can put the sounds together to figure out the word. This is called decoding, because it’s like using a secret code.
As an added bonus, if we remember that the letters show us the sounds in words, we can also write the word whenever we want. All we have to do is say the word slowly, listen for the sounds one at a time, and write the matching letters.
If you understand what we’ve talked about, that’s great! But don’t feel bad if you don’t really understand everything yet. In your books, you are going to learn everything we just talked about, one step at a time. You’ll learn the sound for each letter of the alphabet and how to write it. You’ll learn to hear the separate sounds in words. You’ll learn how to put the separate parts of a word together to make the whole word. As you learn all of these things, some of that magic that we have been talking about will start to rub off on you. It won’t happen all at once. It will happen a little bit at a time. You will learn to read.

Language Overview
To Be Read Aloud By The Teacher
To Students Who Are Already Reading

Why Should I Study Phonemic Awareness?
This book, Phonemic Awareness Picture Pages, can be used with several types of students.
Students who have not yet learned the alphabet.
Students who are learning the alphabet.
Students who are learning to read.
Students who are already reading.
It may seem strange that students at all of these levels could use the same book. This is possible because when you study phonemic awareness, you are working with just the sounds in words, without using alphabet letters or written words.
But, if you want to be able to read words, why would you want to study a book that just focuses on sounds, without using any letters? It does seem a bit strange.
The answer is straightforward, but it takes some explanation.
Why The Sounds In Words Are Important
Spoken words are made up of sounds. What we hear as a whole word is actually made up of a series of individual sounds.
When we listen to a word, we don’t even notice the individual sounds. We don’t notice the sounds when we say the word, either, because we pronounce the word so quickly.
When we were toddlers and we were learning to speak, we just copied what the grownups around us were saying. We learned to pronounce words without ever knowing that they are made up of smaller units of sound. We didn’t need to know about that when we learned to talk.
But we do need to be aware of the smaller units of sound in words when we learn to read. That’s because our reading and writing system is based on those smaller, individual sounds that make up words.
Each individual sound in a word is called a phoneme. So the term “phonemic awareness” means “being aware of the individual sounds in words.”
To explain why this “individual sound awareness” is important when you read and write, first we’re going to talk about words, and then we’re going to talk a little bit about the history of written language.
Thinking About Words
Words are used to share thoughts and ideas between two or more people. We can use one word at a time or groups of words put together to convey a larger meaning.
When we think about words, it’s important to remember that there are two completely different forms of words, spoken words and written words.
Spoken Words - For communicating with someone nearby in the present time.
Spoken words are created using our lungs, vocal cords, and mouth. When we say a word, we create vibrations in the air (sound waves) that move away from us in all directions. We can hear spoken words with our ears, but we cannot see them. We can, however, see words in the form of sound waves using electronic devices.
Written Words - For communicating with someone near or far away,
in the present or in the future.
On the other hand, we can see the written form of words. When we look at them we don’t hear anything. But if we see a word and recognize it, we can transform it back to the spoken form by pronouncing it. This is called reading.
Written words are made by using symbols. Symbols are written representations that have meaning. Symbols can make you think of a thing, person, place, color, idea, action, and so on.
Throughout history there have been two main kinds of written symbols to represent spoken words. We will talk briefly about both of these ways so that we can understand both of them.
Using Pictures To Represent Words
When we speak, we use words to convey meaning. That is, we use words to share our thoughts with other people. As we grow up, we learn many words just by hearing our parents, siblings, friends, and teachers talk to us. When we hear the word ball we know what that word means. Even if we don’t see a ball, when we hear the word we can bring up a picture in our mind of a ball. From previous experience, we know that balls are round, they can bounce or roll, and they are often used to play games.
If we wanted to find a way to communicate the word ball without saying it, we could draw a picture of a ball and show it to someone. They would understand that the picture represented a ball just by looking at it.
If we wanted to communicate a whole thought about a ball, we could use more complex pictures in the same way.
It’s not hard to understand these pictures. The meaning seems clear. But maybe the meaning is not so clear after all. The truth about what is happening could be open to interpretation. In other words, there may be more than one way to understand what’s happening in a picture.
Some Written Languages Have Used Pictures
Long ago, people around the world needed a way to keep track of the items they bought and sold. They needed to keep track of the important people in their land, especially the rulers, and what they did. So they created written languages with pictures to represent words.
The Aztecs created a written language using just pictures. The Chinese, Egyptians, and Mayans created languages in which stylized pictures represented words or meaningful parts of words. But to make things clearer they also used extra symbols to indicate certain extra sounds.
Chinese characters and Egyptian hieroglyphics are two examples of this kind of writing. These languages use thousands of pictures, called logograms, to represent many of the words or phrases in the language. In order to read and write at a basic level in these languages, students must learn at least several thousand written picture symbols.
The Egyptians also used the hieroglyphic pictures in a second way. When they wanted to write a word that they didn’t have a picture for, they combined several pictures to show how to pronounce the word, using just the first sound for each picture. If we wanted to do this in English, for example, these pictures could represent the word cat.
Each picture indicates a single sound, specifically the first sound in the word. So the pictures above would indicate these sounds: c...a....t. Of course, when you pronounce these sounds, putting them together smoothly, you are saying the word cat. What is interesting about this is that different writers might choose different pictures to stand for those sounds. A writer might choose these pictures instead to show the c...a....t sounds.
So you can see that there might be many different picture combinations used to show the word cat. With so many Egyptian sound pictures to start with and then many possible variations for other words, learning to read and write the language was a very time consuming and difficult task. Only people with a high rank learned to read and write. Most other people did not.
The good thing about languages that use pictures as written symbols for words is that the same pictures can be used by groups of people who speak different languages. For example, Chinese picture symbols could be used by people in a nearby country without losing the meaning of the pictures, even if they spoke a different language. They would still be able to read and understand the word pictures.
The bad thing about this type of written language is that there are thousands and thousands of words. So you have to learn to identify thousands of pictures if you want to learn to read these languages. If you are writing in these languages, it would take a lot of practice to learn to draw all the picture symbols. And as we saw with the pictures of the balls, the meaning may not always be completely clear.
Writing Words Based On Sounds In The Past
The Phoenicians solved these problems by changing the Egyptian way of writing. They chose only twenty-two pictures and they greatly simplified how to draw them. The pictures, including a wall, camel, house, door, tooth, hand, and fish, showed common things in their society. But instead of using each picture to represent a whole word, they used each picture to show a single sound.
The way that they remembered the sound for each symbol was easy. They thought about the item that the symbol reminded them of. For example, this symbol
was called beth (their word for house). The first sound in the word beth is /b/, so they knew to pronounce as /b/. The sound for each symbol was the same as the first sound in the name of the thing it represented.
The Phoenicians reduced the number of picture symbols to twenty-two because they only had twenty-two sounds in their language. That way they would have one written symbol for each sound. These sound symbols were what we now call letters, and the group of twenty-two letters was the earliest known phonetic alphabet.
Because they used fewer symbols and they were easier to write, the Phoenician written language was much easier to learn than the Egyptian written language. Unlike the Egyptians, the Phoenicians didn’t need a different picture for every word in their language. They could represent each word by a series of letters that showed the sounds in that word. They could write any word in their language using their sound picture alphabet.
To read a Phoenician word, someone just had to recognize the twenty-two letters of the alphabet. They could pronounce any word, just by saying the sound for each letter, one after another, in the order in which they were written. (Phoenician was usually written from right to left!) The letters provided a “sound map” showing how to pronounce the words.
Here is one version of the Phoenician alphabet. The symbols on the left in each column show the Phoenician letters. Our modern letters are shown on the right.
The Phoenicians were traders and traveled in ships across the Mediterranean Sea. Their alphabet became popular among the people with whom they traded.
But there was still one problem. The sound symbols only showed consonant sounds. The Phoenicians didn’t have definite symbols for the vowel sounds.
The Greek, Roman, And English Alphabets
The Greeks borrowed the Phoenician alphabet and modified it for their own use. One of the important things they did was add symbols for the vowel sounds.
The Greek alphabet was adopted by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome. It was modified over time by the Romans to produce the Latin alphabet. The Latin alphabet was widely used across Europe.
The people in England began to use the Latin alphabet, too, even though the people did not speak Latin. They used the Latin alphabet to write words in their own English language, with minor changes. And that is how we got the sound-based English alphabet that we use today.
How Sound Symbols (Letters) Work In Words
Now we know that a long time ago, people figured out how to write words in two different ways. One way was to write individual picture symbols to show whole words. The other way was to use symbols to show the individual sounds in words.
How do these sound symbols work? Although words are pronounced as whole units, they are actually made up of smaller units of sound. If you say a word very slowly, you can hear the individual sounds in the word. For example, when you say the word man, you are actually saying three different sounds. The first sound is mmmm, the second sound is aaaa, and the last sound is nnnnn.
When we are speaking, we don’t notice the individual sounds in words because we slide them together smoothly. We say words quickly, so that we only hear each word as a whole. We don’t usually think about the sounds. We just think about the meaning of the word.
But in order to read and write English , we HAVE to start thinking about the sounds in words. That is because the English language is a phonetic system; it is based on sounds. Each sound in the language is represented by a written symbol. We call the sound symbols “letters.” Instead of using pictures that look like specific objects to represent words (like the Egyptians), English uses letters to represent the sounds in the words (like the Phoenicians).
For example, the word cat is made up of three sounds.
Instead of drawing a picture of a cat, like this,
we write three letters, one for each sound, to show the reader
how to pronounce the word, like this: c a t.
(Remember, you say the letter SOUNDS when
you read and write words, not the letter names.)
The Pros And Cons Of Using Picture Writing Versus Sound Writing
Using sounds to write words has a number of advantages. The number of different sounds used in words in a given language is far less than the number of words. For instance, the English language has about 44 sounds, while it has about 171,476 words in current use.
The hard thing about using sounds to write words is that sounds themselves don’t look like anything! We can say them and we can hear them, but we can’t see them (unless we have the electronic equipment needed to visualize sound waves). Even though the letter c in the word cat represents the /c/ sound at the beginning of the word, it doesn’t look like anything familiar. It is a symbol for the /c/ sound, but the curved shape of the letter c doesn’t really look like anything that we know of that would show that sound. The letters a and t in cat are the same way. There is nothing visible about the letter shapes that would help us think of the sounds for those letters.
That’s why I wanted you to hear about the Phoenician alphabet. It was based on letter shapes that looked like things they were familiar with. The sound of each letter was the beginning sound of the name of each object. If we remember that, the concept of using letters for sound symbols makes more sense.
Going Back To The Idea Of Phonemic Awareness
Now that we know a little about the history of written language, we can go back to the question of why students should practice and master phonemic awareness skills, even if they are already reading. If you remember, the term “phonemic awareness” means “being aware of the individual sounds in words.” Now we know that English is a phonetic language. It is based on the individual sounds in words, and written with letter symbols that represent those sounds.
Because we don’t automatically hear the separate sounds in words, it takes some practice to be able to do that. And that’s what this book provides - a lot of practice in hearing and identifying the sounds in words.
Since letter symbols represent the sounds in English words, you might wonder why a phonemic awareness book like this doesn’t use letters as part of the learning process. That’s because if you start with just learning about the sounds in words, it’s much easier to add the connection to letters afterwards. If you do phonemic awareness activities first, working with letters will make a lot more sense.
To be a bit more specific, this book teaches some of the subskills needed to read words. More advanced reading skills will be based on the underlying phonemic awareness skills developed in this book.
What Phonemic Awareness Skills Are Taught In This Book?
In this book you’re going to study the structure of spoken words. Specifically, you’re going to learn how individual sounds go together to make whole words, and how whole words can be taken apart to discover their individual sounds.
You’ll listen to a series of single sounds and put them together to form a word. This is called oral blending.
You’ll take words apart to separate them into individual sounds. This is called segmenting.
You’ll listen carefully so you can identify exactly which sounds come at the beginning, middle, or end of words.
You’ll identify rhyming words. Rhyming words start with different sounds but have the same middle and ending sounds.
As you already know, these are called “phonemic awareness” activities. A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in spoken words. When doing the phonemic awareness activities, you won’t use written letters or written words. You’ll be working with sounds.
In the last part of this book you’ll identify the number of syllables your hear in spoken words. In this activity you won’t be identifying phonemes (single sounds). You’ll be identifying the rhythmic sections of words, known as syllables. Syllables always contain at least one vowel and usually contain one or more consonant sounds. It is important to be able to distinguish between single sounds and syllables when you are working with words. Analyzing syllables is often needed when you read multi-syllable words. so that you know how to pronounce single vowels correctly.
If you do all of these activities, thinking carefully about how sounds and syllables fit together to form words, you will develop a better understanding of how to read and spell words. Now let’s get started!

I am bouncing the ball.
I will hit the ball.
The boy kicked the ball.

The pitcher threw the ball.
I will share my ball with you.
There are many balls in the bag.

I dropped the ball.

Give the ball to me.

cup ax toad

coat alligator tub

mmmm.....aaaa.....nnnn
À Á Â

c a t

Copy the patterns onto card stock and cut out the frames. See pages 7-9 for instructions While these are helpful they are not absolutely necessary. Students can work directly on a table or on their desks.

Overview of Sound City Reading Materials

Flashcards, charts, and games to reinforce letters and phonogram patterns are available at all levels. Separate workbooks are available for the Short Vowel and Phonics Patterns levels. Sound charts are included at the beginning of each book for daily review. Matching wall charts are available for the classroom. Free PDF downloads are available at www.soundcityreading.net.
Learning The Alphabet (Books 1 and 2)
Students learn to recognize and give the sounds for the letters of the alphabet, while practicing handwriting readiness and phonemic awareness skills.
Exploring Sounds In Words (Books 1 and 2)
Students learn to write the letters of the alphabet, while reviewing their sounds. They develop skills in segmenting and oral blending, learn to identify beginning and ending consonant sounds, and begin to spell simple short vowel words with plastic letters.
Phonemic Awareness Picture Pages
This book teaches phonemic awareness skills to students who have not studied the Learning The Alphabet books or the Exploring Sounds In Words books. Students who have already learned the alphabet and even those who are already reading will benefit from this book if they have not been taught phonemic awareness skills. This books combines the phonemic awareness pages from several other Sound City Reading books so that they’re available all in one place. Topics include oral blending, segmenting, beginning and ending sounds, medial short vowel sounds, and rhyming, along with introductory print awareness lessons.
Rhyming Short Vowel Words And Sentences or Mixed Short Vowel Words And Sentences or Two-Page Short Vowel Words And Sentences
Students spell and read color-coded short vowel words. Phonemic awareness exercises prepare students to read each set of words. Students say the sounds for each word and find the matching picture. Then they decode the word smoothly. Students learn seven sight words and begin to read simple short vowel sentences.
Basic Short Vowels
Students read illustrated short vowel words and sentences. This book has all black print.
Phonetic Words And Stories (Books 1 - 8)
Students learn common vowel, consonant, syllable, and suffix patterns, taught in a logical sequence. Phonemic awareness activities are built in to the lessons. Students spell and read words with new patterns, then read easy stories containing the same patterns. Vowel patterns are color-coded. As students progress through the books, they will be able to read eight popular children’s books, obtained separately.
Basic Phonics Patterns (Books 1 - 8)
These books and the Phonics Patterns And Stories books teach the same skills in the same sequence, but the Basic Phonics Patterns books are not color-coded, teach more words for each pattern, and include sentences with each set of words. They include the same set of practice stories, with smaller print and smaller pictures.
Know The Phonetic Code (Volumes 1, 2, 3)
Students study all of the phonics patterns, syllable patterns, and suffix patterns taught in the short vowel books and in Books 1-8 listed above. Students study one new pattern per page, including one-syllable and two-syllable words, where applicable. The same practice stories described above are included.
Advanced Phonics Patterns From Children’s Books
Students read words and sentences with advanced phonogram, syllable, and suffix patterns. The lessons are taught in a specific sequence which will prepare students to read eighty children's picture books, reading levels 1.1 through 4.7, obtained separately.
Color-Coded Short Vowel Lists and Color-Coded Phonetic Lists
In these books students read color-coded rhyming lists followed by lists that begin with the same two letters (body-coda lists). The words are not illustrated. Practicing the word lists helps students build fluency when decoding words.

Copies for frames are provided at the end of this book to help students line up the cubes correctly. Students place the cubes in the bottom row, one in each box. They push a cube to the top section as they say each sound in a word, continuing from left to right until all the sounds have been pronounced and all the cubes are in the top area.
The frames are larger or smaller depending on the number of sounds in the words. Copy the patterns onto card stock and cut out the frames. While these are helpful they are not absolutely necessary. Students can work directly on a table or on their desks.

The frames are larger or smaller depending on the number of sounds in the words.

Copies for frames are provided at the end of this book to help students line up the cubes correctly. Students place the cubes in the bottom row, one in each box. They push a cube to the top section as they say each sound in a word, continuing from left to right until all the sounds have been pronounced and all the cubes are in the top area.

Phonemic Awareness Picture Pages

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© 2017 by Kathryn J. Davis