Sound Steps to Reading (Storybook)

About the Book

The Sound Steps to Reading Storybook contains the full text of the story fragment that begins each lesson. These stories should be read by the parent or teacher later on the same day after the lesson has been completed. Each story features the target sound (phoneme) for that lesson. The stories are humorous and written in rhyme. Trials in the U.S. and the U.K showed that children love them.

Many children can begin reading these stories on their own (with a little help) about midway through the program. This is highly motivating. By the end of the program all children can read these stories with ease.

The stories will work well with any synthetic phonics program that teaches the spelling alternatives for the sounds in English.

Here is a story sample. Can you discover what sound is featured in this story? Find all the spellings for this sound.

[Mole, as you see by the title, does not know how to spell ‘business.’]

Sample text from “Mole’s Home Biznis”

Mole poked his nose out of his hole
He reached for his Daily Globe
that was stuck in the snow.
“Well, well. It’s cold, it’s cold.
I’d better go down below.”

As mole went into his underground burrow
his face had a frown, his forehead a furrow.
He was, as usual, alone at home.
Mole mumbled, “Home alone. Home alone.”

Mole had a habit of saying things over,
and over, and over.

He sighed, “Life is too dull. Life is too slow for such a talented fellow.
I need a goal. I need a goal.
I can’t always be home alone in my hole.”

He sat down with his cocoa and toast
to read the Globe and open his post.
As he unfolded the paper, he saw this:

“Start your Own Home Business”

(the story continues ---)

About the Author

Diane McGuinness is a leading expert on the nature and structure of writing systems and how this applies to teaching reading and spelling. She is Emeritus Professor of Psychology at the University of South Florida. She currently lives in England and is Chairman of the Trust: Our Right to Read. Professor McGuinness is the author of over 100 research and scholarly papers, and has published 6 books on learning and reading instruction. These include: Why Our Children Can't Read (Simon and Schuster; 1997; Penguin Books, 1998), and Early Reading Instruction (MIT Press, 2004).