Sunday, August 1, 2021

Sound Wall | Science of Reading

Sound Wall - Science of Reading | Apples to Applique
 

I've been busy making the shift to the science of reading this summer, from prepping task cards with Elkonin boxes to adapting sight word resources to align with the heart words strategy. I knew there was one more resource I needed to prepare before the new school year started: a sound wall! The science of reading suggests that sound walls are more useful to students than word walls, as students reference the phonemes and corresponding graphemes.

There are various sound walls out there, but my favorites have real photographs of people articulating sounds. It was important to me that my sound wall have these photographs, and that these photographs feature diverse people.

 

Sound Wall - Science of Reading | Apples to Applique

The included grapheme cards also include photographs of familiar objects for each sound, to assist students in using the wall as a reference for their reading and writing.

Sound Wall - Science of Reading | Apples to Applique

These pictures show the completed vowel and consonant displays with all of the grapheme cards, but I wouldn't recommend starting the display with all of the cards; it would be far too overwhelming for students. Build the display a little at a time as you introduce the phonemes and graphemes to your class. This will familiarize them with the display and better enable them to use it in a meaningful manner.

I hope you are as excited as I am to implement more researched-based reading instruction in your  classroom! You can get a copy of this sound wall here in my store or here in my TPT shop.

Keep teaching with heart and passion!