Short I: the sound, the words, the books

Pig, dig, fish, ship — the short I sound in twenty friendly words. Five decodable stories and twenty flashcards, each child’s copy starring that child. This guide maps the pack onto the components of systematic, explicit early-literacy instruction (the ones Wisconsin’s 2023 Act 20 names: phonemic awareness, phonics and decoding, letter–sound knowledge, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension).

1. The sound

Target: Short I. Spellings tinted in the books: i. Say the sound in isolation, then in the twenty words, then find it in the captions.

2. The words

Sight words used in the captions: a, the, has, in, on, and, to, is.

3. Phonemic awareness (5 minutes)

• Blend: say the sounds of a pack word slowly; children say the word.
• Segment: say a word; children tap out its sounds.
• Swap: change one sound (cat → hat → hot) with the flashcards face down.

4. Decoding with the flashcards (5 minutes)

• Picture side up: name it, find the tinted sound, say the word.
• Word side up: sound out, blend, check with the picture.
• Speed round: the child reads the word side of ten cards as fast as accuracy allows.

5. The stories (10 minutes each)

1. “the child’s name's Pig Can Dig” — [NAME] and a little pig love to dig, and when Gran loses a ring, digging turns out to be exactly the right skill. Muddy hugs all round. (10 pages; uses pig, dig, lid, sit, grin, hill, ring, brick; with Gran)
2. “the child’s name Can Swim” — It is hot, the pond is cool, and a flipping fish shows nervous [NAME] how it is done. One belly-flop later, [NAME] can swim. (10 pages; uses fish, sit, grin, flip, drip, hill, kick, ring, swim)
3. “the child’s name's Big Ship” — A big box is a ship, until Sis hops in and the ship tips, flips and rips. A bigger box makes a bigger ship, with room for two. (10 pages; uses fish, sit, zip, flip, ship, kick, ring, lip; with Sis)
4. “the child’s name Can Help!” — Baby will not stop crying and Dad has a lot to do, so [NAME] takes charge: a bib, some milk, a big mess, and finally a flip that does the trick. (10 pages; uses bib, sit, milk, grin, flip, drip, kick, lip; with Baby and Dad)
5. “the child’s name's Big Red Wig” — [NAME]'s big red wig goes on [NAME], on the pig, on a grumpy cat, and then up the hill on the wind, where a hen decides it makes a very fine nest. (10 pages; uses pig, wig, sit, zip, grin, flip, gift, hill)

First read: the child decodes every word; wait, do not rush in. Second read: fluency, with expression. Then talk about the pictures in any language the child has.

6. Checking progress

• Accuracy: words read correctly on the first pass of a story (aim for 95%+ before the next pack).
• Letter–sound knowledge: the tinted spellings named in isolation.
• Comprehension: retell the story in three sentences; the pictures are the prompt.
• Engagement: how many re-reads the child asks for. Personalised books are re-read more; count it.

7. Families

Send the flashcards home; the word side is a two-minute routine.

Story Petal books are generated by an image model from instructions we write, checked by a person, and never used to train anything beyond a child’s own order. What our art must get right.