SH Sound: the sound, the words, the books

Ship, shell, shop, shine — the SH digraph. 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: SH Sound. Spellings tinted in the books: sh. 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 and the Big Shush” — Dad is having a nap on the rug, so [NAME] sets out to keep the whole house quiet: the dog, the cat, even the fish get a shush. Then the ship on the top shelf proves too tempting, everything comes down with a crash, and Dad wakes up grinning, just in time for the tables to turn when [NAME] finally nods off. (10 pages; uses shell, ship, shoe, shelf, shut, fish, brush, dish; with Dad)
2. “A Shell for the child’s name's Shelf” — There is a space on [NAME]'s shelf for one big shell, so [NAME] takes a shovel to the beach and digs. Up come a crab, a wet sock, a little ship and a fish, but no shell, until the crab returns the favour and digs one up for [NAME]. (10 pages; uses shell, ship, shark, shelf, shovel, fish, brush, dish)
3. “the child’s name's Shop” — [NAME] opens a shop on the living-room rug with a shell, a ship, a dish and a fish on the shelf, then waits and waits. The dog shops, a hen shops, and when Gran arrives she wants none of it, only the best thing in the shop: a hug. (10 pages; uses shell, ship, shop, shelf, shut, fish, brush, dish; with Gran)
4. “the child’s name's Big Mess” — Mom looks in and sees a ship on the rug, a shell in the bed and a shoe in a dish. [NAME] tidies everything onto the shelf and shuts the box, the pup runs off with the brush, and then the pup does something nobody expects: puts it back. (10 pages; uses shell, ship, shoe, shelf, shirt, shut, brush, dish; with Mom)
5. “the child’s name and the Wish Shell” — [NAME] finds a shell that grants wishes: a fish, a ship, then a sheep nobody asked for, a shark in the bath and a shell that will not stop popping. [NAME] shuts it tight, and one small wish gets to stay. (10 pages; uses shell, ship, sheep, shark, shelf, shut, fish, dish)

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.