CH Sound: the sound, the words, the books

Chip, chest, cherry, champ — the CH 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: CH Sound. Spellings tinted in the books: ch. 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 Checks the Egg” — At Gran's house one of the hen's eggs sits in a nest on the chest, and [NAME] cannot stop checking it: from the chair, through lunch, not yet, not yet. So [NAME] turns into a hen and clucks at it until it cracks, and the new chick pecks [NAME]'s chin hello before falling asleep in [NAME]'s pouch. (10 pages; uses chair, chest, chin, chick, chop, check, lunch, pouch; with Gran)
2. “the child’s name Digs Up a Chest” — Digging at the beach, [NAME] hits a little chest wrapped in a chain that will not budge, until a crab snips it open. Inside is a charm, but when [NAME] tries to carry the chest home the crab pinches [NAME]'s chin: the chest is its bed. A chest for the crab, a charm for [NAME]. (10 pages; uses chest, chin, chop, chain, charm, check, beach, pouch)
3. “the child’s name and the Chimp” — [NAME] takes chips and a peach to the park in a pouch, and a cheeky chimp grabs the lot. After a chase and a very crunchy lunch on a picnic chair, the chimp drops the pouch: the chips are gone but the peach is fine, and [NAME] shares it. Chums. (10 pages; uses chair, chip, chase, check, chimp, lunch, peach, pouch)
4. “Who Is the Chalk Champ?” — [NAME] and Sis cover the patio with chalk: a chimp, a giant chick, a chest and a chair. Which one is best? Before anyone can decide, the pup runs straight through the lot and ends up with a pink chin, and the champ is not who anyone expected. (10 pages; uses chair, chest, chin, chick, chalk, champ, chase, check, chimp; with Sis)
5. “the child’s name Has an Itch” — [NAME] cannot sleep for itching, chin and chest and all. Mom checks the bed and finds a chip, and another, and another. Who had lunch in bed? Not [NAME]: it was the toy chimp, of course, with a whole pouch of chips. Itch gone, [NAME] sleeps, and Mom gets the chips. (10 pages; uses chair, chest, chin, chip, check, chimp, lunch, pouch; with Mom)

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.