Long E: the sound, the words, the books

Bee, tree, bean, queen — the long E sound. 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: Long E. Spellings tinted in the books: ee, ea, e. 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 Seed” — Gran gives [NAME] a bean seed. [NAME] plants it, peeks at it, reads to it and even sleeps beside it, and still nothing grows. Then a bee buzzes by, a green leaf appears, and at last there is one little bean, which [NAME] picks for Gran. (10 pages; uses tree, bee, leaf, seed, read, bean, sleep, dream; with Gran)
2. “Beep, Beep, Sheep!” — [NAME] sets off for the beach in a little green jeep, but a big sheep is planted in the middle of the path and will not move, however much [NAME] beeps. A sweet green leaf does the trick: the sheep munches, gets up, and chases the jeep all the way to the beach. (10 pages; uses leaf, wheel, jeep, feet, beach, teeth, sheep, breeze)
3. “the child’s name and the Queen Bee” — A bee gets into the kitchen and lands on everything: the cream, [NAME]'s feet, the toy jeep. [NAME] bravely unlocks the back door with the key and the bee zips out to the tree, where [NAME] discovers a whole crowd of bees and their queen. And the cream is safe. (10 pages; uses tree, bee, key, leaf, jeep, feet, queen, cream)
4. “Freeze, the child’s name, Freeze!” — [NAME] and Sis play freeze on the beach. [NAME] freezes perfectly, even when a breeze sticks a leaf to [NAME]'s cheek, a bee lands on the leaf and the dog falls asleep on [NAME]'s feet. Then the leaf tickles, [NAME] sneezes, and everyone is off running again. (10 pages; uses tree, bee, leaf, sleep, feet, beach, breeze, freeze; with Sis)
5. “the child’s name Reads to the Sheep” — [NAME] settles under a big tree to read, and a sheep comes to listen. The sheep falls asleep. So does a pup, and then three more sheep, until [NAME] is reading to a snoring heap. At last [NAME] nods off too, and the sheep takes over the reading. (10 pages; uses tree, leaf, read, sleep, feet, sheep, dream, breeze)

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.