Long U: the sound, the words, the books

Cube, glue, moon, fruit — the long U 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 U. Spellings tinted in the books: ue, ew, u. 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 at the Zoo” — At the zoo with a bag of fruit and a juice, [NAME] meets a moose with a very big tooth. The moose wants the fruit, and when [NAME] says no it chews [NAME]'s blue boot instead. So [NAME] swaps: the fruit for the boot, which comes back soggy. Moose and [NAME] have their snack side by side. (10 pages; uses zoo, blue, chew, fruit, moose, boot, juice, tooth, cool)
2. “Gran's Stew” — Gran is making stew and [NAME] stirs with the big spoon. The stew is far too hot and [NAME] cannot wait; blowing is not enough, so [NAME] drops in an ice cube. Plop: cool stew. Then a cube for Gran's bowl too, and a hug. (10 pages; uses moon, cube, stew, spoon, blue, chew, juice, cool; with Gran)
3. “the child’s name and the Bloom” — [NAME]'s plant has a tight bud and Mom says it will bloom in the sun. So [NAME] is up before the sun, out in boots on the cool dewy grass with the moon still sitting on the roof, and rescues the bud from a hungry snail. When the sun peeks up, pop: a big blue bloom for Mom. (10 pages; uses moon, blue, chew, bloom, dew, roof, boot, cool; with Mom)
4. “the child’s name's Loose Tooth” — [NAME] has a loose tooth and cannot chew: no fruit, only juice and stew with a spoon. Then Sis brings a flute. [NAME] blows the biggest toot ever and the tooth pops out, straight into the flute. Sis tips it out, and [NAME] shows off the gap and chews the fruit at last. (10 pages; uses flute, stew, spoon, chew, fruit, juice, tooth, cool; with Sis)
5. “the child’s name's Pup Hut” — [NAME]'s pup has nowhere to sleep, so [NAME] and Grandpa build a hut from a box with a tube of glue. The pup chews the roof clean off. A screw from Grandpa fixes it for good, a coat of blue paint finishes it, and under the moon the pup naps at last. (10 pages; uses moon, tube, glue, blue, chew, roof, screw, cool; with Grandpa)

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.