Use *CloudSpelling* to guarantee a SOUND foundation.

You will need something to write with (pencil, pen, markers, etc.) and something to write on (paper, chalkboard, etc.)

Get free sound-sorted WORD LISTS for your favorite story.

To begin, print a SOUND MAP.

1) LISTEN

Parse-out the smallest sound-units.

Example: The word think contains four sounds.
Using the codes on your SOUND MAP, identify those four sounds:

The first is the initial Consonant Sound:  C26
The second is a Vowel Sound:  V02
The third is a Consonant Sound:  C35
The fourth is the final Consonant Sound:  C22

We could also represent the word think like this:  cVcc

2) SPEAK

Articulate each sound as you draw a sound-tag for each sound (see photo).

Example: For the word think, draw four circles for these codes:

C26... V02... C35... C22

3) WRITE

Spell-out each sound-unit, differentiating Consonant and Vowel sounds.

Notice in the photo above:
Consonant sound-spellings are printed UNDER sound-code

Vowel sound-spellings are printed ABOVE sound-code

C26 sound-spelling uses Letters /TH/

V02 sound-spelling uses Letter /I/

C35 sound-spelling uses Letter /N/

C22 sound-spelling uses Letter /K/

                   I
     C26     V02     C35     C22
     TH                    N          K

Draw a cloud-squiggle boundary around the encoded word, as shown in the photo.

4) READ

After encoding, students are ready to decode/decipher text.

WordsAhead focuses on speech sound-units:  think = cVcc
Heard... Said... Spelled... Read (pronounced "red")

Teach other facts using the word think:

• C26 is voiceless; C27 is voiced
  
• C35 is normally spelled /-ng/ as in sing
  
• C22/k/ can also be spelled C22/c/ in cat or C22/ck/ in luck

Choose vocabulary that is meaningful and relevant.  For instance, practice spelling state names using this video created by 123peaceplease and published on YouTube:

Sample sound-spellings:

Alabama V • cV • cV • cV

V01/A/

C37/L/ + V04/A/

C17/B/ + V01/A/

C33/M/ + V04/A/

Alaska V • cV • ccV

V04/A/

C37/L/ + V01/A/

C28/S/ + C22/K/ + V04/A/

Arizona V • cV • cV • cV

V01/A/

C38/R/ + V02/I/

C29/Z/+ V08/O/

C34/N/ + V04/A/

Arkansas Vc • cVc • cV

V11/A/ + C38/R/

C22/K/ + V01/A/ + C34/N/

C28/S/ + V11/AS/

California cV • cV • cVc • cV • V

C22/C/ + V01/A/

C37/L/ + V02/I/

C24/F/ + V08/0/ + C38/R/

C34/N/ + V10/I/

V11/A/