Sound Wall Classes: Improve phonemic awareness and phonics instruction

Adding sound walls in place of word walls is one of the most significant shifts in implementing reading science in the classroom. Our Sound Wall Classes connect literacy educators with the expertise, knowledge, and resources they need to effectively use this engaging resource across all tiers of instruction.

Teaching the graphemes that represent the sounds is part of good phonics instruction, as print is introduced according to the scope and sequence of the phonics curriculum. This is a critical layer of instruction that most educators did not learn as part of their Elementary Education preservice program.

Generally, students come to school with a spoken vocabulary of approximately 4000+ words. As young children, they learn to speak naturally. Reading is a process that requires knowing the sounds and the print. A sound wall provides a visual pathway for students to make sense of how print represents sounds and provides students with a resource to problem solve on their own.

This professional learning experience is designed to improve your sound wall implementation and usage. Our experts will share:

• the reading science that supports sound walls
• strategies to successfully introduce the sound wall in your classroom
• effective instructional practices to provide solid skill support
• daily routines for providing direct, explicit, systematic, and multisensory instruction

Training Agenda

Part 1: The Science of Sound Walls 

• Introduction
• The Reading Brain
• Sound Wall Overview

Part 2: Phonetics 

• Sound Wall Setup
• Building Consonant Sound Wall
• Building Vowel Sound Wall
• English Learner Considerations

Part 3: Sound Wall Implementation

• Sound Wall Insights & Planning
• Daily Routines
• Phonological & Phonemic Awareness Activates 

Part 4: Sound Wall Practice

• Introduce Graphemes 
• High Frequency Words
• Sight Word Recognition