Sound Wall with Mouth Pictures – Phonics Display – Science of Reading

This sound wall with mouth pictures is the ultimate tool to use in your classroom to teach and display phonemes (sounds). It is aligned with the Science of Reading and can be used as a visual reference by students when reading and writing. This sound wall includes a vowel valley display, consonants display as well as individual student sound walls.

This packet includes all the pieces you need to create your very own sound wall in your classroom. It covers 46 phonemes and includes all the headings, phoneme cards, grapheme labels, grapheme word cards, and locked cards needed. It also includes an individual student sound wall so that you can create a portable miniature sound wall for your students!

You will receive all the pieces needed to create:
Vowel Valley Sound Wall
Consonant Sound Wall
Individual Student Sound Wall

Two sizes are included in the packet – a standard size (as shown in the images above) and a small version in case you have limited wall space.

WHY USE A SOUND WALL?
A sound wall organizes, groups and displays the different sounds or phonemes that we hear in speech in a way that is much easier for students to draw on when reading and spelling words. Many teachers currently use word walls which can be phonetically confusing for students as they fail to acknowledge that letters can make different sounds. For example, a word wall will have the word ‘knot’ under the letter ‘k’ although it makes a ‘n’ sound.

Sound walls allow teachers to consistently review sounds, they provide a visual reference for students, they can be used independently, and they improve both reading and spelling. Furthermore, one of the greatest components of sound walls are the mouth articulation images that accompany each phoneme. These images provide prompts for students in regards to how to position their lips, teeth and tongue when saying a sound.

HOW IS A SOUND WALL ORGANIZED?
Sound walls are displayed in two sections; a vowel section (vowel valley) and a consonants section. The sections are commonly displayed side by side.

The vowel section, known as a vowel valley due to its shape, is displayed in a particular order to demonstrate the gradual change in mouth shape as you read through the phonemes.

The consonants section is organized a little differently; the phonemes are organized by the manner of articulation which relates to how sounds are made using the mouth. For example, p, b, t, d, k and g are known as ‘STOPS’ because when each of these phonemes are said aloud, the vocal tract shuts, the air pressure builds up and is then released in a short burst.

HOW TO USE A SOUND WALL?
The most important aspect of effectively using a sound wall into your classroom is to start slow. You might like to begin with an empty board and gradually add phonemes/graphemes as your students learn them. This means that your students will not become overwhelmed with all the different elements on the board, and it is also a more student-centered approach. Alternatively, you can display all the different phonemes/graphemes and cover those not taught yet using the ‘locked’ cards included in the packet. You can learn more about sound walls in this blog post here.

If you only wish to purchase the individual student sound walls, you can find them here:
Individual Student Sound Walls