EdCircuit Staff 
The new Sound City phonemic awareness component includes engaging lessons and classroom materials to improve K-2 students’ ability to build momentum toward reading proficiency
(SALT LAKE CITY) May 25, 2022 – Reading Horizons, a leading provider of tech-enabled foundational reading instruction for K-12 schools and districts, today announced the expansion of its flagship solution, Reading Horizons Discovery®, with the addition of Sound City. This expansion aligns with the science that informs reading development and empowers teachers to help K–2 students connect speech to print and decode and spell words with greater proficiency.
“Teachers need tools that will help them bring the science of reading into their classroom. Sound City was designed to add momentum to the development of decoding and spelling proficiency so all students can read fluently before 3rd grade,” said Stacy Hurst, chief academic officer of Reading Horizons. “Sound City’s instructional materials assess and enhance students’ learning at all stages of foundational reading development.”
Sound City includes:
- Five-minute, daily phonemic awareness lessons that follow the gradual release of responsibility model and align to National Reading Panel recommendations;
- 44 direct-instruction lessons; one for each phoneme in the English language, that align to Reading Horizons phonics lessons;
- Interactive sound wall software that allows students to record and photograph their own sound articulation to build personal digital sound walls; and
- Classroom instructional materials, including wall posters, portable sound wall cards, and a phoneme card set to support teacher instruction.
Sound City provides skill assessments, review activities, and games to ensure student mastery, retention, and engagement. Early adopters’ reviews have been enthusiastic. “I love that the sound wall lessons create a bridge between my phonemic awareness and phonics instruction,” said Lindsay Kemeny, a 2nd-grade teacher at Davis School District in Utah.
Reading Horizons will be hosting two upcoming webinars on the newly expanded Reading Horizons Discovery. More information on Sound City is available here.
About Reading Horizons
Reading Horizons supports educators with powerful tech-enabled foundational reading instruction that helps all students reach reading proficiency by the end of third grade. For nearly 40 years, the Reading Horizons method has aligned with the evolution of the science of reading, empowering over 50,000 educators with evidence-based teaching strategies that prevent and remediate reading difficulties. Reading momentum begins with Reading Horizons. For more information, please visit ReadingHorizons.com.
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