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SET 5
Pookee the dog

Written by Jacqui Edwards. Photography by Jacqui Edwards and Lucinda Gooden.
SPELD SA
Phonic Book Series
Learning to read
SPELD SA Phonic Books support the teaching of reading by using a structured synthetic
phonics approach. They are designed to build on the pre-reading skills of oral language
and phonological awareness needed for reading success. The books support the learning of
letter-sounds and blending in a sequential phonic order, helping students to develop their
independent decoding skills. The books also contain limited high frequency words that need
to be taught before reading the book. The questions and activities focus on increasing a
student’s vocabulary and fluency and encourage the student to make deeper connections
with the author’s message.
Pookee the dog (84 words)

Before reading the book, use the practice page to:
1. Revise the letter-sounds
2. Teach the blending of letter-sounds in regular words
The student points to each letter or combination of letters, saying the sound they
represent. Swipe left to right under the letters, saying the sounds quickly and smoothly
together to read the word. e.g. w-e-t is ‘wet’; w-a-g-s is ‘wags’; s-m-e-ll is ‘smell’;
g-oo-d is ‘good’; j-u-m-p-s is ‘jumps’; w-ai-t-s is ‘waits’; P-oo-k-ee is ‘Pookee’.
During single word practice, check that the student understands the meaning of the word.
If the student is having difficulty hearing the word when blending:
• repeat the sounds more than once in succession to help the student ‘hear’ the word
• model stretching the sounds together without pauses, e.g. nnnniiiiiip, is ‘nip’
• use letter tiles and push them together while saying the sounds.
3. Teach the high frequency words (words that the student will not be able to sound out)
Tell the student the words and determine any ‘tricky’ parts by breaking up the word into
its sounds. Many high frequency words will be able to be sounded out later as the student
learns more sounds and how they are written.
Provide practice through games like matching flash cards and Snap. For extra support,
write the high frequency words on cards for the student to refer to as they read.
Reading tips
A combination of letters can represent a sound, such as in boat (b-oa-t), song (s-o-ng),
fern (f-er-n), shout (sh-ou-t), or night (n-igh-t).
The suffix ‹ed› can represent the sound /d/ as in ‘rubbed’, /t/ as in ‘packed’ and
/id/ as in ‘landed’.
Words can contain schwa vowel sounds. The schwa is pronounced as an /uh/ sound, such
as in, ‘Nana’, ‘butter’, ‘across’, ‘the’. Explore with the student which part of the word has the
schwa sound by breaking the word into its sounds. Take note of how the schwa sound is spelt.
Practice page
Practise the sounds
s, a, t, i, p, n
c, k, ck, e, h, r, m, d
g, o, u, l, f, b
ai, j, oa, ie, ee, or
z, w, ng, v, oo (book), oo (room)
Practise blending sounds
wet, wags, smell, good, jumps,

waits, Pookee, stands, dripping
Practise high frequency words
the, going, we, are, to, he, what,

you, so, hole
Vocabulary
The words on this page can be used to help the student’s comprehension before, during or
after reading the book. Link the meanings of words with what the student already knows,
show examples or have students act out the words.
waits – stays until others catch up
sniffs – breathes air into the nose to smell something
smell – sniff for a scent
a bit wet – only part of something is wet, slightly wet
cool off – get cooler
wags – moves a tail backwards and forwards
rock hole – water hole, a place where water collects
going to visit – going to see someone or be somewhere for a short time

Pookee the dog is on the hot
sand. He waits for us.
1
We are going to visit the rock
hole.
2
3
The dog sniffs the rock and
looks for food. What can you
smell, Pookee?
4
The dog stands on the rock.
His feet get a bit wet as he
looks at us.
5
It is hot so he has a swim.
It is good to cool off in the
rock hole.
6
The dog jumps up. He is
dripping wet and wags his wet
tail at us.
7
8
From blending to fluency
To develop fluency, the student needs to re-read the same book multiple times. Students
might initially sound out every word and re-read every sentence but, with practice, blending
will become more automatic. The fluency chart can be used to develop automaticity of
blending by providing single word blending practice.
While reading the book, the student:
• blends the sounds of each unknown word in the sentence
• identifies and reads high frequency words
• re-reads the sentence from the beginning
• discusses the meaning of the sentence
When finished, the student needs to re-read the whole book and practise reading the same
book until they can read at a steady pace with minimal sounding out.
Making connections - questions and discussion

After the student has read the book, or the relevant page, ask them one or more of the
following questions and discuss:
1. What did Pookee do at the rock hole?
2. What do you think Pookee could smell on the rock?

Can dogs smell things that humans can’t?
3. Do you like to go for a swim when you are hot?

What other ways can you cool down on a hot day?
4. Do you think dogs like swimming? How does a wet dog dry itself?
5. If you had a dog, would you take it with you on a trip?

Fluency chart
us at up off
for wet dog wag
feet rock look wait
food jump tail sand
bring swim looks sniff
smell stands dripping

Cover artwork by Elizabeth Close
Elizabeth Close is an Anangu woman from the Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara language groups in the
APY Lands in outback South Australia. She was born in Adelaide and spent much of her upbringing in remote
communities, learning her language and receiving cultural education.
‘This artwork represents the literacy and numeracy learning journey, and the path towards independent learning.
The circles represent the collaborative learning and supports around children with specific learning difficulties,
including children, schools, families, SPELD SA and others.’ Elizabeth Close, Artist.
About this series

The SPELD SA Phonic Book Series complements the teaching of reading and writing using a structured synthetic
phonics approach. SPELD SA aims to help Aboriginal students engage with phonic books by having characters,
content and settings that reflect Aboriginal communities. In developing this series, SPELD SA has consulted
with people who live and work in the Anangu, Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands. We understand that
the content, settings and characters may not reflect all Aboriginal people and their experiences but hope
that Aboriginal students learning to read can find some familiarity in and connection with these books in their
literacy journey.
Each set of books introduces a group of sounds for students to blend to read words. The books with a single star
icon on the front cover contain a lower word count and less high frequency words. The books with two stars contain
a higher word count, a greater number of high frequency words and/or more complex word structure. Please
consider your student’s ability when choosing a book for them to read. For a comprehensive explanation of the
structure of the series, please refer to the SPELD SA website.
Acknowledgments
Produced by SPELD SA, 2021 and supported by the Government of South Australia.
Thanks to Jan Polkinghorne for her contributions in the development of the series and to Angela Weeks for
permission to use and revise some of her stories. Thanks to the Anangu Lands and Rueben Burton for support of
this project. Thanks also to Sandra Ken for cultural advice on Anangu communities and language.
SPELD SA is grateful for the contributions of volunteers for: consultation and project development; writing
texts, comprehension questions, charts and games; illustrating, photography and graphic design; character
development and cultural advice; speech and language advice. This is a wide community project, with talents,
expertise and knowledge being shared for a common purpose – to improve literacy. Thank you all.
Book design by Tricia Smith Design, compilation and additional design by Janet Stone.
SPELD SA Phonic Books follow the sequence of letter-sounds used in the Jolly Phonics
synthetic phonics program. The books can be used with other phonics programs.
Set 1 s, a, t, p, i, n
Set 2 c, k, ck, e, h, r, m, d
Set 3 g, o, u, l, f, b
Set 4 ai, j, oa, ie, ee, or
Set 5 z, w, ng, v, oo (book), oo (room)
Set 6 y, x, sh, ch, th (think), th (that)
Set 7 qu, ou, oi, ue, er, ar
Set 8 y (sunny), a (apron), a-e (cake), e (female), e-e (eve), i (silent), i-e (kite),
o (open), o-e (home), u (student), u-e (tune)
Set 9 ay (play), ey (they), oy (toy), y (mystery), ea (dream), ie (chief), y (dry),
igh (night)
Set 10 oe (toe), ow (rainbow), ow (now), ir (bird), ur (turn), ew (few),
au (launch), aw (paw), al (talk)
Reproduction of this material, as a whole, with appropriate acknowledgment, for non-

commercial or private purposes is permitted. Text and images remain the intellectual
property of SPELD SA.
SPELD SA acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands on which we deliver our
services. We pay our respects to elders past, present and emerging, and recognise their
cultural heritage, beliefs and relationship with the land.
Copyright SPELD SA, 2021
SPELD SA
Phonic Book Series

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SET 5

Pookee the dog

Pookee the dog (84 words)

wet, wags, smell, good, jumps,

the, going, we, are, to, he, what,

waits – stays until others catch up

sniffs – breathes air into the nose to smell something

smell – sniff for a scent

a bit wet – only part of something is wet, slightly wet

cool off – get cooler

wags – moves a tail backwards and forwards

rock hole – water hole, a place where water collects

going to visit – going to see someone or be somewhere for a short time

Making connections - questions and discussion

1. What did Pookee do at the rock hole?

2. What do you think Pookee could smell on the rock?

3. Do you like to go for a swim when you are hot?

5. If you had a dog, would you take it with you on a trip?

for wet dog wag

feet rock look wait

food jump tail sand

bring swim looks sniff

smell stands dripping

About this series

Reproduction of this material, as a whole, with appropriate acknowledgment, for non-

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