Sample phonics lessons

Lesson overview

This classroom lesson demonstrates how a Foundation teacher supports students with their emerging knowledge about reading. Students in the class revisit known high frequency words (I, saw, the, in, a), practise matching a set of letters to sounds (p, b, w, g, i), use that letter/sound recognition to blend consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words and then use this knowledge to read a sentence. Comprehension of the sentence is supported through the strategy of visualisation and by teacher modelling of matching an illustration to the text.                                                                                  

Teaching and learning context

In this lesson and accompanying video, the teacher uses terminology such as ‘code spotting’ and ‘hand signals’.                                                                                 

Code spotting refers to the process of matching sounds to letters in a word. Early readers are required to recognise the letters (graphemes) in a word, match to the appropriate phonemes (sounds) and then blend the segmented (or code spotted) sounds into a word.                                                                                 

Additionally in this lesson, the teacher uses hand signals to visually prompt students as they are making the appropriate phoneme for each letter. Hand signals, known as Cued Articulation (Passy, 2010) mimic where and how speech sounds are made in the mouth as prompts for students. Cued Articulation was originally designed for students with severe language disability and hearing impairment but when used with these students alongside their peers in classrooms it has been found to assist other students in their learning. It is now a practice used with the explicit teaching of phonics to support student learning more generally. 

Victorian curriculum links

Foundation

Recognise that sentences are key units for expressing ideas (VCELA143)                                                                                 

Recognise that texts are made up of words and groups of words that make meaning (VCELA144)                                                                                 

Recognise all upper and lower-case letters and the most common sound that each letter represents (VCELA146)                                                                                 

Blend sounds associated with letters when reading consonant-vowel-consonant words (VCELA147)                                                                                 

English as an Additional Language (EAL)

Pathway A: Early immersion

A1: Recognise some familiar words in context (VCEALL048)                                                                                 

A1: Recognise some common letters and letter patterns in words (VCEALL051)                                                                                 

A1: Follow text with finger while reading (VCEALL053)                                                                                 

A2: Recognise a small range of familiar words in different contexts (VCEALL129)                                                                                 

A2: Recognise all letters of the alphabet (VCEALL130)                                                                                 

A2: Relate most letters of the alphabet to sounds (VCEALL131)                                                                                 

A2: Use knowledge of letters and sounds to read a new word or locate key words (VCEALL132)                                                                                 

Learning intention

We are learning to decode words in a sentence.                                                                                 

Success criteria

I can find and read high frequency words in a sentence.
I can code spot (match a sound to a letter).
I can blend sounds together to read a word.
I can draw a picture to match my sentence.

Resources required

• Sentence written on the interactive whiteboard – I saw the big pig in a wig.
• Sentence printed on A4 paper for individual students - I saw the big pig in a wig.
• Flashcards – with the letters p, b, w, g, i
• Flashcards of high frequency word cards- I, saw, the, in, a
• One student mini set of letter cards (p, b, w, g, i) per 2 students for partner work

Group size

Whole class – whole/part (partner and individual)/whole configuration                                                                                 

Lesson sequence – 60 minutes

1. High frequency word revision using flashcards: I, saw, the, in, a. The teacher reads each word and students repeat.
2. Students play ‘Cross the bridge’. All students form a circle. The high frequency word flashcards are placed in the middle of the circle, on the floor in a straight line to represent a wooden bridge. Individual students start at one end of the line (bridge), step on each high frequency word and read it, to cross the bridge to the other side.
3. Letter/sound revision. The teacher uses flashcards of the letters p, b, w, g, i. The teacher models by stating the letter name and the most common sounds for each letter. Students repeat. The teacher uses Cued Articulation (Passy, 2010) to visually demonstrate where and how the speech sounds are made in the mouth.
4. Students play code snap. Students are paired up and given a set of letter cards (p, b, w, g, i). Cards are placed face down and turned over one by one. As each card is turned over, the first student to same the sounds that match the letter correctly, get to keep that card. The game is played multiple times for multiple exposures (see High Impact Teaching Strategies, HITS). The teacher roves the pairs to offer support and feedback.
5. Students return to the main group and the teacher introduces and explains the Learning Intention and Success Criteria.
6. The teacher refers to the interactive whiteboard and the sentence displayed – I saw the big pig in a wig.
   • Teacher explicitly revises concepts about print strategies such as: reading from left to right, identifying the words and spaces in the sentence, identifying the capital letter and full stop.
   • Teacher explicitly recaps the meaning of a high frequency word and makes the connection to the high frequency words practised by students at the start of the lesson.
   • Using the interactive whiteboard, the teacher asks students to identify and circle the HFWs in the given sentence.
   • Using the interactive whiteboard, the teacher explicitly teaches how to sound and blend CVC words in the sentence (big, pig, wig).
   • Teacher asks students to repeat sounding and blending the CVC words in the sentence (big, pig, wig).
   • Students read sentence along with the teacher.

7. Students are given an A4 page with the same sentence written on it. They are encouraged to count how many words in the sentence, identify and circle the high frequency words and blend CVC words. Once they have completed this individually, they pair up and repeat the process with a partner. They then read the sentence to each other and practise multiple times (see High Impact Teaching Strategies, HITS).
8. Teacher focus group (10 minutes). As students are working individually and then with a partner, the teacher works with 3 students to support their sounding and blending of CVC words from the sentence.
   • The teacher revises the set of letter/sound combinations introduced in the lesson (p, b, w, g, i).
   • Students locate the high frequency words in the sentence using cards to assist.
   • Teacher writes a CVC word from the sentence on individual whiteboards and asks each student to practise sounding and then blending the given word. The teacher scaffolds at point of need.

9. Group comes back together. The teacher selects some students to read the given sentence. The teacher revises concepts about print strategies and blending.
10. Teacher asks students to close their eyes and listen to the sentence as she reads it. The teacher uses think aloud to explicitly demonstrate the thinking behind understanding the meaning of the given sentence. The teacher asks students to visualise. What kind of pig do they see? What does the pig have on their head? What is a wig? The teacher invites student responses. The teacher explicitly links sentence to meaning and models by drawing an illustration to match the sentence on the interactive whiteboard.
11. Students return to their A4 sheet, reread sentence and then illustrate their picture.
12. Whilst students work individually, the teacher roves the class and gives point of need feedback.
13. Students return to the main group. They reread the sentence and share their picture with a partner. Some students share their sentence and discuss their learning with the whole group. The teacher prompts with a question such as:
    • What did you do in your learning today to help you read the sentence?
    • The teacher makes links back to the Success Criteria.
      eg. I can find and read high frequency words in a sentence.
      I can code spot (match a sound to a letter).
      I can blend sounds together to read a word.
      I can draw a picture to match my sentence.

14. The teacher collects the students’ A4 pages. Students will put this sentence in their individual book box so they can practise reading the sentence during individual reading time.

Going further

• Add sentence to the student sentence book (for independent reading)
• Extending students
  • Ask students to write the high frequency words so they can recognise and write correctly. They may do this by writing the words many times – small, large, with fancy writing, in red pencil, in blue pencil etc.
  • Students make CVC words with hands on materials (e.g. magnetic letters). Ask students to remove a letter and replace with another and then blend the new word (e.g. make big. Take away the letter i and replace with the letter a. Sound and blend. Read the word – bag). This activity can also be completed aurally to develop students’ phonemic awareness.
• Supporting students
  • Students create CVC words with hands on materials, e.g. magnetic letters or word slides. Students practise matching sounds to letters and blending. If CVC words are difficult, begin with VC words such as: in, on, it, is, at
  • Students play memory with the high frequency words. This can be played individually or with a partner. Give students high frequency word cards with 2 of each word you want students to recognise. Words are placed face down. Students take it in turns to turn over and read two word cards. If the words match, they can keep the pair. If the words are different, they replace the words face down. The game continues until all words have been paired.
  • Sound/letter matching with a picture sort. Students sort pictures by sound and then match to letters.

References

Passy, J. (2010). Cued Articulation. Consonants and Vowels. (Rev. ed) ACER Press                                                                                  

Lesson overview

This classroom lesson demonstrates how a Foundation teacher supports students to accurately spell high frequency words in their writing by referring to the classroom word wall for assistance. Learning to recognise and write words automatically contributes to orthographic mapping. Developing orthographic mapping is an integral part of phonics instruction as the association between letters and words become stored in long-term memory to assist the later accurate retrieval of these words (Flanigan et al., 2022).                                                        

The teacher models writing a sentence containing high frequency words and explicitly demonstrates how to locate and identify the relevant high frequency words on the classroom word wall. The teacher refers to the identified high frequency words to ensure accurate spelling. Students then practise this skill either in a small, guided writing focus group or by writing individually.                    

Victorian curriculum links

Foundation

Recognise that sentences are key units for expressing ideas (VCELA143)                                                        

Recognise that texts are made up of words and groups of words that make meaning (VCELA144)                                                        

Recognise all upper- and lower-case letters and the most common sound that each letter represents   (VCELA146)                                                        

Understand that punctuation is a feature of written text different from letters and recognise how capital letters are used for names, and that capital letters and full stops signal the beginning and end of sentences (VCELA156)                                                        

Understand that spoken sounds and words can be written and know how to write some high-frequency words and other familiar words including their name (VCELA157)                                                        

English as an Additional Language (EAL)

Pathway A: Early immersion

A1: Recognise some familiar words in context (VCEALL048)                                                         

A1: Recognise some common letters and letter patterns in words (VCEALL051)                                                         

A1: Write some high-frequency words related to personal experience and school context (VCEALL076)                                                        

A2: Write simple sentences related to own experience or school context (VCEALC056)                                                        

A2: Relate most letters of the alphabet to sounds (VCEALL131)                                                         

A2: Use knowledge of letters and sounds to read a new word or locate key words (VCEALL132)                                                         

A2: Use high-frequency words encountered in classroom activities (VCEALL155)                                                        

Learning intention

We are learning to spell high frequency words correctly in our writing.                                                        

Success criteria

Extending students - I can use the word wall to check the spelling of high frequency words in my writing.                                                        

At level- I can recognise a high frequency word on the word wall and use it in my writing.                                                        

Supporting students - I can match the initial sound of a high frequency word to a letter, to help locate the word on the word wall.                                                        

Resources required

• Classroom high frequency word wall in alphabetical order
• Word wall swatters (for ‘Word Wall Slap’ as shown in the video)
• Individual student whiteboards and markers for students in the guided writing focus group
• Student workbooks and pencils
• Individual alphabetic word chart containing pictures and letters to assist phoneme/grapheme correspondence

Group size (if relevant):

Whole class – whole/part (focus group and individual) /whole configuration)                                                        

Lesson sequence – 60 minutes

1. Whole group warm-up: ‘Word Wall Slap’. Two students play each other at a time. Each student is given a word swatter. The teacher chooses a high frequency word from the wall by saying it out loud. The two students compete with each other to find it on the word wall. The first one to locate the word by slapping it, wins. The teacher reinforces the importance of saying the given word, identifying the first sound, matching the sound to a letter or letters, and then using the alphabetic order to locate the correct word. The teacher encourages students to articulate the steps they take to locate the word. This game is played multiple times (consistent with the multiple exposure strategy as one of the 10 High Impact Teaching Strategies (HITS.)   

2. Students return to the main group and the teacher introduces and explains the Learning Intention and Success Criteria.
3. The teacher revisits a familiar narrative that has been read to the students on many occasions.

• The teacher prompts students by asking them to ‘Turn and talk to your partner about where the little monkey looks for his mother.’ The teacher models the sentence stem ‘The little monkey looks………’.
• Students report back-What did your partner say? For example, ‘The little monkey looks in the bird’s nest, in the spider’s web, up in the tree.’
• The teacher recasts all of the different places the little monkey looks for his mother.

4. The teacher uses modelled writing and the think aloud strategy to demonstrate how to write a sentence about where the little monkey looks for his mother.

• The teacher states the sentence ‘The little monkey looks up in the tree.’
• The teacher identifies the high frequency words in the sentence and links back to the Learning Intention and Success Criteria.
• Using think aloud, the teacher explicitly demonstrates how to find the first word ‘the’ on the word wall. The teacher states the word, identifies the digraph /ð/phoneme, matches it to the graphemes ‘th’ and locates the word on the word wall.
• The teacher copies the letters that make up the word ‘the’ to begin the modelled sentence. At the same time, the teacher recalls the importance of beginning the first word of a sentence with a capital letter – in this example, an upper case ‘T.’
• The teacher continues to model how to use the word wall for all of the high frequency words in the sentence (e.g. the, little, look(s), up, in, the).
• The teacher also identifies the initial sound in ‘monkey’ and ‘tree’ and explicitly matches the initial phoneme of each of these words to the correct grapheme. The teacher then writes both of these words in full drawing on their prior knowledge.
• The teacher continues to use the think aloud strategy to reinforce punctuation -upper case letters, finger spaces, full stop.
• The teacher rereads the sentence to check for meaning.
• The teacher asks students to join in reading the sentence.

5. Students move to their tables. Once again, the teacher prompts students to turn and talk to a partner to recall all of the places little monkey looks for his mother.
6. As students are talking, the teacher visits each table to give differentiated instruction to students. For example,

• Extending students – The teacher asks students to consider where the little monkey looked and also what he found as he looked (past tense verbs modelled). For example, ‘The little monkey looked up in the tree and he found a bat.’

The teacher encourages these students to link their ideas with the conjunction ‘and’, use their phoneme to grapheme knowledge to write words, and the word wall to check the spelling of the high frequency words. Once written, students are encouraged to illustrate their writing.

• At level – The teacher asks student to write about 3 different places the little monkey looks for his mother. The teacher encourages these students to write 3 simple sentences, each containing a different idea. For example, ‘The little monkey looks up in the sky. The little monkey looks in the jungle.’

The teacher encourages these students to identify the high frequency words in their sentence and locate on the word wall to spell the words correctly. Once written, students are encouraged to illustrate their writing.

• Supporting students – The teacher uses the practice of guided writing to support students to write a simple sentence. The teacher uses prompting questions such as ‘Where did the little monkey look?’ ‘Where did he find the frog?’
• The teacher guides students to identify a sentence to write. For example, ‘He looks in the pond.’
• The teacher revises concepts about print – number of words, left to right, top to bottom, and spaces between words.
• The teacher asks students to articulate the first word ‘he’ and identify the initial sound. On a whiteboard, the teacher models writing an upper case ‘H’ for the start of the sentence. Each student replicates the teacher example on to their own whiteboard.
• The teacher explicitly models how to find the word ‘he’ on the word wall and use the word to assist accurate spelling.
• The teacher continues to scaffold each word of the sentence, making explicit links to the initial sound of each word and the phoneme/grapheme correspondences. For example, writing the word ‘pond’ - /p/, /o/, /n/, /d/.
  
• High frequency words are identified and located on the word wall.
• Students are encouraged to reread the sentence several times pointing carefully to each word to promote accuracy.
• Students are encouraged to copy from their whiteboard into their books then illustrate their sentence.

7. The teacher revisits students who have been writing individually. The teacher offers feedback at point of need.
   
8. The teacher selects some children from the differentiated levels to share at the lesson conclusion.
9. Lesson conclusion: Students from each differentiated group shares their written sentences and identifies the high frequency words in their sentence(s). The teacher asks students to identify what high frequency words they used in their writing and explain what strategies they used to spell high frequency words correctly. The teacher makes links back to the Success Criteria.

Going further

• Make connections to reading by asking students to find high frequency words in their reading texts.
• Where appropriate, add common morphemes to high frequency words and teach explicitly. For example, ‘look,’ ‘looks,’ ‘looking’ and ‘looked.’ Encourage the application of phonics knowledge to high frequency words.
• Continue to reinforce the use of the word wall to find high frequency words when writing across the school day (i.e. not just in a literacy block).
• Continue to add new high frequency words to the word wall when encountered in new texts or needed for writing.
• Students practise their recognition and spelling of high frequency words through multiple exposures (see, High Impact Teaching Strategies, HITS)

• Individual students locating and writing high frequency words from their reading texts onto individual whiteboards.
• Enhance learning by playing individual and partner games with high frequency words cards such as memory, fish, or snap.
• Making high frequency words with magnetic letters.
• Undertaking high frequency word hunts in the classroom. For example, record all the examples of ‘the’ they can find displayed in the classroom.

References

Flanigan, K., Solic, K. & Gordon, L. (2022). The “P” word revisited: 8 principles for tackling today’s questions and misconceptions about phonics instruction. The Reading Teacher, 76(1), 73 – 83.                                                        

Lesson overview

This 50 minute lesson is situated in a daily 2 hour literacy block which integrates reading, writing, speaking and listening using a workshop framework. Prior to this lesson, students have participated in a 20-minute differentiated phonological awareness/phonics word study group. As the focus in the word study group was the teaching of letter combinations that make the long e sound (recorded as the symbol /i/ in the international phonetic alphabet), the teacher designed this lesson to make contextual links between lesson segments.                                   

In this lesson, the teacher revisits a known picture story book ' Come Over To My House' by Eliza Hull and Sally Rippin, and illustrated by Daniel Gray-Barnett. The teacher revisits the text, selects certain pages and asks students to listen for words that contain the long e sound. Some of the words found in the text are further examined and students identify the ‘ee’ and ‘ea’ spelling can make the long e sound. Students are then encouraged to make words with magnetic letters that contain the ‘ee’ and the ‘ea’ digraph, sort the words according to spelling, segment the sounds in each word and blend to read accurately.                                   

Text

Come Over To My House       

Text copyright © 2022 Eliza Hull and Sally Rippin                                   

Illustration copyright © 2022 Daniel Gray-Barnett                                   

Published by Bright Light, an imprint of Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing                                   

Victorian curriculum links

Foundation Level

Recognise that texts are made up of words and groups of words that make meaning (VCELA144)                                   

Recognise all upper- and lower-case letters and the most common sound that each letter represents (VCELA146)                                   

Blend sounds associated with letters when reading consonant-vowel-consonant words (VCELA147)                                   

Blend and segment onset and rime in single syllable spoken words and isolate, blend and segment phonemes in single syllable words (first consonant sound, last consonant sound, middle vowel sound) (VCELA169)                                   

Level 1

Recognise short vowels, common long vowels and consonant digraphs, and consonant blends (VCELA181)                                   

Understand how to spell one and two syllable words with common letter patterns (VCELA182)                                   

Understand that a letter can represent more than one sound, and that a syllable must contain a vowel sound (VCELA183)                                   

English as an Additional Language (EAL)

Pathway A: Early immersion

A1: Recognise some letters of the alphabet (VCEALL049)                                   

A1: Identify some sounds in words (VCEALL050)                                   

A1: Recognise some common letters and letter patterns in words (VCEALL051)                                   

A1: Spell with accuracy some consonant-vowel-consonant words and common words learnt in the classroom (VCEALL080)                                   

A2: Recognise all letters of the alphabet (VCEALL130)                                   

A2: Relate most letters of the alphabet to sounds (VCEALL131)                                   

A2: Use knowledge of letters and sounds to read a new word or locate key words (VCEALL132)                                   

A2: Spell with accuracy familiar words and words with common letter patterns (VCEALL159)                                   

Learning intention

We are learning to read and spell by segmenting and blending unfamiliar words.                                   

Success criteria

I can hear and find the long ‘e’ sound in words.                                   

I can make a word containing the long ‘e’ sound with magnetic letters.                                   

I can sort the words.                                   

Resources required

Text: A focus on the double page found below:                                   

Come Over To My House  

Text copyright © 2022 Eliza Hull and Sally Rippin                                   

Illustration copyright © 2022 Daniel Gray-Barnett                                    

Published by Bright Light, an imprint of Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing                                   

'If we get hungry, I’ll make us a treat.                                  

There are snacks in the pantry you’re welcome to eat.                                     

There’s so much to do,    

one thing then another,                                       

and if we get bored, we can play with my brother.'

• Magnetic letters – vowels and consonants for every student to make several words
• Whiteboard marker per student
• Whiteboard tables for students to make and write their words on

Group size

Whole class/(students working individually or with a partner)/whole class for lesson conclusion                                   

Lesson sequence – 50 minutes

This lesson presumes that the picture book Come Over To My House by Eliza Hull and Sally Rippin, and illustrated by Daniel Gray-Barnett has been read to the students in a previous lesson for pleasure and comprehension.                                   

1. The teacher introduces the learning intention and success criteria. The concepts of segmenting and blending are clarified.
2. The teacher shows students the known text Come Over To My House and asks students to turn and talk to a partner about what they remember of the story.
3. The teacher asks some students to retell the story to ensure the group’s understanding.
4. The teacher chooses a double page from the text and reads it to students (see example under the ‘Resources’ heading above). The teacher then asks students to listen to the text a second time, but on the second reading students must listen for /i/ sound in words. When they hear the /i/ sound in a word, they are to put their hands on their head. At this point, the teacher is checking for students’ phonemic awareness. Several pages are read so students practise listening for the targeted sound /i/
5. The teacher asks students to recall any of the words that contained the target /i/ sound. Students segment each word shared and identify where the /i/ sound is located in the word.
6. The teacher tells students that although there are several ways to write the /i/ sound, the focus on today’s lesson will be the digraphs ‘ee’ and ‘ea’ because we can see these spelling combinations more often in our reading and writing.
7. The teacher displays some words written on individual cards that contain the /i/ sound with the ‘ee’ and ‘ea’ spelling (e.g. eat, treat, read, seat, need, see, feet, deep). The teacher models segmenting each word and places sound buttons under each sound to visually show the number of phonemes in each word. Students join in with the segmenting and blending.
8. The teacher sorts the words into a T chart according to spelling, with the headings ‘ee’ and ‘ea’.
9. The teacher then asks all students to stand around a whiteboard table so the next task can be clearly explained and demonstrated. The teacher shows students the resources needed for the learning activity: magnetic letters sorted into vowels and consonants, whiteboard markers for recording and sets of cards that contain ‘ee’ and ‘ea’ spelled words which are differentiated according to student learning requirements (examples include 3, 4 & 5 letter words such as: heap, meat, treat, read, bead, seat, repeat, steam, beach, sea, weep, see, meet, knee, deep, feet, week, jeep, seem.
10. The teacher models selecting a card, segments the sounds and blends to read the word. The teacher identifies whether the word contains the ‘ee’ or ‘ea’ diagraph and sorts the word into a T chart drawn on the whiteboard table. The teacher then makes the word with magnetic letters and places sound buttons under the phonemes to visually represent the sounds in the word.
11. Students are encouraged to replicate the teacher demonstrated activity with their own set of word cards. Students work with a partner taking turns to choose a word card, make it with magnetic letters on the whiteboard table and underline the part that makes the long e sound. They are encouraged to make as many words as possible. Alternatively, students are asked to sort words according to their spelling.
12. Meanwhile the teacher roves around the classroom to provide further scaffolding with this task at the point of need. Where appropriate, the teacher extends some student by asking them to make their own word that contains the ‘ee’ or ‘ea’ digraph. The teacher takes photos of whiteboard tables as formative assessment student-worked examples to inform future planning and teaching.
13. The teacher asks students to select one word from their table and place it in their memory.
14. Students return to the floor as a whole group. The teacher asks students to turn and talk to a partner to share their memorised word.
15. The teacher asks students to raise their hand if they chose a word that contained the ‘ee’ digraph or the ‘ea’ digraph.
16. The teacher returns to the success criteria to check in with students about their learning. Students are encouraged to give a thumbs up if confident with achieving each criterion, a sideways thumb for signalling they feel like they need some more practise with each criterion and a thumbs down if they felt they did not achieve the criterion and need more help with the concepts taught in this lesson.

Going further

• In a subsequent lesson, the teacher can revisit the same picture book and sorted word cards with a focus on other spellings that also make the long e sound (e.g. ‘e’ as in me, he, we, and ‘y’ as in hungry, pantry, happy, funny, copy). A similar set of activities can be used.
• Students can undertake a digraph hunt looking for ‘ee’ and ‘ea’ digraphs in other picture story books, decodable readers or shared classroom texts such as nursery rhymes and poems. Students record the words, segment and blend to decode. Add words to the classroom word wall.
• Students can practise writing words that contain the ‘ee’ and ‘ea’ digraph on individual whiteboards.
• Students can practise hearing and recording sounds in words in the form of a dictated sentence with a focus on either the ‘ee’ or ‘ea’ digraph.
• Students can practise sorting magnetic letters into vowels or consonants.
• Continue to provide student practice with phonemic awareness by deleting and manipulating sounds. For example, with ‘meat’ take away the /m/ and replace it with a /b/. What word to you have? Beat. Or with ‘feet’ take away the /t/ and replace it with a /l/. What word do you have? Feel.

Lesson overview

Through the use of the gradual release of responsibility (referred to in this lesson and video as the ‘I do – We do – You do’ model), this lesson demonstrates the scaffolds put in place to support Foundation students to individually read an unseen decodable text. All students in this classroom are allocated a decodable text based on their knowledge of letter-sound correspondences and number of high frequency words they can recognise automatically. Decodable texts are differentiated according to the emerging skills and learning needs of each student.              

The teacher uses the think aloud strategy and models a series of steps to support students in the first reading of their decodable text: cover talk, picture walk, oral retell and high frequency word (see Literacy glossary) hunt. Once these steps are completed, paired reading is implemented. Student pairs take it in turns to read to or listen to their partner. Students are encouraged to read their text multiple times to develop word automaticity and fluency. During paired reading the teacher observes students’ reading and takes notes in the form of anecdotal records. These observations support immediate teacher feedback, as well as provide information for targeted individual or small group teaching.  

Victorian curriculum links

Foundation Level

Recognise all upper- and lower-case letters and the most common sound that each letter represents (VCELA146)              

Blend sounds associated with letters when reading consonant-vowel-consonant words (VCELA147)              

Identify some features of texts including events and characters and retell events from a text (VCELT150)             

Read texts with familiar structures and features, practising phrasing and fluency, and monitor meaning using concepts about print and emerging phonic, semantic, contextual and grammatical knowledge (VCELY152)              

Use comprehension strategies to understand and discuss texts listened to, viewed or read independently (VCELY153)              

English as an Additional Language (EAL)

Pathway A: Early immersion

A1: Recognise some familiar words in context (VCEALL048)              

A1: Recognise some common letters and letter patterns in words (VCEALL051)              

A1: Follow text with finger while reading (VCEALL053) using memory or home language resources (VCEALA041)              

A1: Recall or repeat familiar parts of a text             

A2: Understand information in texts and viewed in class (VCEALC113)             

A2: Recognise a small range of familiar words in different contexts (VCEALL129)              

A2: Recognise all letters of the alphabet (VCEALL130)              

A2: Relate most letters of the alphabet to sounds (VCEALL131)              

A2: Use knowledge of letters and sounds to read a new word or locate key words (VCEALL132)              

Learning intention

We are learning to use strategies to help us decode and understand our decodable text.             

Success criteria

I can segment and blend sounds to read words in my text.             

I can recognise high frequency words in my text and read them automatically.             

I can predict and retell what my decodable text is about.             

I can practise my fluency by rereading my decodable text.             

Resources required

• Decodable texts – differentiated and one per student
• Copy of an enlarged text for teacher modelling purposes.
  

“Used with permission. Source: Run, Jack, Run! Authors Patrick Lay and Sarah O’Neil, Program Flying Start to Literacy: Phonics (www.FSTLphonics.com.au) published by Eleanor Curtain publishing Pty Ltd (www.ecpublishing.com.au ) © 2024 EC Licensing Pty Ltd. The trademark “Flying Start to Literacy” and Star device is a registered trademark of EC Licensing Pty Ltd in Australia. The trademark “Flying Start to Literacy: Phonics” and Star device is owned by EC Licensing Pty Ltd."

• Whisper phones (a listening tool in the shape of a small phone receiver). This tool enables readers to listen to themselves as they are independently reading, to check whether their words sound right.
• Clipboard and checklist for teacher anecdotal notes

Group size

Whole class – whole/part (paired reading and individual)/ whole configuration             

Lesson sequence – 60 minutes

1. Students sit on the floor facing the interactive whiteboard. The teacher reads out the learning intention and explains the success criteria. Terms such as ‘segment’, ‘blend’, high frequency words’ and ‘fluency’ are discussed so that all students are clear on the expected success criteria.
2. The teacher uses the think aloud strategy to model reading the enlarged decodable text Run, Jack Run! by Patrick Lay and Sarah O’Neil. The teacher starts with ‘cover talk’. This first step involves reading the title of the book. The teacher models segmenting and blending the words in the title. Once the title has been established, the teacher makes predictions about the content of the book based on the front cover. The teacher uses sentence stems such as: “The title of my book is….” “I can see….” “I predict that ….” and “I think this book is a fiction/non fiction text because…”.
3. Each student has their own text in front of them on the floor. They are encouraged to turn and talk with a partner to decode the title of their decodable text and make a prediction based on their front cover. While students undertake this task, the teacher roves around the group to give assistance at point of need.
4. Students turn back to the main group. Once again, the teacher uses the think aloud strategy to model a ‘picture walk’. The teacher discusses the characters and setting in the enlarged text Run, Jack, Run! by Patrick Lay and Sarah O’Neil by walking through the pages looking carefully at the illustrations. The teacher models an oral retell based on the illustrations in the text. During the oral retell, the teacher models time connectives such as ‘then’, ‘next’ and ‘finally’ to sequence the retelling.
5. Students will then replicate the ‘picture walk’ by walking through their decodable text looking carefully at the illustrations.
6. Students are encouraged to turn and talk with a partner. Partners take it in turns to give an oral retell of their book based on their completed picture walk. The teacher roves the pairs to listen and support the oral retellings.
7. Students turn back to the main group. Once again, the teacher uses the think aloud strategy to model a ‘high frequency word hunt’ in the enlarged text Run, Jack, Run! by Patrick Lay and Sarah O’Neil. The teacher recalls the definition of a high frequency word (see Literacy glossary) out loud and then walks through the text identifying the high frequency words. Students are encouraged to join in identifying the high frequency words as the enlarged text is scanned a second time.
8. Students undertake a ‘high frequency word hunt’ in their individual decodable text. Once again, the teacher roves the group to assist students in locating the high frequency words in their text. As texts are differentiated, the high frequency words will vary according to text sophistication.
9. Students undertake partnered reading. However, before partner reading commences, the teacher revises a series of strategies to assist with the reading such as:

• Put your finger under the word, segment the phonemes and blend to decode.
• Identify a high frequency word and read automatically.
• Locate punctuation and adjust the reading for full stops, commas, quotation marks and question marks.
• Stop and reread if a sentence requires lots of decoding. This will help with meaning.
• Recall original prediction and oral retell. Have student predictions and oral retell been confirmed, or do they have to be adjusted now the text has been read?
• Reread the new text several times to help develop word automaticity and fluency.

10. As partner A reads to partner B, the teacher roves around the cohort listening to students reading, giving feedback at point of need and taking anecdotal notes. Partner A reads the new text several times. Partner B listens carefully and prompts using the above strategies if needed.
11. Partners swap over, so that partner B now reads to partner A. During this time the teacher works with a small focus group, using the anecdotal notes as a formative assessment for targeted instruction. As focus group students all have differentiated texts, the teacher encourages focus group students to reread their text using a whisper phone so they can listen to themselves read accurately. Whilst this is occurring, the teacher instructs individual students in the focus group to attend to a specific reading element such as:

• recognising a grapheme (letter) and accurately producing the phoneme (sound) represented by the grapheme
• blending and segmenting consonant-vowel-consonant words
• identifying a consonant or vowel digraph within a word and segmenting and blending that word
• learning and locating a new high frequency word
• using the punctuation accurately to assist fluency, or
• checking in for comprehension.

12. Students return to the main group. The teacher refers to the success criteria. Students are encouraged to use sentence stems such as “Today I have learned….” “I feel confident with …..” “My reading is better because I can…..” to articulate how successful they feel about the learning.

Going further

All students are encouraged to put their decodable text in a reading bag to take home for home reading practice. This text will be read several times over the course of the week and students will undertake activities related to their text to practice their newly required skills such as:             

• practising segmenting and blending words on cards depending on learning needs. This might entail segmenting and blending vowel-consonant (in, it), consonant-vowel-consonant (sad, get), consonant- consonant – vowel – consonant (shed, chug) or consonant – vowel – vowel - consonant (meat, paid) words
• locating, writing and reading back high frequency words on individual student whiteboards
• matching upper- and lower-case letters
• Identifying the rime in one syllable words from their text and changing the onset to generate new words (e.g. sat, bat, hat, that, flat). Making new words with magnetic letters or recording in a literacy workbook.

Lesson overview

This 20 minute word study lesson is situated in a daily 2 hour literacy block, which integrates reading, writing, speaking and listening using a workshop framework. In this segment of the literacy block, the teacher explicitly revises known letters and sounds, introduces the ‘ea’ digraph and corresponding sound and asks students to draw on their emerging phonemic awareness and phonic knowledge to write words containing the ‘ea’ spelling. The lesson concludes with students hearing and recording sounds in words in the form of a dictated sentence containing words with the ‘ea’ spelling.                                      

Throughout this lesson plan you will find the international phonetic alphabet symbol /i:/ which represents the long vowel e sound.   

Victorian curriculum links

Foundation Level

Recognise all upper- and lower-case letters and the most common sound that each letter represents (VCELA146)                                   

Blend sounds associated with letters when reading consonant-vowel-consonant words (VCELA147)                                   

Understand that spoken sounds and words can be written and know how to write some high-frequency words and other familiar words including their name (VCELA157)                                      

Understand that sounds in English are represented by upper- and lower-case letters that can be written using learned letter formation patterns for each case (VCELY162)                                      

Blend and segment onset and rime in single syllable spoken words and isolate, blend and segment phonemes in single syllable words (first consonant sound, last consonant sound, middle vowel sound) (VCELA169)                                   

English as an Additional Language (EAL)

Pathway A: Early Immersion

A1: Recognise some letters of the alphabet (VCEALL049)                                   

A1: Identify some sounds in words (VCEALL050)                                   

A1: Recognise some common letters and letter patterns in words (VCEALL051)                                   

A1: Spell with accuracy some consonant-vowel-consonant words and common words learnt in the classroom (VCEALL080)                                   

A2: Recognise all letters of the alphabet (VCEALL130)                                   

A2: Relate most letters of the alphabet to sounds (VCEALL131)                                   

A2: Spell with accuracy familiar words and words with common letter patterns (VCEALL159)                                   

Learning intention

We are learning to read and spell by segmenting and blending unfamiliar words.                                   

Success criteria

I can match the sound to the letter(s).                                      

I can segment and blend the word to read it.                                      

I can segment the word into sounds to spell it.                                      

Resources required (if relevant)

• Flashcards of single letters, known double consonant letters, consonant and vowel digraphs
• Pictures of words containing the ‘ea’ spelling and /i:/ For example, ‘leaf’ and ‘bean’
• Mini whiteboards – 1 per student
• Markers/erasers – 1 per student

Group size (if relevant)

Students selected on an identified need (fluid differentiated group)                                      

Lesson sequence – 20 minutes

1. Students sitting on the floor. A mini whiteboard board and marker is placed on the floor beside each student.
2. The teacher introduces the learning Intention and the success criteria. Terms such as ‘segment’ and ‘blend’ are clarified for student understanding.
3. Phonic practise: The teacher shows flashcards containing single letters (a-z), known double consonants (ll, ff, ss), and consonant (ch, sh, th, ng) and vowel (ai, ee) digraphs that have already been taught. Students make the corresponding sound related to the letter combination on each flashcard.
4. The teacher introduces the new digraph ‘ea’ and builds on prior knowledge bysaying, “The digraph ‘ea’ makes the same sound as the ‘ee’ digraph.” The teacher explicitly models the sound /i:/. The teacher writes ‘ea’ in large letters on the whiteboard and asks students to make the corresponding sound /i:/
5. The teacher shows students a picture of a leaf and a bean. Students label each picture. The teacher puts each picture on the whiteboard and segments each word so that students can hear the individual phonemes (sounds) in each word. The teacher places sound buttons or draws elkonin boxes to visually demonstrate there are 3 sounds but 4 letters in each word.
6. The teacher invites a student to come up to the whiteboard, say the pictured word, segment the sounds, match to letters and record above the sound buttons/inside the elkonin boxes. For example, ‘leaf’ = l-ea-f and ‘bean’ = b-ea- n.
7. Students pick up their whiteboard and pen. The teacher articulates the word ‘sea’ that contains the ‘ea’ spelling and the /i:/ sound. Students repeat the word, segment, match the phoneme to a letter or letters and record on their whiteboard. The teacher checks the example and gives feedback as needed. The teacher may differentiate at this point by asking students to record the corresponding sound buttons (how many sounds in each articulated word) or by asking students to record the 3, 4 or 5 letter words that contain the ‘ea’ digraph and /i:/ sound. Examples of articulated words are: tea, meat, seat, leap, team, speak, beach, peach. After each word is written, the teacher asks students to turn the whiteboard around and ‘chin it' to enable point of need feedback.
8. The teacher asks students to underline the ‘ea’ digraph in each word. They ask students to look for patterns. What do they notice about the position of the ‘ea’ digraph? The students and teacher discuss.
9. The teacher asks students to clean their whiteboards. The teacher tells the students they will now hear and record sounds in words in the form of a dictated sentence. The teacher reminds students to begin the sentence with a capital letter, use finger spaces and add a full stop at the end. The teacher slowly reads out the sentence, “I like to swim in the sea at the beach.” Students record each word in the sentence on their whiteboard.
10. Students hold up their whiteboards to their chests and the teacher chooses a correct one to show to the whole class. The teacher prompts students to make changes where letters, words and/or punctuation is not correct. The teacher uses a digital camera/tablet as a formative assessment tool, to photograph student examples which will inform future planning and teaching.
11. The teacher asks students, “What have you learned today that will help you to be a better reader and writer?” The teacher makes explicit links back to the success criteria and checks in with students about their confidence with their new learning.

Going further

Extending students                              

• Return to the discussion on where the ‘ea’ digraph was positioned in each of the words students wrote on their whiteboard. Ask students to make a generalisation about the ‘ea’ placement. For example, the ‘ea’ digraph is always found as a medial sound in words or the ‘ea’ spelling always makes the /i:/ sound. Ask students to test this hypothesis over the coming days by looking for words that contain the ‘ea’ spelling. Make a class list and display. Is this a true generalisation or does the class have to rework their original hypothesis?
• Encourage students to identify and make words with magnetic letters of varied length that contain the digraph ‘ea’ (for example: repeat, steam, steamy, treat). Students use sound buttons to help them segment and blend words.
• Students play card games with pairs of words containing the /i:/ sound and with the ‘ea’ digraph that require each word to be segmented and blended. Examples of games could be ‘Go fish’ or ‘Snap’.
• Supporting students
• Students sort pictures of words into 2 groups. Words that contain the /i:/ sound made by the ‘ea’ digraph and words that do not (for example, pictures of words such as: leaf, seat, car, dice, beach, meat, sea, hat). Ask students where they hear the /i:/ sound in the words they have sorted.
• Place several objects in a bag ensuring the objects contain the /i:/ sound with the ‘ea’ spelling. Students take it in turns to pull out an object and label it. Ask students to articulate slowly to segment the sounds in the word. For example, a student pulls out a leaf, says the word ‘leaf’ slowly, segments the word and identifies the /i:/ sound. Encourage students to count the number of phonemes in each word and record on a whiteboard. With assistance, ask students to match the sounds to letters. Reinforce the ‘ea’ digraph.
• Students practise sorting words with and without the ‘ea’ digraph. Start with 3 letter words such as: eat, tea, sea, pea, hat, big, log, hut. With assistance, ask students to segment and blend words.

Lesson overview

This lesson is an illustration of how a teacher may support a small group of students with learning individual letters/ graphemes and their common sounds/ phonemes. Depending on the students and their learning needs, the lesson focus may be narrowed (to one letter/grapheme and its common sound/ phoneme) or increased (to several letters/graphemes and their common sounds/phonemes). Appropriate metalanguage should be introduced to students prior to the lesson.                                                                                              

The lesson in this instance focuses on the graphemes ‘r’, ‘h’ and ‘j’ and the common sound/phoneme each letter makes. The teacher works with a small group of students who would benefit from repetition and overlearning of these letters.                                                                                               

The short intervention lesson would take the place of a guided reading session and include:                                                                                              

• initial letter/sound work
• a shared reading of a text containing the identified letters/graphemes and sounds/ phonemes
• a follow up activity to reinforce the new or revised learning.

In addition:                                                                                              

• Data collected through the F-2 English Online Interview (Victorian Government schools) or through the Letter Identification Task (Clay, 1993; 2013), or DATE – Early Literacy in English Tool: Alphabet Letters would inform planning for teaching and learning.
• A text is chosen to support the focus for shared reading.

Resources required for this lesson include:

• a set of flashcards with the single lower-case letters ‘r’, ‘h’ and ‘j’ recorded for each student
• a shared reading text containing the initial lower-case letters ‘r’, ‘h’ and ‘j’ such as Sally’s new shoes by Beverley Randell, Jenny Giles and Annette Smith, published by Cengage.
• small whiteboards and markers for each student.
  

Victorian curriculum links

English, Reading and Viewing, Language: Expressing and developing ideas:                                                                                              

• Foundation: Recognise that texts are made up of words and groups of words that make meaning (VCELA144).
  

English, Reading and Viewing, Language: Phonics and word knowledge:                                                                                              

• Foundation: Recognise all upper- and lower-case letters and the most common sound that each letter represents (VCELA146).
  

English, Writing, Literacy: Creating texts:                                                                                              

• Foundation: Understand that sounds in English are represented by upper- and lower-case letters that can be written using learned letter formation patterns for each case (VCELY162).
  

Links to Victorian Curriculum - English as an Additional Language (EAL)

Pathway A                                                                                               

Level A1                                                                                               

Speaking and listening                                                                                               

• Demonstrate attentive listening behaviour (VCEALC001)
• Follow simple instructions in familiar school routines by relying on key words and non-verbal communication and context (VCEALC006)

Reading and viewing                                                                                               

• Recognise some letters of the alphabet (VCEALL049)

Level A2                                                                                               

Speaking and listening                                                                                               

• Follow a short sequence of instructions related to classroom procedures or learning activities (VCEALC088)

Reading and viewing                                                                                                

• Understand information in texts read and viewed in class (VCEALC113)

Learning intention

We are learning to recognise the lower-case letters r, h and j and the common sound each letter makes.                                                                                              

Success criteria

I can name the lower-case letter ‘r’, ‘h’ and ‘j’.                                                                                              

I can make the common sound for ‘r’, ‘h’ and ‘j’.                                                                                              

Lesson sequence

1. Introduce the learning intention and ensure students know the focus of the lesson is about naming and making the common sound for the graphemes ‘r’, ‘h’ and ‘j’.
2. Introduce the flashcards with the lower-case letters ‘r’, ‘h’ and ‘j’ written on them. Name each letter and ask students to repeat the name after each one. Make the common sound for each letter and ask students to repeat the sound.
3. Turn the letters over so they are covered and play a game of tic-tac-toe with students. When students turn a letter over they must name it and make the common sound. The game may be repeated for multiple exposures (See High Impact Teaching Strategies - Multiple exposures).
4. Introduce the shared reading text but ensure all students have their own copy also. Provide a nutshell statement of the text. For example, if using Sally’s new shoes by Beverley Randell, Jenny Giles and Annette Smith say, “This story is about a girl called Sally who gets some new shoes. She loves her new shoes and goes almost everywhere in them. Do you think she will wear her new shoes when she goes swimming at the pool?”Students discuss their predictions and give reasons for them.
5. Read the title and the first page to students modelling concepts of print such as left to right, return sweep and top to bottom. Encourage students to finger track the text as they are following the reading.
6. This text was chosen because it contained the action verbs ‘run’, ‘hop’ and ‘jump’. On the pages where these words are found, pause the reading, for example:
   • Read “I’m going to …”. Look, I can see a word that starts with one of the letters we are learning today. What letter can you see? What sound does it make? I am going to read on to the end of the sentence. What action could Sally do that starts with /r/ that could go there and make sense?
   • Students suggest action verbs that start with /r/. Cross check with the printed word. More supports may have to be put in place. For example, ‘running’ starts with the /r/ sound but if we put ‘running’ into this sentence, can we say it that way in English? What could we say that sounds right? Let’s check the word (articulate the word slowly so students can hear the individual phonemes in run).
7. Repeat the process with the other pages and letters. This text was also chosen because it has a repeated structure. As the students recognise the repeated structure, encourage them to join in with the reading.
8. At the conclusion of reading the text, ask students to revisit their initial predictions. Discuss and check for meaning.
9. Give students an individual set of lower-case letter flashcards and ask them to go back into the text and find the letters ‘r’, ‘h’ and ‘j’. Accept initial, medial or final letter examples.
10. Ask students to use their whiteboard to record the words they have found which contain the letters ‘r’, ‘h’ and ‘j’:
    • work at the point of need with each individual student. As students are writing, ask them to identify the letter and the common sound it makes.
    • reinforce correct letter formation, starting points and grip.
11. Return to the success criteria. Can students name the letters ‘r’, ‘h’ and ‘j’? Can they make the common sound/phoneme for each?

Going further

Visit High Impact Teaching Strategies - multiple exposures                                                                                              

• Give each student the set of three lower-case flashcards with r, h and j written on them. With a partner they can play memory or ‘go fish’.
• Students sort magnetic letters to identify ‘r’, ‘h’ and ‘j’, lower and upper-case.• Students play sound/letter bingo with the targeted letters.
• Students play games such as ‘I spy with my little eye something starting with the letter….’, I spy with my little eye something ending with the sound….’.
• As students enter or leave the classroom they use a password (i.e. a word that starts with the letter…., a word that starts with the sound…., a word that ends with the letter…., a word that ends with the sound….).
• Students place the shared reading text in their book box to revisit during independent reading time.
• Students find examples of words that contain the letters ‘r’, ‘h’ and ‘j’ in texts around the room. Record in their reading response book.
• Give students a further set of upper-case letters ‘R’, ‘H’ and ‘J’. Match to the lower-case letters.
• Students find examples of ‘r’, ‘h’ and ‘j’ in magazines. Cut out and display.
• Students use an iPad to photograph the letters ‘Rr’, ‘Hh’ and ‘Jj’ from around the room. Print and makes copies for students to place in their reading book box.
• Students make their own personal dictionary. Focus on the letters ‘r’, ‘h’ and ‘j’. Students draw pictures of words that will help them remember the common sound for each of these letters. Store personal dictionary in student book box so it can be accessed during independent reading or writing.

References

Clay, M. (1993). An Observation Survey of Early Literacy Achievement. Birkenhead, Auckland: Heinemann Education.                                                                                              

Clay, M. (2013). An Observation Survey of Early Literacy Achievement (3rd Ed.). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.                                                                                              

Lesson overview

This lesson is an illustration of how a teacher may support a small group of students learning about consonant digraphs. Depending on the students and their learning needs, the lesson focus may be narrowed (to one digraph and its relating sound/phoneme) or increased (to several digraphs and their relating sounds/ phonemes). Appropriate metalanguage should be introduced to students prior to the lesson.                                                                                         

This lesson in this instance focuses on the digraph ‘sh’ and the relating sound/phoneme it makes in the initial, medial and final position in a word. It involves the teacher working with a small group of students who would benefit from repetition and overlearning of this digraph. The lesson takes place through a guided reading session and would include:                                                                                         

• explicit teaching of the digraph. Explain the meaning of ‘digraph’ – the prefix ‘di’ = two, the root word ‘graph’ = letter, so ‘two letters which make one sound/phoneme’
• independent reading of a text containing the identified digraph
• a follow up activity to reinforce the new or revised learning.

In addition:                                                                                              

• student running records will inform the classroom teacher of decoding competencies including which consonant digraphs are known/unknown
• a text is chosen to support the focus for guided reading.

Resources required for this lesson include:                                                                                         

• a guided reading text containing the targeted digraph(s) such as Father Bear goes fishing by Beverley Randell, published by Cengage
• words written on cards from the text containing the focus consonant digraph ‘sh’ to include words with examples of the consonant digraph in the initial, medial and final position
• small whiteboards and magnetic letters

Victorian curriculum links

English, Reading and Viewing, Language: Phonics and word knowledge                                                                                         

Level 1: Recognise short vowels, common long vowels and consonant digraphs, and consonant blends (VCELA181)

English, Speaking and Listening, Phonics and Word Knowledge                                                                                         

Level 1: Manipulate phonemes by addition, deletion and substitution of initial, medial and final phonemes to generate new words (VCELA204)

Links to Victorian Curriculum - English as an Additional Language (EAL)

Pathway A                                                                                            

Reading and viewing                                                                                            

Level A1                                                                                            

Recognise some common letters and letter patterns in words (VCEALL051)

Learning intention

We are learning that the diagraph ‘sh’ is made up of two letters that make one sound /sh/.                                                                                         

Success criteria

I can find an example of a word that contains the ‘sh’ digraph.                                                                                         

I can make the sound for the ‘sh’ digraph.                                                                                         

Lesson sequence

1. Explain the learning intention and introduce the term ‘digraph’. Explain its meaning; the prefix ‘di’ = two, the root word ‘graph’ = letter, so ‘two letters which make one sound’.  Ask students if they know of any other digraph examples (e.g. ‘th’, ‘ch’, ‘sh’, ‘ph’, ‘ck’, ‘wh’). Contextualise the learning intention by introducing the guided reading text. For example: “Today we are going to read the text Father Bear goes fishing by Beverley Randell. As we read we will find words in the text that contain the ‘sh’ digraph”.
   
2. Front load vocabulary that contain the targeted digraph ‘sh’. Introduce flashcards with words containing ‘sh’. Articulate each word slowly and ask students to locate the /sh/ sound. For example, ask “Where can you hear the /sh/ sound in fishing? Is it at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of the word?”( fishing, fish, shouted)   
3. Before reading the text, students use the cards as a reference to locate the words that contain the ‘sh’ digraph. Discuss, locate the digraph and make the digraph sound.
4. Before independent reading begins, provide students with a nutshell statement about the text to assist meaning making. For example: “This text is called Father Bear goes fishing. It is about a Father Bear who goes down to the river to fish. At first, he didn’t know where to look for the fish. Then he found some. He got fish for Mother Bear and Baby Bear too.” Let’s turn to page 11. Ask “Can you find the words that say Father Bear? Mother Bear? Baby Bear? They start with capital letters because that is their name.”
5. Students read the text independently. Listen to individual students read the text and support at their point of need. Ensure that words that contain the ‘sh’ digraph are decoded accurately.
6. After reading, check for understanding.
7. To reinforce the new learning about the ‘sh’ digraph ask students to use a whiteboard and magnetic letters to make the word ‘fish’. Model how to segment the sounds in the word ‘fish’ (e.g. f-i-sh). Ask students to segment and locate where they hear and see the ‘sh’ digraph. Remove the initial letters and give students a ‘w’ and an ‘i’ to make a new word that ends in ‘sh’ ('wish’; repeat activity with other letters to make other words → e.g. dish, was’, bush, push, dash, cash)
8. Make a word that begins with the ‘sh’ digraph (e.g. shop, ship, shut, shed). Ask students to suggest another or give them the letters to make a new word keeping the ‘sh’ in the initial position. Segment word into phonemes (sh-e-d).
9. Make a word that contains ‘sh’ in the medial position (wishing, washing, pushing). Students copy.
10. Return to the success criteria. Can students find or make a word that contains the ‘sh’ digraph? Can students make the /sh/ sound? Students self-evaluate.

Going further

See High Impact Teaching Strategies - multiple exposures                                                                                           

• Students find examples of the ‘sh’ digraph in their guided reading and independent reading book box. Record in their reading response book.
• Provide magnetic letters and whiteboards and ask students to work independently to make examples of words that contain the ‘sh’ digraph.
• Find examples of the ‘sh’ digraph in words in magazines. Cut out and display.
• Add words containing the ‘sh’ digraph to personal dictionaries and store in the student’s book box for independent reading and writing activities.
• Provide other examples of guided reading texts that contain targeted digraphs.
• Students search big books and classroom texts to find word examples that contain the targeted digraph. Students locate, decode and write in their reading response book or classroom anchor charts.
• Apply the name rule if there is anyone in the class that has the targeted digraph in their name (Shana’s rule = ‘sh’ or Shahjadi’s rule = ‘sh’)

Lesson overview

This lesson is an example of how a teacher may support a small group of students practising words containing consonant blends.                                                                                            

Depending on the students and their learning needs, the lesson focus may be narrowed (to one consonant blend and its sounds/phonemes) or increased (to several consonant blends and their sounds/phonemes). Appropriate metalanguage should be introduced to students prior to the lesson.                                                                                         

This lesson in this instance focuses on the initial consonant blends ‘pl’ and ‘br’ and the relating sounds they make. The teacher works with a small group of students who would benefit from repetition and overlearning of these consonant blends. The lesson takes place through a guided reading session and would include:                                                                                         

• explicit teaching of the consonant blends
• independent reading of a text containing the identified consonant blends
• a follow up activity to reinforce the new or revised learning.

In addition:                                                                                              

• student running records will inform the classroom teacher of decoding competencies including which consonant blends are known/unknown
• analysis of student writing samples will also provide the teacher with information on which consonant blends students use accurately and which require explicit teaching
•  a text is chosen to support the focus for guided reading.

Resources required for this lesson include:                                                                                         

• a guided reading text containing the targeted consonant blends such as Insect Hunt by Hannah Reed, with photography by Michael Curtain. Published by Eleanor Curtain.
• words written on flashcards from the text containing the focus consonant blends. • consonant blend word slides for all students.

Accessed at: https://www.abcteach.com/documents/wordslide-blends-digraphs-pl-11074                                                                                           

Victorian curriculum links

English, Reading and Viewing, Language: Phonics and word knowledge                                                                                         

Level 1: Recognise short vowels, common long vowels and consonant digraphs, and consonant blends (VCELA181)                                                                                         

English, Speaking and Listening, Phonics and Word Knowledge                                                                                         

Level 1: Manipulate phonemes by addition, deletion and substitution of initial, medial and final phonemes to generate new words (VCELA204)

Links to Victorian Curriculum - English as an Additional Language (EAL)

Pathway A                                                                                            

Reading and viewing                                                                                            

Level A1                                                                                            

• Identify some sounds in words (VCEALL050)
  

Learning intention

We are learning that a consonant blend is made up of two or three consonant sounds blended together but you can still hear the individual sounds.                                                                                          

Success criteria

I can make the sounds for the ‘pl’ consonant blend and find an example of a word that starts with ‘pl’                                                                                         

I can make the sounds for the ‘br’ consonant blend and find an example of a word that starts with ‘br’                                                                                         

Lesson sequence

1. Explain the learning intention and introduce/revise the term ‘blend’. Explain its meaning Differentiate ‘blend’ from ‘digraph’ (a blend is two or more consonant letters making two or more consonant sounds/phonemes; a digraph is two letters making one sound/phoneme). Ask students if they know of any other consonant blends examples (See below for consonant blend examples). Contextualise the learning intention by introducing the guided reading text. For example: “Today we are going to read the text Insect Hunt by Hannah Reed, with photography by Michael Curtain. As we read we will find words in the text that contain the ‘pl’ and ‘br’ consonant blend.”
2. Front load vocabulary that contain the targeted consonant blends. Introduce flashcards with words containing the ‘pl’ and ‘br’ consonant blend. Articulate each word slowly and ask students to listen for the initial blend, (plants, plastic, branch)
3. Before reading the text, students use the cards as a reference to locate the words that contain the ‘pl’ and ‘br’ consonant blends. Discuss, locate the consonant blend and make the relating sounds.
4. Before independent reading begins, provide students with a nutshell statement about the text to assist meaning making. For example,“This non-fiction text is called Insect Hunt by Hannah Reed. We are going to read pages 1 to 9 which tell us about where insects live and how to find them on a plant.”
5. Students read the text independently. Listen to individual students read the text and support at their point of need. Ensure that words that contain the ‘pl’ and ‘br’ consonant blends are decoded accurately.
6. After reading, check for understanding.
7. To reinforce the new learning, revisit the sounds made by the targeted blends. Ask students to brainstorm some other words that may begin with ‘pl’ or ‘br’. Articulate the words slowly to segment sounds and record. Prompt students to assist with spelling patterns as words are recorded.
   For example: ‘pl’ = play, place, plastic, plant, plan, plane, please, plenty, plod, plot, plop, plod, plus, plug;  ‘br’ = branch, brain, bran, brat, brave, bread, break, brim, brick, bring, brother, brush
8. Students make a word slide with either the ‘pl’ or ‘br’ consonant blend. A google search will locate commercial consonant blend word slides which are freely available.  Alternatively, students make their own including some of the brainstormed words. For example:
   
9. Students read the words in their word slide and record them in their reading response book. Ensure the targeted blend is underlined or written in another colour. As students work on their word slides, monitor individual students to reinforce the new learning. It is recommended that completed word slides are housed in individual student display books which contain examples of phonic and phonological awareness resources. This will ensure they are readily accessible when students read or write independently.
10. Return to the Success Criteria. Can students make the ‘pl’ and ‘br’ consonant blend sounds? Can they suggest a word that begins with these blends? Students self-evaluate.

Going further

1. During shared reading, ensure enlarged texts contain the targeted blends and make explicit reference to them.
2. Develop classroom consonant blend anchor charts with lists of the brainstormed words. Display.
3. Have fun writing tongue twisters with the targeted blends. For example,
   Bridget brushes her brother’s brain.
   Students write and illustrate.
4. Play oral language games such as “I went shopping and I bought a ….plate, plug, plant, plane etc”
5. Cover the faces of a large die with a range of consonant blends. Students roll the die, make the consonant blend sounds and suggest/draw/write a word that begins with the targeted blends. Students find examples of the targeted consonant blends when reading independently. Mark with a sticky note and share with the class at the lesson conclusion.

  (Hill, 2015, p. 249; Hill, 2016, p.52)                                                                                         

References

Hill, S. (2015). Developing early literacy: Assessment and teaching. (2nd ed.). South Yarra, Australia: Eleanor Curtain Publishing                                                                                         

Hill, S. (2016). The Next Step: Developing Early Literacy-Resources for developing reading and writing according to identified needs (AlphaAssess). South Yarra, Australia: Eleanor Curtain Publishing.                                                                                         

Lesson overview

This lesson is an example of how a teacher may use a traditional tale such as This Old Man (see words below) to teach phonic elements. Depending on the students and their learning needs, the lesson focus would vary (for example, silent letters, common long vowels, vowel digraphs, consonant digraphs, consonant blends). Appropriate metalanguage should be introduced to students prior to the lesson.                                                                                         

This lesson in this instance provides an example on how to explicitly teach two phonic elements: the split digraph which makes a common long vowel sound and silent letters (although it is recommended that each element is taught separately). The teacher works with a group of students who would benefit from repetition and overlearning of these phonic elements. The lesson takes the place of a traditional guided reading session (for a small group) or can operate as a mini lesson for a larger group of students and would include:                                                                                         

• explicit teaching of the phonic element
• shared and independent reading of a text containing the targeted phonic element
• a follow up activity to reinforce the new or revised learning.

In addition:                                                                                              

• student running records will inform the classroom teacher of decoding competencies including which phonic elements are known/unknown
• analysis of student writing samples will also provide the teacher with information on which phonic elements students use accurately and which require explicit teaching
•  a traditional tale is chosen to support the focus for the lesson.

Resources required for this lesson include:                                                                                         

• an enlarged version and individual copies of a traditional tale such as This Old Man
• highlighters
• iPads

Victorian curriculum links

English, Reading and Viewing, Language: Phonics and word knowledge                                                                                         

Level 2: Recognise most letter-sound matches including silent letters, trigraphs, vowel digraphs and common long vowels, and understand that a sound can be represented by various letter combinations (VCELA218)                                                                                         

English, Writing, Language: Phonics and word knowledge                                                                                         

Level 2: Understand how to use digraphs, long vowels, blends, silent letters and syllabification to spell simple words including compound words (VCELA226)                                                                                         

English, Speaking and Listening, Language: Phonics and word knowledge                                                                                         

Level 2: Identify all standard English phonemes, including short and long vowels, separate sounds in clusters (VCELA239)

Links to Victorian Curriculum - English as an Additional Language (EAL)

Pathway A                                                                                            

Reading and viewing                                                                                            

Level A2                                                                                            

Relate most letters of the alphabet to sounds (VCEALL131)                                                                                         

Level B2                                                                                            

Identify common syllables and patterns within words (VCEALL288)                                                                                         

Learning intention

When decoding a word that contains a silent letter, no sound is made for that letter.                                                                                         

We are learning that a split digraph can make the long vowel sound.                                                                                         

Success criteria

I can identify a word that contains a silent letter.                                                                                         

I can use that knowledge to help me decode the word.                                                                                         

I can highlight examples of split digraphs making the long vowel sound in the text This Old Man.                                                                                         

I can decode a word that contains a split digraph long vowel sound.                                                                                         

Lesson sequence

1. Explain the learning intention and introduce any unfamiliar terms such as silent letter or split digraph (e.g. ‘a-e’, ‘e-e’, ‘i-e’, ‘o-e’, ‘u-e’). Explain their meaning (See High Impact Teaching Strategies - explicit teaching). Contextualise the learning intention by introducing the traditional tale. For example,“Today we are going to read a traditional tale called This Old Man. You may already know it. As we read the tale we are going to be looking for:
   • words that contain silent letters
   • words that contain a long vowel sound and have a split digraph spelling pattern.”
2. Using the enlarged version of the text, read the traditional tale to students for enjoyment and understanding. As a revision, students turn and talk to a partner about what words they heard rhyme.
3. Return to the text and reread. Ask students to:
   • look for words that might contain a silent letter as the text is being read, or
   • look for words that contain a split digraph and make a long vowel sound.
4. Accentuate the words that are examples of each phonic element. For example:
   • silent letters - knick, knack, thumb, whack, knee, bone, came, home, five, hive, nine, spine, give
   • split digraph long vowel sound -  bone, came, home, five, hive, nine, spine.
5. Ask students to identify the words that are examples of the targeted teaching. Highlight examples in the enlarged text with coloured markers. Discuss the examples. For example:
   • How would you decode the word ‘thumb’ and ‘whack’? Which part is silent? How would you decode the word ‘come’ and ‘give’. Which part is silent?
   • Which words contain a split digraph and make a long vowel sound? How would you decode them? What are the spelling patterns? Why doesn’t ‘give’ make the long vowel sound? (Discuss phonic exceptions and the importance of reading in context to establish meaning.)
6. Give students an individual copy of This Old Man. Using a coloured highlighter, students mark all the words with:
   • a silent letter
   • contain a split digraph and make a long vowel sound.
7. As students highlight, check understanding of the targeted teaching with individual students. It is recommended that students store their individual copy of This Old Man in a display folder with other phonic and phonological awareness examples. It can be reread during independent reading time.
8. Students use an iPad to investigate words that contain:
   • silent letters. Students record any found examples in their reading response book.
   • a split digraph which makes a long vowel sound. Students record any found examples in their reading response book.
9. Share examples with the group and compile some anchor charts.
10. Return to the success criteria:
    • Can students identify a word that contains a silent letter? Can they decode it accurately? How might they use this knowledge to help them with their reading? Writing?
    • Can students give an example of a word in the traditional tale This Old Man that makes a long vowel sound and has a split digraph spelling? Can they decode a word that contains a long vowel sound with split digraph spelling? How might they use this knowledge to help them with their reading? Writing?

Going further

• During shared reading, ensure enlarged texts contain the targeted phonic elements and make explicit reference to them.
• Students find examples of the targeted phonic elements when reading independently. Mark with a sticky note and share with the class at the lesson conclusion. Are there any exceptions?
• Choose guided reading texts that contain examples of the explicitly taught phonic elements to practise new learning.
• Conduct some research into the history of silent letters. The Word Spy (2008) (by Ursula Dubosarsky and illustrated by Tohby Riddle, published by Penguin Random House Australia) explains the history of silent letters, and the influence of the printing press on spelling. It also contains interesting facts such as “about 60 per cent of words in English have a silent letter in them” (Dubosarsky, 2008, p.25).
• Make spelling lists of silent letters and display as anchor charts or classroom references.

This Old Man (Words and music traditional)

This old man, he played one,
He played knick-knack on my thumb
Knick-knack paddy whack
Give the dog the bone
This old man came rolling home.

This old man, he played two
He played knick-knack on my shoe
Knick-knack paddy whack
Give the dog the bone
This old man came rolling home.

This old man, he played three
He played knick-knack on my knee
Knick-knack paddy whack
Give the dog the bone
This old man came rolling home.

This old man, he played four
He played knick-knack on my door
Knick-knack paddy whack
Give the dog the bone
This old man came rolling home.

This old man, he played five
He played knick-knack on my hive
Knick-knack paddy whack
Give the dog the bone
This old man came rolling home.

This old man, he played six
He played knick-knack with some sticks
Knick-knack paddy whack
Give the dog the bone
This old man came rolling home.

This old man, he played seven
He played knick-knack up in Heaven
Knick-knack paddy whack
Give the dog the bone
This old man came rolling home.

This old man, he played eight
He played knick-knack on my gate
Knick-knack paddy whack
Give the dog the bone
This old man came rolling home.

This old man, he played nine
He played knick-knack on my spine
Knick-knack paddy whack
Give the dog the bone
This old man came rolling home.

This old man, he played ten
He played knick-knack once again
Knick-knack paddy whack
Give the dog the bone
This old man came rolling home.

Text details

Bancroft, B. (2013) Remembering Lionsville, Allen and Unwin Children’s books, Imprint of Allen and Unwin.                                                                                          

Lesson overview

This lesson presumes that students have read the indigenous memoir text Remembering Lionsville by Bronwyn Bancroft for enjoyment and understanding. Students will be required to revisit the known text to investigate the long vowel sound /ē/. Appropriate metalanguage should be introduced to students prior to the lesson.                                                                                         

The teacher will reread the text so that students can listen and identify words that contain the /ē/ sound. Afterwards they will work in pairs or small groups to visually identify and annotate a section of the text that contains the letter patterns (graphemes) that represent the /ē/ sound (phoneme).                                                                                         

In this text the long vowel sound /ē/ is represented by the graphemes and digraphs:                                                                                         

• e as in emu
• e-e as in these
• ee as in creek
• ea as in clean
• y as in story
• eo as in people
• ey as in valley
• ie as in carries
• ei as in receive

Links to curriculum

Victorian curriculum (English), Reading and Viewing, Language: Phonics and word knowledge Level 3: Understand how to apply knowledge of letter-sound relationships, and blending and segmenting to read and use more complex words with less common consonant and vowel clusters (VCELA249)                                                                                         

Victorian Curriculum (English), Writing, Language: Phonics and word knowledge Level 3: Understand how to use letter-sound relationships and less common letter combinations to spell words (VCELA263)                                                                                         

Level 4: Understand how to use phonic generalisations to identify and write words with more complex letter patterns (VCELA294)

Links to Victorian Curriculum - English as an Additional Language (EAL)

Pathway A                                                                                            

Reading and Viewing                                                                                            

Level A2                                                                                            

• Use knowledge of letters and sounds to read a new word or locate key words (VCEALL132)

Level B1                                                                                            

• Read some familiar words and phrases (VCEALL286)

Learning intention

We are learning that there are many letter combinations which can make the long vowel sound /ē/.                                                                                         

Success criteria

I can identify words in Remembering Lionsville that contain the long vowel /ē/ sound.                                                                                         

I can contribute to a group list showing the different letter combinations for the long vowel /ē/ sound by adding at least one example from my notebook or from the annotated page of the text.                                                                                         

Lesson sequence

1. Clearly explain the learning intention.
2. Reread the text and ask students to listen for words that contain the sound /ē/. As they hear words, jot them down on an individual whiteboard, iPad or notebook.
3. Turn and talk to a partner about their list. What do they notice about the spelling patterns of those words? Discuss with the whole group. Ask students where they hear the long vowel /ē/ sound?
4. In small groups, give students a copy of one of the pages in the text. Ask them to decode the words on the page and highlight words that contain the long vowel sound /ē/.
5. Once words are identified, make a group list. Ask small groups to identify the spelling pattern that makes the long vowel /ē/ sound from their investigation. Other examples from classroom wordlists or independent reading material may also be sourced for examples.
6. Return to the success criteria. Ask group members to give each other feedback on their contribution to the list and select one member to report back to the whole class.
7. Return to the whole class. Students share their investigations. From the discussion, the teacher makes a class anchor chart with all the spelling combinations for the long vowel /ē/ sound. For example,
   Discuss what an ‘exception’ is. Were there examples of the same letter combination making a different sound (e.g. eating and steak, these and were)?

Differentiated practice

• During group work the teacher scaffolds students who might have difficulty decoding the text by working with a small group.
• Pairs can be of mixed ability containing a more confident decoder and a student who listens for the target long vowel /ē/ sound.
• Once letter combinations for the long vowel /ē/ sound are identified, students continue to find other examples in their shared and independent reading texts over the week and add to classroom lists.
• Once letter combinations for the long vowel sound /ē/ are identified, extension groups might locate other words in the text that contain the same letter patterns but make different sounds (e.g. eating and steak, these and were). Why do they notice about the words and letter combinations (e.g. surrounding letters in the word, placement of the word in the sentence, or word origin)?

Links to the curriculum

Victorian Curriculum (English): Reading and Viewing-Phonics and word   knowledge                                                                                         

Foundation: Recognise all upper- and lower-case letters and the most common sound that each letter represents

Links to Victorian Curriculum - English as an Additional Language (EAL)

Pathway A                                                                                            

Reading and Viewing                                                                                            

Level A1                                                                                            

• Recognise some letters of the alphabet (VCEALL049)
• Identify some sounds in words (VCEALL050)

Level A2                                                                                            

• Recognise all letters of the alphabet (VCEALL130)
• Relate most letters of the alphabet to sounds (VCEALL131)

Lesson overview

This lesson is an example of how a new grapheme and its common sound can be introduced to students                                                                                         

Group size: Whole class                                                                                         

Learning intention

• We are learning that the letter 's' can make a /s/  sound.
• We are listening carefully to words to hear the initial sound  /s/

Success criteria

I can recognise the letter s.                                                                                         

I can write the grapheme 's' and draw pictures/write words that start with 's'.                                                                                           

I can recognise words in stories with the initial sound of /s/  aurally

Resources required

• Access to YouTube: Geraldine Giraffe:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUmUpf-JNoU
• A text that contains examples of vocabulary with the initial letter 's' e.g. How to Catch a Star by Oliver Jeffers (2004)
• Blank half scrapbook or  workbook

Lesson sequence

1. Clearly articulate the learning  intention:
   • Today we are learning about the letter 's' and the /s/ sound.  We will find words that start with the letter 's' and  make the /s/ sound. We are going to start collecting words so we can create a letters, sounds and word book. The first words/pictures we will add to our books will be words starting with the letter or grapheme 's'. Grapheme is another name for a letter shape.
2. Video clip about grapheme, for example, Geraldine Giraffe:  
   • Let’s watch Geraldine Giraffe practice the letter s sound. She is going to find some things around her house that start with this sound.
   • When we hear the /s/ we are going to say it aloud and draw an 's 'in the air. Model this using the index finger. Make sure you use the hand you write with.
3. After the video clip, bring children’s attention to the whiteboard/easel with a plain A3 piece of paper attached. Write the letter 's' at the top then ask the children to recall some of the 's' objects Geraldine the Giraffe found starting with /s/ e.g. sunglasses, scarf, spoon, stinky smelly sock:
   • Draw a picture of the object then writing the word next to it, saying the word as you write it.
4. Ask students to pretend they are Geraldine Giraffe and look for things around the classroom that start with the /s/ sound. Encourage students to share the objects and reinforce the /s/ sound. Record (draw and write) these objects on the A3 poster too (e.g. scissors, sticky tape,  Sam, Sundus, seat, smile...) and   display.
5. Students then work individually. Ask them to write the letter 's' in their letter, sound and word book and draw or   write some pictures and/or words from the poster or their own examples. Children requiring support may work in a small group with the teacher to complete this task.   
6. Students return to the whole group. Read a story with a number of words starting with /s/. Encourage children to put their hands on their head when they hear/see a word starting with  /s/
   • How to Catch a Star by Oliver Jeffers (2004) = star, stars, seek, sky, sunrise, sat, some, sun, saw, still, spaceship, seagull, something, sand
   • Ask students to record (draw and/or write) one of the words they heard from the story into their letter, sound and word book. Model by adding a picture and word to the A3 poster. Ensure the poster is displayed in the classroom   to support future reading and writing sessions.

Going further

This activity can be repeated: s, a, t, p, i, n - This order of introduction of graphemes is one suggestion as this sequence allows for the introduction of blending and segmenting of numerous words e.g. sat, pat, tap, pin, pit, pan, tan, tin, it, at, is, in.                                                                                         

Differentiated practice

Cut out pictures of different objects from magazines that start with the initial letter.                                                                                         

Unit overview

Sample phonic unit on how to introduce the grapheme ‘p’ and its phoneme /p/                                                                                       

There are many different approaches to the teaching of phonics reflected in the practices teachers choose to use with their students and their specific learning needs. Regardless of which approach is employed, it must contain the following:                                                                                       

• explicit teaching of the grapheme and phoneme
• multiple exposures to the grapheme and phoneme through meaningful texts
• multiple exposures to the grapheme and phoneme through meaningful contexts
• systematic teaching of graphemes and phonemes based on what students need to learn (e.g. known knowledge versus new knowledge. Do not teach what students already know - build on known knowledge)
• explicit links to handwriting and how the upper and lower case grapheme is represented

This unit of work is an example of how a teacher might introduce a new grapheme and its common phoneme in a Foundation classroom.                                                                                       

Links to the curriculum

Victorian Curriculum (English), Reading and Viewing, Language: Phonics and word knowledge                                                                                       

Foundation: Recognise all upper- and lower-case letters and the most common sound that each letter represents (VCELA146)                                                                                       

Victorian Curriculum (English), Reading and Viewing, Literacy: Interpreting, analysing, evaluating                                                                                       

Foundation: Read texts with familiar structures and features, practicing phrasing and fluency, and monitor meaning using concepts about print and emerging phonic, semantic, contextual and grammatical knowledge (VCELY152)                                                                                       

Victorian Curriculum (English), Writing, Language: Phonics and word knowledge                                                                                       

Foundation: Understand that spoken sounds and words can be written and know how to write some high-frequency words and other familiar words including their name (VCELA157)                                                                                       

Victorian Curriculum (English), Writing, Literacy: Creating texts Foundation: Understand that sounds in English are represented by upper- and lower-case letters that can be written using learned letter formation patterns for each case (VCELY162)                                                                                       

Victorian Curriculum (English), Speaking and Listening, Language: Phonics and word knowledge                                                                                       

Foundation: Identify rhyming words, alliteration patterns, syllables and some sounds (phonemes) in spoken words (VCELA168)                                                                                       

Victorian Curriculum (English), Speaking and Listening, Literacy: Interacting with others                                                                                       

Foundation: Listen to and respond orally to texts and to the communication of others in informal and structured classroom situations using interaction skills, including listening, while others speak (VCELY174).

Links to Victorian Curriculum - English as an Additional Language (EAL)

Pathway A                                                                                            

Speaking and Listening                                                                                          

Level A1                                                                                          

• Negotiate simple social or learning activities (VCEALC003)

Reading and Viewing                                                                                            

• Recognise some letters of the alphabet (VCEALL049)
• Identify some sounds in words (VCEALL050)
• Recognise some common letters and letter patterns in words (VCEALL051)

Speaking and Listening                                                                                          

Level A2                                                                                            

• Respond appropriately in a range of common social and classroom situations (VCEALC084)

Reading and Viewing                                                                                            

• Relate most letters of the alphabet to sounds (VCEALL131)
  

Resources required

Texts that support the introduced grapheme ‘p’ and its phoneme /p/ such as:                                                                                       

• The Paperbag Princess by Robert Munsch and illustrated by Michael Martchenko (Annick Press, 1992)
• Pig the Pug by Aaron Blabey (Scholastic, 2014)
• Possum Magic -30th Birthday Edition by Mem Fox and illustrated by Julie Vivas (HMH Books for Young Readers, 1983) YouTube access: www.youtube.com/watch?v=BboBeS-vhjg
• Mix a Pancake traditional nursery rhyme by Christina Rossetti
• Pancake recipe

Possible teaching sequence (over several lessons)

1. Explicitly introduce the grapheme ‘p’ (upper and lower case) and the phoneme /p/
2. Read/view a text such as Possum Magic by Mem Fox and illustrated by Julie Vivas:
• Ask students to listen for the /p/ sound. As they hear the sound write the grapheme in the air with their finger (e.g. model this to students first by standing with your back to them so that they can easily see the correct starting points and formation)
• If using an enlarged text, students locate all upper and lower case ‘p’ graphemes in the text
• Innovate on the alliteration in the story (e.g. In Perth they ate pears, pizza and pickled peppers). Write these examples for students modelling the ‘p’ grapheme and sound. Illustrate and display in classroom.
3. Identify objects with the initial sound /p/ including any student names. With students, compile an anchor chart of words with the initial sound /p/ (known words and from the classroom environment):
• Write all the student names on cards and match names to the relevant students. Investigate how many students have a ‘p’ grapheme in their name. Discuss were the ‘p’ grapheme comes in their name and their sounds (/p/ made by ‘p’ or ‘pp’ or /f/ made by ph)
4. Teach the nursery rhyme Mix a Pancake with an enlarged version of the text. Students view one of the many YouTube clips of the rhyme and/or learn the actions to accompany the rhyme:
   • Identify the upper and lower case ‘p’ graphemes.
   • Give students an individual copy of Mix a Pancake to include in a display folder. This can be revisited and read during independent reading time.
   • Students circle all the upper and lower case ‘p’ graphemes on their individual copy.
   • Choral reading-Students work in groups of 4 or 5 to reread the poem together. As they are practising, the group can work on possible actions, sounds effects (may be with musical instruments) or prosody to highlight the phoneme /p/ and make their version interesting. Present to classmates.
   • Students clap along to the rhythm of the text identifying the pattern of the rhyme. Discuss what words contain one clap (e.g. single syllable ‘mix’, ‘stir’ or two syllables ‘pancake’). Introduce this metalanguage.
   • Innovate on the rhyme by asking students to think of other action verbs that could be used instead of mix, stir, pop, flip, toss and catch such as_________the pancake,_________the pancake,_________it in the pan,_________the pancake,_________the pancake,_________it if you can.
5. Make pancakes as a language experience:
   • Display an enlarged text of a pancake recipe. Discuss the organisation and purpose of the non-fiction text. Highlight all the words that start with grapheme ‘p’.
   • While making pancakes, reuse words that have the initial phoneme /p/ (e.g. pancake, procedure, pour). Explicitly link the /p/ phoneme to the grapheme.
   • Write a wall story or classroom text on Making Pancakes. Explicitly focus on the ‘p’ grapheme and /p/ phoneme during modelled or shared writing.
   • Make individual Language Experience books. Students highlight the ‘p’ grapheme in the sentence/s they write. House individual Language Experience books in student book boxes to be read during independent reading.
6. Read Pig the Pug by Aaron Blabey:
   • Students identify upper and lower case initial /p/ graphemes in words (e.g. Pig, pug, paw, puff, pile). Write these words on cards with other words from the text. Students sort words by their initial letter looking for ‘p’ grapheme. A further sort could be words that contain 3 letters, 4 letters etc. Revise notion of letter and word.
   • Identify words in the text that rhyme with pig such as ‘wig’. Articulate both words to students and ask them to identify the part of both words that sounds the same. Ask them to think of other words that sound like or rhyme with ‘pig’ accepting real and made up words.
   • Make the word ‘pig’ with magnetic letters on a whiteboard or via an interactive whiteboard. Break the one syllable word into its onset ‘p’ and rime ’ig’. Provide other onsets (e.g. w, f, d, w, b, tw) and manually remove the grapheme ‘p’ and substitute with another onset. Make new words and explicitly show how knowing the word ‘pig’ can help readers and writers ‘know’ other words that look and sound like it.
7. Read The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch and illustrated by Michael Martchenko:
   • As the teacher reads the text, students write the grapheme ‘p’ on their whiteboard every time they hear a word that begins with the initial sound /p/. Before beginning reading, explicitly teach and model the correct handwriting formation for upper and lower case ‘p’, keeping in mind correct grip.
   • Students make a paper bag princess or prince puppet. Whilst decorating the paper bag puppets, orally reinforce the grapheme and phoneme.
   • Students work with a partner to retell the story from the two different perspectives. One from the prince and the other from the point of view of the paper bag princess. The listener claps every time they hear a word that begins with the phoneme /p/.
8. Students search their own texts to find words that contain the initial letter ‘p’. Students find examples of words that begin with upper and lower case ‘p’ words. Revise the use of the metalanguage upper and lower case and its purpose. Students also look for ‘p’ graphemes within a word or end in the grapheme ‘p’. Record, share and add to class anchor chart.
9. Students participate in activities that involve repetition and multiple exposures of the grapheme and phoneme ‘p’ such as:
   • locating all the 'p' graphemes in their guided/shared reading text by using sticky notes as they read
   • identifying upper and lower case p graphemes in a pile of magnetic letters
   • identifying and cutting out words that contain p graphemes in magazines
   • play ‘I spy with my little eye something beginning/ending with /p/’and its phoneme /p/

Links to the curriculum

Victorian Curriculum (English) Writing: Phonics and word knowledge                                                                                       

Level 6: Understand how to use banks of known words, word origins, base words, prefixes, suffixes, spelling patterns and generalisations to read and spell new words, including technical words and words adopted from other languages (VCELA354).                                                                                       

Links to Victorian Curriculum - English as an Additional Language (EAL)

Pathway B                                                                                          

Reading and Viewing                                                                                            

Level B1                                                                                            

• Build a vocabulary that draws on words of interest, topic words and sight words (VCEALL287)
• Identify common syllables and patterns within words (VCEALL288)

Writing                                                                                          

Level B2                                                                                          

• Use modelled vocabulary appropriately (VCEALL395)

Level B3                                                                                          

• Spell most words accurately, drawing on a range of strategies but with some invented spelling still evident (VCEALL477)

Resources

Text containing Greek origins such as Percy Jackson and the Greek Heroes by R. Riordan (2004, UK: Puffin).                                                                                        

Examples of words of Greek origins and Advanced (Tier 2/3) vocabulary e.g. claustrophobic, technically, prophecy, chaos, swaddling                                                                                       

Group size

Small group                                                                                       

Learning intention

We are learning how words of Greek origin influence today's English.                                                                                       

We are developing our ability to use phonic knowledge to recognise increasingly complex  words.                                                                                       

Success criteria

I can recognise patterns in words of Greek origin. I can find additional words that fit these patterns.

Lesson sequence

1. Clearly articulate the learning intention:
   • We are going to continue reading about Greek Gods. A good example of a name of Greek origin is a character from the book - Persephone. We can use our existing understanding that 'ph' makes a /f/ sound and that an 'e' on the end of a word of Greek origin sometimes makes a long sound = per-sef-on-ee. Let's continue reading and see if there are some other words that fit this pattern.
   • If possible, provide students with copies of the book or make a copy of the text that students can read along with.
2. Read the text to the students, stopping to discuss pronunciation of words of Greek origin as appropriate. e.g. 'y' sometimes makes a long 'i' sound e.g.'cyclops', 'Hyperion' and sometimes a short 'i' sound e.g  'Olympus', and  'Dionysus'
3. Other 'ph' words in the text - Aphrodite, prophecy, Delphi, claustrophobic, photograph
4. After reading, ask students to record some of the words that show these letter-sound patterns.
5. As a group, brainstorm other words from existing knowledge that could be added e.g. telephone, graph, cipher, philosophy e.g. cycle, Cypress vs cymbals, circle

Going further

This activity links to developing understanding of Greek morphemes. Other letter-sound patterns from Greek word origins include:                                                                                       

• 'ch' = /k/ - e.g. chaos, stomach, chronology, technical
• 'ps' = /s/ - e.g. psychic, pseudonym, psychology

Differentiated practice

• Differentiation to address diverse groups of studentsRefer to the word 'cylops' from the text. Using a dictionary, finds words that begin the spelling 'cy.....'. Depending on student knowledge and skills, model how to locate words in a dictionary, first looking for the initial letter, then the second, and so on (reference to an alphabet strip may help with alphabetical order). Students could work with a partner if new to this task. List the words such as: cycle, Cypress, cylinder, cyclone, cyclist, cymbal, cyanide, cyst. Ask students to pronounce each word or model the pronunciation for students. What do they notice? How would they sort words according to pronunciation? Discuss the meanings of each word.
• Use some cards with written words containing the initial letter 'c' (one word per card). Include words with the soft and hard sound (e.g. circle, circuit, cinema, centre, centimetre, century, cemetery, cyclone, cycle, cake, climb, cobra, concert, etc). Undertake a word sort and discuss with students how they sorted the words. Depending on the learning needs of students either explicitly teach the difference between the soft and hard sound for the letter 'c' and the common spelling rule (e.g. when c is followed by e, i, or y, it usually makes the /s/ sound as in cent) or ask students to develop a spelling rule based on their sort. Can they find other words that fit the fact? Are there exceptions?
• Refer to the word 'Persephone' from the text and revise the spelling combination 'ph' making a /f/ sound. Using sticky notes ask students to locate 'ph' words in their text as they read independently. Depending on the student this may just be a focus on initial letters or could include placement across the word. After reading, students can share and add their identified words to a classroom word list. Does the letter sound generalisation always work?