Literacy Teaching Toolkit

Level 2: An integrated language unit of work teaching rhyme and spelling patterns

Unit overview

This unit of work, which takes place across five lessons presents a scaffolded approach to teaching the spelling patterns of rhymes. Rhyming words may contain the same spelling pattern or different spelling patterns, even though the word endings sound the same. The unit focuses on listening and recording rhymes. In these lessons, the teacher teaches spelling patterns and supports students to analyse them. The teacher supports students to use rhyming pairs to create a short poem. This unit of work focuses on:

  • Teaching phonological awareness
  • The use of rhyming narratives for reading engagement and enjoyment
  • Using rhymes to support reading fluency and phrasing
  • Attending to spelling patterns of words with regular and irregular spelling
  • Using spelling knowledge to write rhymes
  • Creating short poems.

Additionally, this unit of work addresses:

  • Student talk for collaboration
  • Engaging comprehension strategies
  • Using mentor texts for writing
  • Using explicit and scaffolded teaching to support all learners.

Text: This unit of work draws on a text to support learning.

  • The Thing That Goes Ping! by Mark Carthew and Shane McGowan. Copyright ©2021, Abbotsford, Australia: Ford Street Publishing. fordstreetpublishing.com
The Thing That Goes Ping

Lesson 1: Reading for engagement and enjoyment

Victorian Curriculum links

Level 2

Understand that different types of texts have identifiable text structures and language features that help the text serve its purpose (VCELA212)

Identify visual representations of characters’ actions, reactions, speech and thought processes in narratives, and consider how these images add to or contradict or multiply the meaning of accompanying words (VCELA215)

Read familiar and some unfamiliar texts with phrasing and fluency by combining phonic, semantic, contextual and grammatical knowledge using text processing strategies, including monitoring meaning, predicting, rereading and self-correcting (VCELY221)

Identify language that can be used for appreciating texts and the qualities of people and things (VCELA236)

Identify aspects of different types of literary texts that entertain, and give reasons for personal preferences (VCELT241)

Identify, reproduce and experiment with rhythmic, sound and word patterns in poems, chants, rhymes and songs (VCELT243)

English as an Additional Language (EAL)

Pathway A: Early immersion

Level A2: Demonstrate active listening and follow speech (VCEALC083)

Level A2: Predict meaning from context in simple interactions or spoken texts (VCEALC086)

Level A2: Identify a number of spoken text types and forms (VCEALL097)

Level A2: Repeat or modify a sentence or phrase, modelling rhythm, intonation and pronunciation on the speech of others (VCEALL109)

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

Level A2: Use knowledge of context, text structure and language to understand literal and inferred meanings (VCEALC114)

Level A2: Read familiar phrases and sentences with fluency (VCEALL128)

Learning intention

We are learning to identify the features that authors use to make reading interesting, engaging and enjoyable.

Success criteria

I can talk about features in a text that authors use to engage the reader.

I can use rhymes to help me read fluently.

Resources required

  • The Thing That Goes Ping! By Mark Carthew and Shane McGowan. Copyright ©2021, Abbotsford, Australia: Ford Street Publishing. fordstreetpublishing.com
  • Two pages of enlarged text from the book, for shared reading.

Group size

Whole group and small group

Lesson sequence

  1. The teacher introduces the learning intention and success criteria.
  2. Look at the front cover of the text The Thing That Goes Ping! by Mark Carthew and Shane McGowan. Use the expressions and body language of the animals on the front cover to consider how the animals might be feeling or thinking.
  3. Examine the end papers which show several birds and minibeasts (see Teacher’s Notes @ https://fordstreetpublishing.com/book/the-thing-that-goes-ping/ ). The illustrator has included these in the front and back double page spread. Students will be able to return to the book to find the birds and minibeasts hidden in the illustrations.
  4. Read the text to the students.
  5. Use question prompts to list the linguistic and visual features the author and illustrator have used to engage the reader.
  6. Record students’ responses on the whiteboard, so that a list of linguistic and textual features is created. Linguistic features may include:
  • The use of rhymes
  • The use of alliteration
  • Sounds animals make (through the use of onomatopoeia).

Visual features may include:

  • Bright illustrations
  • Animals dressed as people.
  • Double pages creating a scene.
  1. Students talk in small groups and share the aspects of the text they found engaging.
  2. Re-visit the front cover and discuss how the title helps the reader prepare for the rhyming style of the text.
  3. Model selected pages to highlight fluency and phrasing. Use shared reading with the enlarged selected pages to discuss how the rhymes help the reader to read with fluency and phrasing and impacts reading enjoyment.
  4. Students work with a partner to practice reading aloud with fluency and phrasing.
  5. Revisit success criteria.

Lesson 2: Spelling patterns in words that rhyme

Victorian Curriculum links

Level 2

Understand that different types of texts have identifiable text structures and language features that help the text serve its purpose (VCELA212)

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)

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

Manipulate more complex sounds in spoken words through knowledge of blending and segmenting sounds, phoneme deletion and substitution (VCELA238)

English as an Additional Language (EAL)

Pathway A: Early immersion

Level A2: Follow a short sequence of instructions related to classroom procedures or learning activities (VCEALC088)

Level A2: Identify key words and ideas from short, familiar spoken texts supported by context (VCEALL107)

Level A2: Use words learnt from a range of classroom and social contexts (VCEALL108)

Level A2, Speaking and Listening, Phonology

Level A2: Identify and produce phonemes in blends or clusters at the beginning and end of syllables (VCEALL110)

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

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

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

Learning intention

We are learning to identify the spelling patterns of rhyming words.

Success criteria

I can match rhyming words with regular spelling patterns.

I can match rhyming words with irregular spelling patterns.

Resources required (if relevant)

  • The Thing That Goes Ping! By Mark Carthew and Shane McGowan. Copyright ©2021, Abbotsford, Australia: Ford Street Publishing. fordstreetpublishing.com
  • Flashcards with rhyming words from the text. thing/ping/ring, hen/pen, frog/bog/dog/log, snake/lake, cow/now/somehow, chat/pat, seen/green, duck/truck/luck, sty/eye/try, along/pong, hay/way/day/bay, know/go, loud/crowd, bear/there, aware/bear, lamb/dam
  • Flashcards with rhyming words from outside of the text. For example, slog, string, bring, swing, spring, brake, stray, sheen, scow, splat, struck, slow, crow, sly and words with more difficult spelling patterns such as though, ago, hello, owe to match with know/go and to match with bear/there/aware such as stair/stare/spare/square/prayer/repair.

Group size

Small group of students who are consolidating their knowledge of common spelling patterns

Lesson sequence

  1. The teacher introduces the learning intention and success criteria, then asks students to listen carefully to the teacher.
  2. Re-read The Thing That Goes Ping! By Mark Carthew and Shane McGowan. Pause for a few seconds at the end of each page to allow students to record some of the rhyming words they hear on white boards.
  3. Students compare their list of rhyming words with a partner.
  4. Provide students with cards representing rhyming words found in the text. These can include: thing/ping/ring, hen/pen, frog/bog/dog/log, snake/lake, cow/now/somehow, chat/pat, seen/green, duck/truck/luck, sty/eye/try, along/pong, hay/way/day/bay, know/go, loud/crowd, bear/there, aware/bear, lamb/dam. Students match the rhyming words.
  5. Examine the words that have regular spelling patterns, such as hen/pen and those with irregular spelling patterns, such as loud/crowd.
  6. Students use counters or markers to mark the part of the word that shows the rhyme, for example, ake in snake and lake.
  7. Revisit the success criteria, then give students new words from outside of the text to match with their pile of previously sorted regular spelling patterns. Select words with consonant clusters, so that attention can be drawn to blending letters. For example, slog, string, bring, swing, spring, brake, stray, sheen, scow, splat, struck, slow, crow, sly.
  8. For groups of students who have consolidated their understanding of common letter patterns, provide new words from outside the text that contain irregular spelling patterns that rhyme with their pile of previously sorted words. For example, though, ago, hello, owe to match with know/go and to match with bear/there/aware stair, stare, spare, square, prayer, repair.
  9. Students engage in a word hunt using books and other text sources in the room to investigate a rhyme pattern.
  10. Revisit success criteria.

Lesson 3: Spelling patterns and onomatopoeia

Victorian Curriculum links

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)

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

Identify language that can be used for appreciating texts and the qualities of people and things (VCELA236)

Manipulate more complex sounds in spoken words through knowledge of blending and segmenting sounds, phoneme deletion and substitution (VCELA238)

Identify all Standard Australian English phonemes, including short and long vowels, separate sounds in clusters (VCELA239)

Identify, reproduce and experiment with rhythmic, sound and word patterns in poems, chants, rhymes and songs (VCELT243)

English as an Additional Language (EAL)

Pathway A: Early immersion

Level A2: Identify key words and ideas from short, familiar spoken texts supported by context (VCEALL107)

Level A2: Identify and produce phonemes in blends or clusters at the beginning and end of syllables (VCEALL110)

Level A2: Show interest in patterns of spelling (VCEALA147)

Learning intention

We are learning how authors represent sounds (phonemes) in the world through their writing.

Success criteria

I can use my knowledge of letters and spelling patterns to represent the sounds I hear around me.

Resources required

  • The Thing That Goes Ping! By Mark Carthew and Shane McGowan. Copyright ©2021, Abbotsford, Australia: Ford Street Publishing. fordstreetpublishing.com
  • Recording of ice-cream truck music (search via search engine)
  • Musical instruments

Group size

Whole group and small groups

Lesson sequence

  1. The teacher introduces the learning intention and success criteria.
  2. Discuss with students the ending of The Thing That Goes Ping! by Mark Carthew and Shane McGowan, identifying the ice-cream truck as making the ping sound. Use a search engine to find ice-cream truck sounds for students to listen to before they share their own experiences of hearing ice-cream truck sounds. Critique the author’s description of the sound, “Ping! Ting-a-ling! Ping! Ting!”. Ask students to consider other ways of describing the sound.
  3. Students work in small groups and use a range of musical instruments to make sounds. They describe the sounds using or creating onomatopoeic words. For example, clack for the castanets, bing for the triangle, tap for the rhythm sticks, bang for the drum, chook, chook for the sand shaker.
  4. Model the segmenting and blending of digraphs and trigraphs contained within the onomatopoeic words. Students use their knowledge of spelling patterns to represent the sounds and share their spelling with the group.
  5. Select some of the words students have created to represent the sounds of the musical instruments. Conduct a vowel swap and consider how well the new word represents the sound. For example, if a student has written ‘crack’ to represent the sound of the claves, substitute the ‘a’ in crack with another short vowel sound, to make ‘creck’, ‘crick’, ‘crock’ or ‘cruck’ and judge the effectiveness of these new words in terms of how well they represent the sound of the musical instrument.
  6. Students revisit the success criteria and their word list, then substitute vowels to create new words.

Lesson 4: Spelling words with consonant blends, consonant clusters, digraphs, short vowels and long vowels

See Literacy glossary for definitions of consonant blends, consonant clusters and digraphs.

Victorian Curriculum links

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)

Discuss the characters and settings of different texts and explore how language is used to present these features in different ways (VCELT219)

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

Discuss the characters and settings of different texts and explore how language is used to present these features in different ways (VCELT219)

English as an Additional Language (EAL)

Pathway A: Early immersion

Level A2: Follow a short sequence of instructions related to classroom procedures or learning activities (VCEALC088)

Level A2: Participate in class performances of songs, poems and rhymes (VCEALC089)

Level A2: Identify and produce phonemes in blends or clusters at the beginning and end of syllables (VCEALL110)

Level A2: Participate in simple group activities based on shared texts (VCEALA119)

Level A2: Illustrate texts purposefully (VCEALC139)

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

Learning intention

We are learning to use consonant blends, consonant clusters, digraphs and vowels to spell words.

Success criteria

I can accurately write words with consonant blends.

I can accurately write words with consonant clusters.

I can accurately write words with digraphs.

I can accurately write words with short and long vowels.

Resources required

  • The Thing That Goes Ping! By Mark Carthew and Shane McGowan. Copyright ©2021, Abbotsford, Australia: Ford Street Publishing. fordstreetpublishing.com
  • Large paper and markers

Group size

Whole group and partners

Lesson sequence

  1. The teacher introduces the learning intention and success criteria, then asks students to listen carefully to the teacher.
  2. Revisit The Thing That Goes Ping! by Mark Carthew and Shane McGowan and describe the setting in the town of Figgy-tra-ling.
  3. Use the town name to explicitly focus on digraphs, trigraphs, short vowel sounds and long vowel sounds. Students work with a partner and have a large sheet of paper. They write the town name of Figgy-tra-ling. The teacher gives an instruction to swap a part of a word. For example, find a short vowel sound and substitute it with another short vowel sound Figgy-tra-ling could become Foggy-tra-ling. Examples that the teacher could suggest include:
  • Swap a single consonant with a consonant blend
  • Swap a single consonant with a digraph (sh, th, ck, ph, wh)
  • Swap a single consonant with a consonant cluster of three letters
  • Swap ‘ing’ with another three letter rime
  • Swap a short vowel sound with a long vowel sound
  • Swap double letters with another set of double letters.
  1. After each instruction students share their answers and the teacher (or student) write the new town name on the whiteboard. Discuss the choices made and how closely these represent spelling in English. For example, double b is found in English words, but double h is not seen unless they are in compound words.
  2. Students experiment to create and spell new town names.
  3. Students illustrate and write about their new town using words containing consonant blends, consonant clusters, digraphs and short and long vowels.

Lesson 5: Writing short poems with end rhymes

Victorian Curriculum links

Level 2

Understand that different types of texts have identifiable text structures and language features that help the text serve its purpose (VCELA212)

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)

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

Build on familiar texts by experimenting with character, setting or plot (VCELT229)

Understand that spoken, visual and written forms of language are different modes of communication with different features and their use varies according to the audience, purpose, context and cultural background (VCELA234)

Manipulate more complex sounds in spoken words through knowledge of blending and segmenting sounds, phoneme deletion and substitution (VCELA238)

Identify, reproduce and experiment with rhythmic, sound and word patterns in poems, chants, rhymes and songs (VCELT243)

English as an Additional Language (EAL)

Pathway A: Early immersion

Level A2: Demonstrate active listening and follow speech (VCEALC083)

Level A2: Follow a short sequence of instructions related to classroom procedures or learning activities (VCEALC088)

Level A2: Participate in class performances of songs, poems and rhymes (VCEALC089)

Level A2: Understand phrases describing place or location (VCEALL105)

Level A2: Use words learnt from a range of classroom and social contexts (VCEALL108)

Level A2: Repeat or modify a sentence or phrase, modelling rhythm, intonation and pronunciation on the speech of others (VCEALL109)

Level A2: Identify and produce phonemes in blends or clusters at the beginning and end of syllables (VCEALL110)

Level A2: Understand and use the basic features of different texts (VCEALL124)

Level A2: Understand and use a small range of metalanguage for elements of texts (VCEALL125)

Level A2: Write short, simple texts independently (VCEALC136)

Level A2: Contribute to shared writing activities (VCEALA142)

Level A2: Model writing on other texts (VCEALA145)

Level A2: Write sentences and phrases that reflect simple written-like structures (VCEALL152)

Learning intention

We are learning to write simple poetry.

Success criteria

I can create and accurately write words with one or two syllables.

I can use rhymes at the end of sentences to create a short poem.

Resources required

  • The Thing That Goes Ping! By Mark Carthew and Shane McGowan. Copyright ©2021, Abbotsford, Australia: Ford Street Publishing. fordstreetpublishing.com
  • List of rhyming pairs

Group size

Whole class and small groups

Lesson sequence

  1. The teacher introduces the learning intention and success criteria, then asks students to listen carefully to the teacher.
  2. Refer to the previous lesson, where students created their own town. Check to ensure the syllables in the name of the town follow the same pattern as the town of Figgy-tra-ling. The syllable pattern is a two-syllable word, a one syllable word and another one syllable word. The following are examples of town names created using this pattern.
  • Dipsy (two syllables), la (one syllable), gong (one syllable) becomes Dopsy-la-gong.
  • Fizzy (two syllables), con (one syllable), day (one syllable) becomes Freazy-con-day,
  • Tricky (two syllables), blip (one syllable), top (one syllable) becomes Tricky-blip-trop.
  1. Select a town name and identify the last one word syllable. Brainstorm a list of rhyming words for the last word. For example, for the town of Dopsy-la-gong, rhyming words can include strong, pong, long, song. For the town of Frezzy-con-day, rhyming words can include bay, say, may, play, stay, stray.
  2. Students work in small groups to brainstorm rhyming words to match the last syllable of their town name.
  3. Using words from the word list, the teacher uses modelled writing to record the first two lines of a four-line poem, where line 1 and 2 will have a rhyming pair and line 3 and 4 another rhyming pair. For example,

In the happy town of Dopsy-la-gong,

everyone enjoys singing a song.

Or

In the busy town of Frezzy-con-day,

people hurry with no time to play.

  1. Students create the first two lines of their poem, using their brainstormed rhyming words as a guide and share with the class.
  2. Model the creation of lines 3 and 4, referring to a list of rhyming words.
  3. Provide students with a list of rhyming pairs, which they may use to create lines 3 and 4 of their short poem.
  4. Read aloud and display poems and discuss how they demonstrate the success criteria.

Going further

  1. Explore more complex spelling patterns with students.
  2. Provide cloze activities with rhyming words with same spelling patterns (snake/lake) and different spelling patterns (hair/bear).
  3. Support students to read poetry aloud, include poetry that includes onomatopoeia.
  4. Support students to create poems with rhyming words on different lines. For example, poems with every line that rhymes, poems where lines 1 and 3 rhyme, poems where lines 2 and 4 rhyme.
  5. Compare narratives written in verse and those written in prose. Encourage students to talk about their preferences.
  6. The text The Thing That Goes Ping! by Mark Carthew and Shane McGowan offers opportunities for further work with grammar, for example, nouns and adjectives; punctuation, for example, dialogue; and more complex spelling patterns.