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There are 44 English phonemes (letter sounds) that are represented by the 26 letters of the alphabet individually and in combination. Phonics instruction involves teaching the relationship between sounds and the letters used to represent them. There are hundreds of spelling alternatives that can be used to represent the 44 English phonemes. Teachers use the Little Learners Love Literacy scope and sequence to road map the sequence of lessons. Students are taught the letter-sound correspondence that then match decodable books they will be reading. The scope and sequence is only a guide. Depending on a student's learning ability will depend on how quickly they move through the lessons.
Once students have completed this series of lessons, they move onto the traditional method of Reading - Whole Language which supports them to read text to learn.
At Mihi School we use Little Learners Love Literacy decodable texts to assist with the learning and Phonics Plus texts to practise new sounds learnt.
Students are not expected to write until they can confidently sound letters, form letter shapes, and write words in meaningful sentences. This is all taught throughout their literacy lessons with the teacher. Their lessons will consist of letter sounds (phonemes), forming or writing the shape (grapheme), blending (joining one or more sounds to read a word), segmenting (breaking the word into individual letter sounds), writing words, dictation of words or sentences, and reading corresponding books but only when the new learning is known.
Once students are confident to blend sounds together to read fluently, they move onto The Code.
The Code teaches spelling rules to students of all ages aiming to improve fluency in reading and confidence in writing. Through consistent instruction and regular review of spelling rules on a daily basis, the knowledge is solidified in the students minds. Continuous practise and review contribute to improving spelling skills and accuracy. This is tracked by the classroom teacher and interventions are put in place when a spelling rule has not been solidified. The teachers observe the use of the rules in daily writing lessons as well as testing to see that rules are being used correctly.
Decodable texts are sent home to consolidate these rules when needed.
How You Can Help in Home
Books are sent home once a week. These can be read more than once throughout the week in order to improve fluency and confidence. There will be texts to read for fluency and text to read for decoding practice.
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