1
A Practitioner’s Guide to using
for reading and writing success
2
Published by MJA Publishing Ltd,
190 Paremata Road, Porirua 5024, New Zealand.
www.spelling.co.nz
This book is copyright. Except for the purpose of fair reviewing, no
part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
Infringers of copyright render themselves liable to prosecution.
© 2010 Joy Allcock, MJA Publishing Ltd
The author asserts her moral rights in the work.
ISBN 978-0-9864512-4-9
Design: Stephanie Drew
Printed in Malaysia by Percetakan Jiwabaru Sdn. Bhd.
3
Contents
Successful Literacy Instruction................................................................................ 4
Trouble-shooting Literacy Difficulties.................................................................... 5
Table of Resources....................................................................................................... 6
Vocabulary – Overview.................................................................................................. 7
Vocabulary – Teach ...................................................................................................... 8
Vocabulary – Practice................................................................................................... 9
Vocabulary – Assess.................................................................................................... 10
Phonological Awareness – Overview.........................................................................11
Phonological Awareness – Teach.............................................................................. 12
Phonological Awareness – Practice.......................................................................... 13
Phonological Awareness – Assess............................................................................. 14
Phonics – Overview...................................................................................................... 15
Phonics –Teach............................................................................................................. 16
Phonics – Practice........................................................................................................ 18
Phonics – Assess...........................................................................................................20
Word Structure – Overview..................................................................................... 21
Word Structure – Teach...........................................................................................22
Word Structure – Practice.......................................................................................23
Word Structure – Assess..........................................................................................24
Strategies – Overview................................................................................................25
Strategies – Teach and Practice.............................................................................26
Strategies – Assess....................................................................................................27
Example Lesson: Teaching the Sounds of English...............................................28
Notes..............................................................................................................................35
P
Preschool
S
EP
Early primary
ELL
-b
English language learners – beginners
MP
Middle primary
ELL
-m
English language learners – mastery
UP
Upper primary
AD
Secondary
Adult learners
4
Successful Literacy Instruction
The Word Detective resources have been developed to transfer the results from research into
effective literacy instruction, to classroom practice.
They provide classroom instruction for students and professional development for teachers.
Word Detective resources demonstrate research-based, effective literacy instruction, as well as
providing teachers with knowledge of how written English works.
All students learning to read and write English need
knowledge of and skills with the following:
Strategies
Knowledge of strategies that can
be applied to understand what is being
read and to create texts
Spelling Rules and Conventions
Knowledge of the spelling system that
underpins written English
Morphology
Knowledge of the parts of words that
carry meaning
Orthography
Knowledge of the letters and letter patterns
that represent the sounds of English
Phonological Awareness
Awareness of and the ability to identify, pronounce
and manipulate the sounds of English
Word
structure
Phonics
knowledge
Vocabulary
Knowledge of the meaning and use of the words
of spoken English
Watch Part 1 of the professional development DVD, ‘Take a fresh look at
the way we teach reading and spelling’ by Joy Allcock, which explains this
diagram fully.
5
Trouble-shooting Literacy Difficulties
If students have difficulties acquiring any of the skills or items of knowledge described in the
previous diagram, they may struggle to read and write efficiently. Identifying the nature of a
student’s difficulties is the first step to overcoming them.
Strategies
Lack of knowledge of strategies and
limited knowledge of the previous
steps will limit students’ ability to
become strategic readers and writers
Spelling Rules and Conventions
Lack of knowledge of the English spelling
system will limit students’ ability to
spell words accurately
Morphology
Lack of knowledge of morphemes (prefixes,
suffixes, word roots) will limit students’ ability
to work out the meaning and spelling
of words that have not been seen before
Orthography
Lack of a wide knowledge of orthography means
students will not be able to use the Alphabetic
Code to accurately read and write words that
have not been seen before
Phonological Awareness
Lack of phonological awareness skills means students
will not be able to use the Alphabetic Code to
accurately read and write words that have not
been seen before
Word
structure
Phonics
knowledge
Vocabulary
Lack of knowledge of vocabulary will limit students’
reading comprehension and quality writing
Watch Part 2 of the professional development DVD, ‘Take a fresh look
at the way we teach reading and spelling’ by Joy Allcock, which focuses on
trouble-shooting literacy difficulties.
Sound Frieze
Fun Songs for Literacy and Singing the Sounds
of English Music CDs & booklets
Steps to Success Interactive DVDs
Preschool
Years 1-3
Preschool
Years 1-2
Preschool
Years 1-2
✔
✔
✔
✔
✔
✔
✔
✔
✔
✔
✔
✔
✔
✔
Spelling Under Scrutiny teacher’s guide and two
student activity books
English Spelling Dictionary
Set of two posters – Sounds for Spelling, Vowel
Spelling Patterns
Years
5/6-10+
Years
5/6-10+
My Sound Spelling Dictionary
A3 Class Sound Dictionary posters
Sounds for Spelling, Words for Writing card
Years
6/7-10+
Years 1-4
Preschool
Years 1-3
Years 1-4
Switch on to Spelling – teacher’s guide and four
student activity books
✔
Years
1-5/6+
✔
Sound-Spelling Patterns poster
Word Detective Games Level 1
Preschool
Years 1-2
✔
Years 2-6
High-frequency Word Cards
Preschool
Years 1-4
Include assessments
Search for Sounds and Learn about Letters books
Suitable for English
language learners
Preschool
Years 1-2
Year levels suitable
for:
Prowl for Vowels posters
Use Talking Pen
Preschool
Years 1-3
Knowledge of
morphology,
spelling rules and
conventions
Search for Sounds posters
Comprehension
strategies
Preschool
Years 1-3
High-frequency
word recognition
and retrieval
Word-level Readers levels 9-24
Phonics knowledge,
decoding and
spelling skills
Years
1-3
Phonological and
phonemic awareness
skills
Word-level Readers levels 1-8
Vocabulary and oral
language
Preschool
Years 1-2
6
How Word Detective Resources
support teaching of core literacy skills
and knowledge
✔
✔
✔
✔
✔
✔
Vocabulary
Language skills are central to educational success. In either spoken or written form we use language
to communicate across all curriculum areas.
The following diagram and descriptions are adapted from Priscilla Vail’s 1 Growth of Language ladder.
It shows the developmental acquisition of language. Students must have multi-sensory experiences
to understand how the world works; they must be spoken to, for vocabulary to be acquired; they must
have vocabulary in order to describe things; they must be able to describe things to compare them;
they must be able to compare things in order to categorise them; they must use all these skills to
generalise their knowledge to understand the relationships between things.
The ability to develop concepts
requires the sorting of similarities
and differences and the
recognition of combinations and
patterns which allows the brain
to collect experiences, ideas and
knowledge and use them to solve
problems.
Analogy
Vocabulary
7
Analogy explores relationships
between things. First it
involves seeing the relationship,
second it involves being able to
continue the pattern and third it
involves being able to use these
conceptual patterns to see their
logical extensions.
Categorisation
Skilful comparison depends
on using knowledge of
morphology (pronouns,
plurals, tenses and so
forth) and on orderly
storage of information.
“Language is a key to
information, emotion,
past experience, current
happenings, or future goals. …
Kids with weak language face
serious academic, social, and
emotional penalties.”
(Vail, 1996, p.2.)
Gustatory: The sense of taste
Auditory: The sense of hearing
Visual: The sense of vision
Olfactory: The sense of smell
Tactile: The sense of touch on
the skin
Vestibular: The sense of balance
Proprioception: The sense that
provides an awareness of how the
body operates in space and where
various parts of the body are in
relation to each other
Comparison
Description
Vocabulary
Exposure to words
Multi-sensory experiences
Accurate description requires
the use of words such as:
who, when, why, what, where, how
- markers of time and space –
e.g. early, next, under, over, along, inside
- language of physical properties –
e.g. large, smelly, slippery
- language to describe emotional
connotations –
e.g. best, joyful, dismal
“Humans absorb words
– connecting vocabulary,
experience, and emotion.
If the emotional climate is
warm and nurturing, the child
with intact language capacity
will bring sensory events, the
abstraction of words, and
the coziness of contentment
into a central matrix from
which language will grow.”
(Vail, 1996, p.92.)
Vail, P. (1996). Words Fail Me.
How language develops and what
happens when it doesn’t.
NJ: Modern Learning Press
1
8
TEACH
Vocabulary
RESOURCE
Whole class
instruction
TEACHING IDEAS
Fun Songs for
• Choose songs to meet the listening needs of students. Use the notes in the
Literacy and Singing
accompanying booklet to modify and extend the skills taught in each song.
the Sounds of English • Use songs during other activities – physical education, art lessons, play during
– Music CDs
lunch breaks etc. to provide extra exposure to songs and vocabulary.
P
Steps to Success
interactive DVDs –
Foundation level
ELL
-b
• Use the activities on an interactive whiteboard or through a computer and
data projector. Discuss the pictures and ask students to describe what they
are, how they are used, other names for the same objects etc.
You can use the four DVDs in any order.
P
Word Detective
Games Level 1
EP
EP
ELL
-b
• Use the cards from Word Detective Games Level 1 and pass one out to each
student.
Students then say what their picture is and describe it. Allow other students
to contribute ideas after the original student has finished.
• If the picture card shows an action, explain that we call that word a verb –
a doing word. Ask students for more verbs they know.
• If the picture is a noun, explain the meaning of a noun. It is a naming
word. Ask students for words that would describe the noun – explain that
a describing word is called an adjective – ask students for as many describing
words as they can think of.
ELL
P
Search for Sounds
& Prowl for Vowels
Posters and Talking
Pen
-b
• Divide your class into groups of three or four students. Give each group a
poster and ask them to discuss what is in the poster. If students do not know
some of the items, provide them with the Talking Pen and ask them to listen
to the way the word sounds and to see if they could work out its meaning.
Ask students to come back together and talk about what was happening in
their picture; the item they thought was most interesting/they liked the best;
a new word they learned; if they have had experiences similar to those in the
picture.
• Ask students to write a story about what is happening in their picture or about
something they saw in their poster.
• Use the teacher notes on the back of the posters for extra ideas for building
vocabulary knowledge. Most vocabulary notes are suitable for using with the
whole class.
P
Word-level Readers
EP
EP
ELL
-b
• Use the Word-level Readers to focus on the vocabulary in the stories.
Use accompanying teacher notes for vocabulary development ideas.
Discuss the ideas and words in the story before using it as an instructional
reader for other areas of reading (teaching phonics, comprehension etc)
P
EP
ELL
-b
PRACTICE
Vocabulary
RESOURCE
Small group or
independent
learning
TEACHING IDEAS
Fun Songs for
• Children can use the Talking Pen to listen independently to the songs, using
Literacy and Singing
the Talking Pen and the accompanying booklet.
the Sounds of English
• Put the CD onto the Listening Post as an independent activity, selecting the
– Music CDs, booklet
songs you wish children to learn.
and Talking Pen
P
Steps to Success
interactive DVDs –
Foundation level
EP
ELL
-b
• Allow students to complete the activities independently on computers.
You can use the four DVDs in any order.
P
EP
ELL
-b
• Use games 1-9 to build vocabulary knowledge, playing with small groups
of four or five students.
Word Detective
Games Level 1
• If students are just beginning to learn English as an additional language and
the teacher is able to speak both languages, do most of the discussion of the
vocabulary in the student’s first language. As skill with English increases,
use English for discussion more and more.
• Set up sets of cards for students to use independently. They could make
piles of cards that link together and perhaps draw a picture of other things
that would fit with them (more clothes, food, etc.).
P
EP
ELL
-b
Search for Sounds
& Prowl for Vowels
Posters
Learn About Letters
Alphabet book
Talking Pen
• Ask students to choose a card, draw a picture and write a story about the
card, copying the spelling of the target word into their story.
• Provide the Search for Sounds A4 book and Learn About Letters Alphabet
book with the Talking Pen for students to read and explore independently.
They could work alone or in pairs.
• Have a competition to see how many things they can find that contain the
target sound on a page. See if they can find things that are not listed in the
answers in the back.
’ ‘W
’’’
‘V’ ‘ck‘I
I’‘h’‘m
‘B’‘P‘m
’
‘S ’
’
‘D‘p’ ’
‘v‘t’h‘Y’ ’
‘I‘c’h’‘d‘‘Yg’ ’
’
r
r
‘
‘G
m’’ m’ ‘tt’
‘‘G
‘ff’
‘G’
‘H’
e Up Words
nds That Mak
Find The Sou
P
Word-level Readers
EP
ELL
-b
• Use the Word-level Readers for reading instruction. Ensure that the
vocabulary is known and discussed before using the book for other areas of
reading instruction.
P
EP
ELL
-b
Vocabulary
9
10
Vocabulary
ASSESS
OBSERVATION
The best method of assessment for vocabulary acquisition is observation.
Use the language acquisition ladder on page 7
for appropriate assessment criteria
• Do students have background knowledge related to the word or situation being discussed?
• Can students name and correctly pronounce common objects and words?
• Can students describe items when asked to?
Do they participate in the discussions that the resources generate?
• Can students compare and contrast similar and different items?
• Can students categorise items that are similar?
• Are students able to generalise their knowledge from one situation to another, to see
relationships between things?
Phonological Awareness
The words we speak are made up of particular sequences of sounds. We can make new words by changing
these sounds – removing sounds (and/an), adding sounds (and/sand), replacing sounds (and/end; and/ant).
Written English is an alphabetic language that is based on writing down the sounds in words. For this
reason, sound analysis skills – phonological awareness skills – are essential for reading and writing English.
Phonemic awareness is a category of phonological awareness – it is the ability to hear, identify and
manipulate individual sounds in words. Phonemic awareness is necessary for understanding and using
phonics knowledge.
The publication Put Reading First. The Research Building Blocks of Reading Instruction published by
Partnership for Reading, second edition, 2003 (National Institute for Literacy), makes the following
statements about phonemic awareness:
“Phonemic awareness instruction improves children’s ability to read words. It also improves their reading
comprehension...primarily through its influence on word reading.” (p.6.)
“Teaching phonemic awareness, particularly how to segment words into phonemes, helps children learn
to spell ...children who have phonemic awareness understand that sounds and letters are related in a
predictable way.” (p.6.)
Phonological Awareness Skills
SKILL
DEFINITION
Sound recognition
and pronunciation
The ability to recognise and pronounce the sounds of English.
Sound discrimination
The ability to identify the sounds inside words; to recognise similar sounds
in different words (the ‘p’ in pat, plum, cup); to discriminate between similar
sounds (‘j’ump and ‘ch’ump, ‘p’at and ‘b’at, ba ‘ck’ and ba ‘g’).
Recognition and
production of rhyme
The ability to recognise words that have common rhyming patterns
(hat, pat, bat; end, bend, send).
The ability to generate other words with the same rhyming patterns
(hat, pat, bat, mat, sat, that; end, bend, send, lend, mend, spend).
Identifying syllables
The ability to hear/clap the rhythm and beat of words – to recognise the
sounds of syllables (ant (1), antler (2), antelope (3), antisocial (4)).
Blending sounds to
make words
The ability to blend sounds together to make words (‘t’ ‘o’ – toe,
‘p’ ‘or’ ‘t’ – port, ‘p’ ‘l’ ‘u’ ‘m’ – plum, ‘s’ ‘t’ ‘a’ ‘m’ ‘p’ – stamp) – a necessary
skill for decoding unfamiliar words.
Segmenting words
into sounds
The ability to segment words into their individual sounds (high has two
sounds – ‘h’ ‘i’, sheet has three sounds – ‘sh’ ‘ee’ ‘t’, great has four sounds –
‘g’ ‘r’ ‘ea’ ‘t’, ground has five sounds – ‘g’ ‘r’ ‘ou’ ‘n’ ‘d’) – a necessary skill for
spelling unfamiliar words.
Phonological Awareness
11
12
Phonological Awareness
TEACH
Whole class
instruction
RESOURCE
TEACHING IDEAS
Fun Songs for
Literacy – Music CD
• Learn songs from each group of songs to build listening and sound analysis
skills working from Sounds in the Environment to Instrumental Sounds to
Body Percussion to Alliteration to Rhythm and Rhyme to Voice Sounds to
Blending and Segmenting sounds.
• Use the ideas in the accompanying booklet to include other activities that
support the songs and extend learning experiences.
P
Singing the Sounds of
English – Music CD
EP
• Teach students to sing the songs on this CD. The words of the songs teach
children to pronounce the sounds of English correctly, to find out where
the sounds come in words and to pronounce words that contain the same
sounds.
• The words for each song are available on the accompanying CD. These can
be printed out and made into A3 charts.
ELL
P
Steps to Success
interactive DVDs –
Foundation level
ELL
-b
EP
ELL
-b
• Discuss the picture on the poster then use the teacher notes on the back of
the posters for ideas to build phonological awareness skills.
P
Word-level Readers
EP
• Play game 9, Syllable Bingo, with students working together in pairs or
groups of three.
P
Search for Sounds
& Prowl for Vowels
Posters
-b
• Use the activities on an interactive whiteboard or through a computer and
data projector. Encourage students to pronounce the sounds clearly, to listen
for rhythm and rhyme, and to blend and segment sounds in words. You can
use the four DVDs in any order.
• Extend these phonological awareness activities to other situations in the
classroom. For example: You can go and get your lunch if your name is ‘s’ ‘a’
‘m’; stand up and tell me your name if it rhymes with jam; stand up if your
name has two claps (syllables) in it – 3 claps, 1 clap and so forth.
P
Word Detective
Games Level 1
EP
EP
MP
ELL
-b
• Use the ideas in the accompanying teacher notes to develop phonological
awareness skills. Use the focus sound from the book as a target for
phonological and phonemic awareness development.
P
EP
ELL
-b
Phonological Awareness
RESOURCE
Fun Songs for Literacy –
Music CDs, booklet and
Talking Pen
TEACHING IDEAS
• Students can use the Talking Pen to listen independently to the
songs, using the Talking Pen and the accompanying booklet.
• Use the CD with a Listening Post as an independent activity,
selecting the songs you wish students to learn.
P
Steps to Success interactive
DVDs – Foundation level
• Allow students to complete the activities independently on
computers. You can use the four DVDs in any order.
P
Word Detective Games
Level 1
Talking Pen
EP
EP
ELL
-b
AD
• Use games 9-11 to teach students to recognise and segment words
into syllables, playing with small groups of four or five students.
• Use game 13 to teach students to identify sounds at the
beginnings of words.
• Use game 12 to teach children to hear and pronounce sounds
that are hard to discriminate between (e.g. ‘p’ and ‘b’; ‘k’ and ‘g’;
‘t’ and ‘d’).
P
Search for Sounds & Prowl
for Vowels Posters and book
Learn About Letters Alphabet
book
Talking Pen
EP
ELL
-b
AD
• Provide the Search for Sounds A4 book and Learn About Letters
Alphabet book with the Talking Pen for students to read and
explore independently. They could work alone or in pairs.
• Ask students to put the Talking Pen on the letters and spelling
patterns around the edge of the posters to hear the pronunciation
’’’
‘h
‘W
‘V’ ‘ck’‘II’
of the sound that is the target.
‘m
‘B’‘P‘m
’
‘S’ ’
’
‘D
‘p’‘Y’
’
‘v‘th’‘Y’ ’
ELL
EP
AD
MP
P
’ ‘I‘c’h’‘d‘g
r
-b
‘r
’
’
’
‘G m’ ‘tt’
‘G
‘m
‘ff’
‘G’
‘H’
s That Make
Find The Sound
Word-level Readers
Talking Pen
• Use the Word-level Readers for reading instruction. Use the
teacher notes that accompany each book to build phonological
awareness skills using words from the stories.
P
High-frequency Word Cards
Up Words
EP
ELL
-b
• Use the side of the card that shows each sound in the word.
Students can use the Talking Pen to listen to each sound then
practise blending the sounds together to pronounce the word.
• Students can sort the high-frequency word cards according to their
initial or final sound.
P
EP
ELL
-b
Phonological Awareness
PRACTICE
Small group or
independent
learning
13
14
Phonological Awareness
ASSESS
Assessment of Phonological Awareness skills can be done informally (general observation and
targeted observation) or formally through the use of standardised assessments.
OBSERVATION
• Observation of students participation in classroom activities can target their expertise with
phonological awareness skills, such as rhyming and syllabifying words, identifying sounds in
different positions in words, blending sounds together (when decoding text) and segmenting
sounds (when spelling words during writing). The Pseudoword assessments (Assessment
3, page 414, in Switch on to Spelling and the Pesudoword Spelling test, page 52, in Spelling
Under Scrutiny) can be used to check segmentation skills for spelling.
• Targeted observations can be set up using specific activities from Word Detective Games
Level 1. Go to www.spelling.co.nz to download an assessment sheet to use with these
games.
FORMAL ASSESSMENT
There are many standardised phonological awareness assessments available – the following two
are readily available and easy to use.
• The SPAT-R – Sutherland Phonological Awareness Test – Revised (2003) by Dr R. Neilsen.
This can be purchased from www.shop.acer.edu.au or www.nzcer.org.nz
• Gail Gillon’s assessment probe can be accessed on:
www.education.canterbury.ac.nz/people/gillon
Phonics
Phonics describes the predictable relationships that exist between phonemes (sounds) and graphemes (the
letters and spelling patterns that represent the sounds that make up spoken words).
Phonics knowledge leads to an understanding of the alphabetic principle – that words are made up of sounds
which are written down using letters and spelling patterns. An understanding of how to use the alphabetic
principle makes it possible to read and spell words that have not been seen before.
Phonics needs to be taught explicitly. The Rose Report2 (2006) suggests that a synthetic
phonics approach is the most effective, and recommends the following as features of effective
phonics instruction:
• Grapheme/phoneme (letter/sound) correspondences should be taught in a clearly defined,
incremental sequence, moving from the simple to the complex.
• Reading and spelling should be taught as reversible processes.
• Students should be taught to blend phonemes in order, from left to right through a word, to
read it.
• Students should be taught to segment words into their constituent phonemes from left to
right through the word, to spell it.
• Instruction should be multisensory: encompassing visual, auditory and kinaesthetic activities
that actively engage students.
• Instruction should be delivered daily and adapted to match students’ developing abilities.
sh
i
p
k ey
a
n t
ee
se
ch
2
Independent review of the teaching of early reading Final Report, Jim Rose, March 2006, Department for
Education and Skills, U.K.
Phonics
15
16
TEACH
Phonics
Whole class
instruction
RESOURCE
TEACHING IDEAS
Search for Sounds & Prowl for
Vowels Posters
• Choose a poster to focus on a particular sound. Once students
have identified words and images that contain the sound and these
words have been discussed, show them the spelling patterns around
the edges that represent the target sound. List these on the board
and ask students to search for other patterns for the target sound as
they read.
EP
Word-level Readers
MP
ELL
-b
ELL
-m
AD
• Choose the books that focus on a particular sound. Begin by
asking students to pronounce the sound and to generate words they
know that contain the sound. Read the appropriate book that
focuses on the sound and ask students to listen and look for words
that contain the target sound.
• Ask students to tell you the spelling patterns they found for the
target sound in the book and record them on the board.
• If appropriate, read the higher level book(s) that have the same
focus sound and ask students to find more spelling patterns for the
target sound.
EP
Sound Frieze
MP
ELL
-b
ELL
-m
• Display the sound frieze as a continuous frieze to illustrate the
sounds of English and some of the common ways they are written.
• Use the different sections of the frieze to reinforce teaching
particular groups of sounds. For example, when teaching long
and short vowel sounds, display the two strips that illustrate them;
when teaching the sounds commonly written with h digraph
patterns, display the strip showing ‘sh’, ‘th’, ‘ch’.
P
Sound Spelling Patterns Poster
ELL
-b
• Display this poster so students have a quick reference to the sounds
of English and the most common ways they can be written.
MP
English Sounds and Spelling
Patterns & Vowel Spelling
Patterns Posters
EP
ELL
-b
AD
• Display these posters so students have a quick reference to the
sounds of English and the most common ways they can be written,
and to the many common vowel spelling patterns and the different
ways of pronouncing them.
• Use these posters when teaching Topic 9 – Syllables – in Spelling
Under Scrutiny.
UP
S
ELL
-m
AD
Our Class Sound Dictionary –
23 double-sided posters
• Use these posters to teach a new sound every day. Use the
instructions under the flap on the storage bag to teach a sound a
day to beginning students or middle primary students.
• Write words the students think of for the target sound on the
posters and display them – ask students to add new words they find
that contain the target sound.
EP
Switch on to Spelling –
Teacher’s Guide
MP
ELL
-b
ELL
-m
AD
• Use the teaching topics in Stages 1, 2 and 3 to teach every sound
of English and the common ways they can be written. Instruction
begins with simple sound-spelling relationships but continues to
introduce more diverse relationships as students move through the
stages. Go to page 77 to find Where to Begin.
• Use the Elkonin Box (sound box) technique, which is
demonstrated throughout Switch on to Spelling to make phonics
knowledge explicit.
EP
Spelling Under Scrutiny –
Teacher’s Guide
AD
S
ELL
-m
AD
MP
ELL
-b
ELL
-m
• Use this resource as a reference to find the most common spelling
patterns for each sound of English. Each sound has its own double
page that illustrates common phoneme/grapheme relationships.
UP
Code Breaker’s Guide to
Spelling English
ELL
-m
• Use this sound-spelling dictionary as a group or class resource to
store common words for writing according to the sound they begin
with. The dictionaries can be shared by groups of students who
can add new words to the pages.
EP
English Spelling Dictionary
ELL
-b
• Use Spelling Under Scrutiny to teach the sounds of English and the
diverse orthography of written English in a scaffolded manner,
moving from simple to more complex relationships.
Go to page 16 to find Where to Begin.
UP
My Sound Spelling Dictionary
MP
S
ELL
-m
AD
• Students can use this resource as a reference to look up the sounds
of English that have diverse phoneme-grapheme relationships.
MP
UP
ELL
-m
AD
Phonics
17
18
PRACTICE
Small group or
independent
learning
Phonics
RESOURCE
Word Detective Games Level 1
TEACHING IDEAS
• Play game 14 to show students how to find the letters and spelling
patterns that represent the initial sounds in the picture cards.
• Use the phonics cards to copy the spelling of simple one-syllable
words – e.g. sh i p for ship; ar m for arm etc.
P
Search for Sounds & Prowl for
Vowels Posters
ELL
-b
• Ask students to make a list of the spelling patterns that are around
the edges of the Search for Sounds posters or pages. They could
work together in pairs or small groups to make lists of as many
words they know that use these particular spelling patterns for the
target sound.
MP
Word-level Readers
Talking Pen
EP
UP
ELL
-m
• Students read a book that focuses on a target sound and find all the
words containing the sound. They then write all words in a list or
onto cards, grouping them by their common spelling pattern.
EP
• Use the Phonics Focus word cards that come with the teacher
notes for each book, to reinforce the phoneme/grapheme
relationships.
EP
MP
ELL
-b
ELL
-m
• Provide students with the books that focus on a target sound. Ask
them to find all words containing this target sound and to write the
words in groups according to their spelling patterns. Ask students
to add words to these lists as they find more and to add any new
spelling patterns they discover as they are reading other texts.
MP
Sounds for Spelling, Words for
Writing Desktop card
ELL
-m
• Make this card available during writing time. Students can refer to
the Sounds for Spelling side when they are sounding out words for
spelling. They can also use the Words for Writing side to find the
correct spelling for high-frequency words.
• Use the Words for Writing side and ask students to write particular
words into Elkonin (sound) boxes. The colour coding will help
students find the correct number of sounds in each word.
EP
My Sound Spelling Dictionary
MP
ELL
-b
ELL
-m
• If students have their own dictionary they can record the words
they wish to remember according to the initial sound the words
begin with. This is much easier for beginning writers who know
the words they wish to use (and hence the initial sound) but they
may not yet know how to spell them.
EP
MP
ELL
-b
ELL
-m
Code Breaker’s Guide to
Spelling English
• Students could have their own copy of this resource or it could be
a reference resource for a class or group of students. Once students
have some knowledge of the diverse graphemes for a particular
sound they can use this resource to decide the most likely spelling
pattern for the word. You could use pesudowords as target words
and ask students to decide, in a group, which would be the most
appropriate spelling options using the Code Breaker.
MP
SOS Sound Scrapbook
UP
S
ELL
-m
AD
• For students just beginning to learn to read and write, use this
scrapbook to focus on identifying sounds in words. Students find or
draw pictures of things that contain the sound on each page.
If appropriate, record one way of writing each sound in the space
provided.
P
EP
ELL
-b
• Once students can write, they record words, rather than pictures
on each sound page. The spelling patterns for the sound can be
highlighted in each word and recorded in the space provided.
MP
High-frequency Word Cards
• Use the side of the card that shows each sound in the word.
Students can match sounds and spelling patterns. For example:
– find all the words that have an ‘or’ sound and find the different
spelling patterns
– find all the words that start with the letter a and see how many
different ways it can be pronounced
EP
SOS Activity books 1,2,3
ELL
-m
ELL
-b
• Use the practice activities in these books to support the instruction
from Switch on to Spelling, choosing the most appropriate activities
to meet the needs of the students.
• You can choose the same activity for all students, or select different
practice activities according to the needs of individual students.
EP
SUS Activity Books 1,2
MP
UP
ELL
-b
ELL
-m
AD
• Use the practice activities in these books to support the instruction
from Spelling Under Scrutiny, choosing the most appropriate
activities to meet the needs of the students.
• You can choose the same activity for all students or select different
practice activities according to the needs of individual students.
UP
English Spelling Dictionary
S
ELL
-m
AD
• Use this resource to reinforce knowledge of diverse phoneme/
grapheme relationships. This knowledge can be integrated with
vocabulary instruction by focusing on words that begin with or
contain a particular sound.
UP
S
ELL
-m
AD
Phonics
19
20
Phonics
ASSESS
OBSERVATION
Use student writing samples to assess their developing knowledge of phonics.
• Use the guide on page 71, Switch on to Spelling to analyse spelling errors.
• Use the 15 minute writing sample plan in Spelling Under Scrutiny (pages 64-66) to analyse
student writing samples.
• Refer to analysed writing samples in Switch on to Spelling (pages 57-70) and Spelling Under
Scrutiny (pages 67-81) for a guide to analysing student writing.
FORMAL ASSESSMENT
• Switch on to Spelling Assessment 1 (parts 1 & 2) assesses letter and spelling pattern-to-sound
knowledge.
• Switch on to Spelling Assessment 2 assesses sound-to-letter knowledge for all sounds of
English.
• Switch on to Spelling Assessment 3 (Pseudoword test) and Spelling Under Scrutiny Pseudoword
Spelling Test assess students’ ability to segment unfamiliar words into sounds and to record
sounds appropriately (they include all sounds of English).
• Switch on to Spelling Assessment 4 (parts 1 & 2) and Spelling Under Scrutiny Blends Test assess
students’ ability to hear and record the two or three sounds in blends.
Word Structure:
Morphology, Spelling Rules and Conventions
Definitions
Morphology: The structural components of words, for example, roots, base words, inflections and affixes that
determine the use and meaning of words.
For example: in/ject, re/ject, e/ject; jump/ed, jump/s, jump/er
Spelling rules and conventions:
The reasons why particular letters or spelling patterns occur in words.
For example: Why hopping has two ps but hoping has one
Why orange ends with ge but bridge ends with dge
Why train, great, gate have two vowels to spell the long ‘a’ sound
Why play and obey have a vowel plus a y
Why agent and apron just have a
Once students have mastered the Alphabetic Principle (they understand that words are made
up of sounds that can be written down using letters and spelling patterns) and they have a
developing knowledge of orthography (the many different graphemes or spelling patterns that
represent sounds) they can learn more about the spelling system that underpins English – why
words are spelled the way they are.
Although the English spelling system is complex it is surprisingly logical. There are a relatively
small number of mostly reliable spelling rules and conventions than influence the spelling of
thousands of words. If students learn about these spelling rules and conventions they will have
knowledge and strategies they can use when they are trying to spell unfamiliar words.
Pages 87-96 of The English Spelling Dictionary contain a summary of the most common spelling
rules and conventions.
The morphological structure of English words is also mostly reliable. If students learn to
recognise, spell and understand the meaning of word roots, affixes (suffixes and prefixes) and
base words they will have a large amount of knowledge to apply when reading and spelling
unfamiliar words. Pages 80-86 of The English Spelling Dictionary contain a summary of the most
common roots, prefixes and suffixes.
Word Structure
21
22
TEACH
Word Structure:
Whole class
instruction
Morphology, Spelling Rules and Conventions
RESOURCE
TEACHING IDEAS
Word-level Readers
• Choose books that teach a particular morpheme or spelling
convention.
For example:
ed endings – A Bee for Breakfast, My Hair Cut, Beachball Games.
Spelling and reading the short ‘o’ after ‘w’ – Walter and the Wasps.
Spelling and reading the long vowel sounds – any of 16 long vowel
books (use accompanying teacher notes).
Spelling and reading the long ‘e’ at the end of a word – Papa Henry.
Recognising prefixes, suffixes and word roots – any of the level
21-24 books (available 2011).
EP
Switch on to Spelling –
Teacher’s Guide
MP
ELL
-b
ELL
-m
• Use the teaching topics in Stages 1, 2 and 3 to teach the most
common spelling rules and conventions, and morphemes.
For example:
Stage 1 – Topic 8
Stage 2 – Topics 13-15
Stage 3 – Topics 9-13
EP
Spelling Under Scrutiny –
Teacher’s Guide
ELL
-b
ELL
-m
AD
• Use Topics 9-17 to teach the most common spelling rules and
conventions, and morphemes.
UP
English Spelling Dictionary
MP
S
ELL
-m
AD
• Use this resource as a reference to find a summary of the most
common rules, conventions and morphemes – pages 80-96.
UP
S
ELL
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AD
PRACTICE
Word Structure:
Small group or
independent
learning
Morphology, Spelling Rules and Conventions
RESOURCE
TEACHING IDEAS
Word-level Readers
• Choose books that teach a particular morpheme or spelling
convention, and after teaching this to the whole class, provide
students with reading practice using Word-Level readers.
Use the teacher notes for ideas for extending students’ knowledge
using these books.
EP
Switch on to Spelling – Practice
Activity Books 1, 2, 3
MP
ELL
-b
ELL
-m
• Use practice activities to support instruction from Switch on
to Spelling to reinforce an understanding of the most common
spelling rules and conventions, and morphemes.
• Activities could be common for the whole class or diversified to
meet particular student needs. You could be working across two
or three of the teaching stages.
EP
Spelling Under Scrutiny –
Practice Activities
ELL
-b
ELL
-m
AD
• Use practice activities to support instruction from Spelling Under
Scrutiny to reinforce an understanding of the most common
spelling rules and conventions, and morphemes.
UP
English Spelling Dictionary
MP
S
ELL
-m
AD
• Students can use this resource as a reference when they are
spelling or proofreading to find a summary of the most common
rules, conventions, and morphemes – pages 80-96.
UP
S
ELL
-m
AD
Code Breaker’s Guide to Spelling • Students can use this resource to find out the conventions for
English
spelling sounds in different positions in words.
MP
UP
S
ELL
-m
AD
Word Structure
23
24
Word Structure:
ASSESS
Morphology, Spelling Rules and Conventions
OBSERVATION
Use student writing samples to assess students’ developing knowledge of spelling rules and
conventions and the spelling and use of morphemes.
• Mark students’ practice activities to determine whether they have an understanding of the
concept that has been taught.
• Use the guide on page 71, Switch on to Spelling to analyse spelling errors to see if these
principles are being applied to spelling words in writing.
• Use the 15 minute writing sample model in Spelling Under Scrutiny (pages 64-66) to analyse
student writing samples.
• Refer to analysed writing samples in Switch on to Spelling (pages 57-70) and Spelling Under
Scrutiny (pages 67-81) for a guide to analysing student writing.
FORMAL ASSESSMENT
• Switch on to Spelling Assessments 5-7 assess knowledge of plurals, contractions and adding
suffixes (ed and ing) to one-syllable words that contain short or long vowel sounds.
• Switch on to Spelling Assessment 9 assesses the spelling rules and conventions taught in the
three stages of this resource. The recording sheet for results (page 443) makes clear the
areas that need further instruction.
• Spelling Under Scrutiny Pseudoword Spelling Test assesses students’ ability to segment
unfamiliar words into sounds and to record sounds appropriately using both knowledge of
phoneme/grapheme correspondences and knowledge of common spelling rules for adding
suffixes.
• Spelling Under Scrutiny Gap Analysis Assessments (1, 2, 3) provide a range of assessments
that assess the spelling rules and conventions, and morphemes taught in this resource.
• Use the Editing Guide, page 363, Spelling Under Scrutiny to assess the application of
knowledge of word structure to spelling in writing.
Strategies for reading and writing
A strategy can be described as a plan of action for achieving a goal. The goal of a reader is to understand
the message from the text. The goal of a writer is to convey messages, ideas and meaning to the reader.
Students need to be taught to use strategies purposefully and actively to become successful readers and
writers.
A WRITER needs strategies to develop communication skills
through writing
Production
• Language knowledge – the diversity of words and sentences used for writing
• Handwriting skills for speed and legibility
• Spelling skills – knowledge and skills for turning the spoken word into print
Formatting
• Knowledge of text structures to suit different writing genres
• Organisational structure – sentence structure, text organisation (beginning, middle and end,
paragraphs)
• Correct punctuation and capitalisation
Writing technique
• Creative use of vocabulary to develop and communicate ideas
• Awareness of perspective of the writer and the audience
• Understanding and use of writing techniques to convey messages in powerful and appropriate
ways
A READER needs strategies to comprehend texts
Put Reading First. The Research Building Blocks of Reading Instruction published by Partnership for
Reading, second edition, 2003 (National Institute for Literacy) suggests there are six strategies
“that appear to have a firm scientific basis for improving text comprehension.” (p. 42).
• Monitoring comprehension – students need to know what they do understand, what they do
not understand and be able to apply fix-up strategies to resolve problems.
• Use of graphic and semantic organisers – to make the text structure clear, to help students
see relationships in a text, and to help students summarise the text.
• Answering questions – questions can be used to guide and monitor students’
comprehension, to focus students on the purpose of the text, to encourage active thinking
as they read, and to encourage monitoring of comprehension to review and relate what has
been learned.
• Generating questions – by generating questions, students become aware of whether they are
understanding what they are reading.
• Recognising story structure – the story map for fiction is common across fiction texts but
there are various text structures that apply to non-fiction texts – sequential structures (string
of events, cause and effect, branching tree) and descriptive structures (list, web, weave).
These text structures are fully described in Reading Comprehension: What is it? How do you
teach it? Dymock. S., & Nicholson.T., (1999), NZCER.
• Summarising – this involves students deciding on the most important parts of what they are
reading, condensing this information, and then putting it into their own words.
Strategies
25
26
Strategies for reading and writing
TEACH
Whole class
instruction
PRACTICE
Small group or
independent
learning
RESOURCE
TEACHING IDEAS
Word-level Readers
Teacher notes
• Use any of the Word-level readers to teach reading
comprehension strategies. Select strategies to suit the student
needs and the text structure.
• Use the teacher notes that accompany each book for
comprehension ideas.
EP
Switch on to Spelling –
Teacher’s Guide, using
proofreading
strategies for
spelling
ELL
-b
ELL
-m
• Use the ideas for teaching proofreading in Switch on to Spelling
(pages 31, 34, 160, 266, 390) to apply spelling knowledge taught
to writing.
• Make up the proofreading cards (page 471) to help students apply
spelling knowledge to writing.
EP
Spelling Under Scrutiny –
Teacher’s Guide, using
proofreading strategies for
spelling
MP
MP
ELL
-b
ELL
-m
AD
• Use Chapter 4, Teaching Proofreading Skills in Spelling Under
Scrutiny (page 356) to apply spelling knowledge taught to writing.
• Download the Proofreading Cards (page 361) from the CD
that accompanies Spelling Under Scrutiny to help students apply
spelling knowledge to writing.
• Use the Editing Guides and Descriptive Writing Guides
(pages 371-375) to develop writing and spelling strategies.
UP
English Spelling Dictionary
S
ELL
-m
AD
• Use this as a reference guide to apply spelling knowledge to
writing and proofreading
UP
S
ELL
-m
AD
ASSESS
Strategies for reading and writing
OBSERVATION
Use student writing samples to assess skills with writing and to monitor students’ use of
strategies to craft, revise and edit their own writing.
Reading comprehension can also be assessed through discussion, questioning and application of
ideas gained from reading texts.
FORMAL ASSESSMENT
There is a great deal of choice for standardised assessments that monitor students’ reading
comprehension skills and strategies. Some of the Word Detective resources can also be used to
assess these skills.
• There are Running Record sheets that accompany each Word-level reader, which monitor
students’ comprehension, reading fluency and accuracy.
• Use the Descriptive Writing Guides Spelling Under Scrutiny (pages 374, 375) to monitor
students developing skills with writing.
Strategies
27
28
Example Lesson: The ‘sh’ sound
Teaching the sounds of English
Use the sounds of English to teach vocabulary, sound analysis, pronunciation, phonemic
awareness, phonics knowledge, reading and writing skills.
All sounds of English can be taught this way. Use the index of either Switch on to Spelling
or Spelling Under Scrutiny to find appropriate teaching notes.
Foundation students
Purpose:
To teach the foundation concept of how written English works – the Alphabetic Principle.
You are not teaching a list of spelling patterns for each sound, although students might
discover them. You are teaching these concepts:
• The words we say are made up of sounds
• The same sound can be heard in different words
• The same sound occurs in different positions in words
• We can write sounds down using letters of the alphabet
• The same sound can be written down in different ways using single letters and letter
clusters
Materials:
Whiteboard
Singing the Sounds of English Music CD
Search for Sounds Posters
Mrs Rush-around and Lily’s Fish reader
Steps to Success DVD – 3 (consonant sounds including ‘sh’)
Word Detective Games Level 1
Sounds and Letters Activity Book 7
Frieze
Method
Part 1: Vocabulary development
Use this section if your students are English language learners
or if you think they need vocabulary development.
shirt
Select these cards from Word Detective Games Level 1 – ship, shirt, shoe, fish.
ship
Pronounce and discuss the image on each card.
Read the sentence and question on the back if appropriate for the English vocabulary
knowledge of the students. Ask students to say each word.
fish
Ask students what is the sound they can hear at the beginning of the words ship, shirt, shoe.
Ask students if they know any other words that have a ‘sh’ sound at the start – this could be a
word in another language. Ask students to all say the ‘sh’ sound.
Hold up the fish card. Ask students where in the word they hear the ‘sh’ sound.
Ask students if they know any other words that end with ‘sh’. If they don’t, try this blending
exercise:
“What word am I saying? ‘w’ ‘i’ ‘sh’, ‘d’ ‘i’ ‘sh’, ‘w’ ‘o’ ‘sh’,
‘m’ ‘a’ ‘sh’”
Explain each word once the students have put the sounds together and pronounced them.
Finish this part of the lesson by saying:
“The sound we have been listening for in these words is .......‘sh’.”
Part 2: Sound analysis and pronunciation
Play Track 8 from Singing the Sounds of English, asking students to listen for the words
that have ‘sh’ at the beginning and asking students to join in pronouncing the ‘sh’
sound.
If you are just beginning at this section, explain that you are thinking of words that
have a ‘sh’ sound at the beginning. Ask all students to say ‘sh’.
Give them a vocabulary clue:
“This is something I wear on my feet and it starts with ‘sh’! Shoe!”
Give them a blending clue:
“The word I am thinking of is ‘sh’ ‘i’ ‘p’.
Ship!
What other words do you know that start with ‘sh’?”
Now do the same with words that end with ‘sh’.
Give them a vocabulary clue:
“This is something I like to eat and it swims in the sea! Fish!”
Give them a rhyming clue:
“This is a word that rhymes with fish but starts with ‘d’. Dish!”
Give them a blending clue:
“The word I am thinking of is ‘c’ ‘r’ ‘a’ ‘sh’. Crash!
What other words do you know that end with ‘sh’?”
Part 3: Writing the ‘sh’ sound
“Do you know that we can write our ‘sh’ sound down, using two letters of the
alphabet?”
Demonstrate writing sh on the whiteboard.
“We can use the letters s and h to write our ‘sh’ sound — but do you know what?
You’ll see the ‘sh’ sound written in other ways too!”
At this point, write up any student’s name that contains the ‘sh’ sound. You may have names
like Sharon, Shaun, Sean, Charlotte. Circle the spelling patterns for the ‘sh’ sound in the
children’s names to demonstrate the fact that ‘sh’ can be written in other ways.
Display the frieze and ask students to find the ‘sh’ sound on it. Point out the other ways the ‘sh’
sound is written on the frieze.
Sample Lesson
29
30
Part 4: Reading the ‘sh’ sound
Read the story Mrs Rush-around and Lily’s Fish. Ask students to listen for the
‘sh’ sound in words as you read.
For students reading at the appropriate level for Mrs Rush-around and Lily’s
Fish, use this book as an instructional reader with small groups. You can
use it to focus on recognition of the ‘sh’ sound in print (phonics and
decoding skills), for comprehension instruction, to build vocabulary
knowledge, for phonemic awareness instruction, and to develop phrasing
and fluency. Students can also use the Talking Pen to assist with
phrasing and fluency. Full teacher notes for all these areas accompany
Mrs Rush-around and Lily’s Fish. Refer to the inside back cover of the book.
Part 5: Practice
Use the Search for Sounds poster or the page in the Search for
Sounds book that focuses on ‘sh’ to build vocabulary knowledge,
pronunciation skills and recognition of the ‘sh’ sound in print.
Ask students to discuss the picture and to find all the things
they can see that start with ‘sh’. This is particularly useful
for English language learners. Use the Talking Pen to help
with pronunciation of the sound. Students can also listen to
the pronunciation of the ‘sh’ sound by placing the pen on the
different spelling patterns around the edge of the picture.
en
ere to a
hh
vate you
cti
Tou
c
Use the booklet that accompanies the Singing the Sounds of English CD with the Talking Pen,
for children to listen to Track 8 independently.
Foundation students could complete the section that focuses on finding
stickers which contain the ‘sh’ sound, circling images of words that contain
the ‘sh’ sound, and possibly writing the s h letters.
Use the Steps to Success DVD – 3 for students to practice the phonemic
awareness skills of rhyming, syllabification, blending and segmenting with
words that include the ‘sh’ sound.
alking P
rT
Junior and Middle Primary Students
Materials:
Whiteboard
Singing the Sounds of English Music CD
Search for Sounds Posters
Mum’s Birthday Treat, Shona and Shay Save the Ocean readers
Switch on to Spelling Teacher’s Guide
Switch on to Spelling Activity Books 1 and 2
Frieze or Sounds for Spelling Poster
Desktop card – Sounds for Spelling, Words for Writing
Student’s My Sound Spelling Dictionary
Our Class Sound Dictionary Posters
Sounds and Letters Activity Book 7
The Code Breaker’s Guide to Spelling English
Method
Part 1: Introducing the ‘sh’ sound and some ways it
can be written
Read the teaching notes from Switch on to Spelling, page 123.
Play Track 8 of Singing the Sounds of English and practice saying the ‘sh’
sound correctly.
Ask students to think of words that begin with ‘sh’. If they have any
difficulties, use the ideas from the Foundation lesson – giving vocabulary or blending
clues to begin with.
As students come up with words, write some on the board, grouping them according to the way
the ‘sh’ sound is written, if there are spelling patterns other than sh.
For example:
ship
chef
sugar
she
Charlotte
sure
show
When you have a range of words on the board, ask students to tell you which letters represent
the ‘sh’ sound. Go through each word, circling or colour-coding the spelling patterns as
students call then out.
For example:
ship
chef
sugar
she
Charlotte
sure
show
Repeat this process with words that end with ‘sh’.
Ask students what they think is the most common way of writing ‘sh’ at the start and end of
words. They will see that sh is the most common pattern.
Record a few of these words on the poster for ‘sh’ from Our Class Sound Dictionary posters.
Colour-code the spelling pattern for the ‘sh’ sound.
Sample Lesson
31
32
Ask students to think of words that have the ‘sh’ sound in the middle. Record these words on
the board.
For example:
station
special
investigation spacious
tissue
crashing
parachute
mission
issued
washed
machine
permission
If you think students could work out the spelling patterns for the ‘sh’ inside words, ask them to
do this now. Otherwise, tell them that the ‘sh’ sound is written in many ways inside words and
go on to Part 2.
Part 2: Reading and writing the ’sh’ sound
Read Mum’s Birthday Treat and/or Shona and Shay Save the Ocean
using the readers. If you are working with a small group, students
could have their own copy of the readers. Ask students to listen
for and look for the ‘sh’ sound in words. Reread the book a
second time and ask students to identify the ‘sh’ words. Add the
words with a ‘sh’ in the middle to your lists on the board. Now ask
students to decide how the ‘sh’ sound is written in each word. They
can use the blue images of this sound that they see in the readers to
help.
Make a list of all the spelling patterns you have identified
and write a word beside them.
Add these words to the ‘sh’ poster in Our Class Sound Dictionary. Colour-code the
spelling pattern for the ‘sh’ sound. Display this poster somewhere that is easy for
students to see.
20
19
22
21
24
23
2.4
Provide students with Activity Sheet 2.4. Fill in the ‘sh’ sound box
(box number 21) and ask students to write one word for each spelling
pattern in this box. They then highlight or colour code the ‘sh’
spelling pattern.
These word
s all end with
Write the
either ‘shin
words in
’ or ‘zhin’
the correct
and spelling
columns acco sounds.
patterns
at the ends
rding to the
of the word
sounds
s.
aversion
lotion
addition
destinati
partition
nation
on
version
creation
compulsio
n
revision
suspensio
multiplica
n
tion
incubation
invasion
pension
’shin’ word
tension
inversion
location
commotion
division
s
‘zhin’ word
s
The spelli
ng patterns
for ‘shin’
are …………
……………………
………
Part 3: Spelling conventions for the ‘sh’ sound
The spelli
ng pattern
for ‘zhin’
is ……………………
…………………
Sort thes
e words into
they have
their corr
ect colum
‘shure’ or
ns according
‘zhure’ soun
ds at the
to whether
end of the
pleasure
words.
pressure
leisure
assure
treasure
reassure
measure
‘shure’ word
fissure
s
Use the teaching notes on page 342 of Switch on to Spelling to teach students
when to choose the ‘sh’ spelling patterns, if these are appropriate for the
age and skills of your students. This could take two or three extra teaching
sessions over the week. You can also use Activity Sheet 3.52 to apply what has been
taught. Words from these pages can also be used as spelling words for the week.
The spelli
ng pattern
for ‘shure’
is ……………………
…………………
‘zhure’ word
s
The spelli
ng pattern
for ‘zhur
is ……………………
e’
…………………
The Code Breaker’s Guide to Spelling English (pages 36, 37) will also be useful for highlighting the
spelling conventions for the ‘sh’ sound.
3.52
Part 4: Practice
Provide students with readers appropriate to their reading age – Mrs Rusharound and Lily’s Fish, Mum’s Birthday Treat, or Shona and Shay Save the
Ocean for extra practice reading words and recognising spelling patterns
for the ‘sh’ sound. Students with higher reading ages can also read these
books.
Provide the Sounds for
Spelling/Words for Writing
cards and The Code Breaker’s
Guide to Spelling English for
reference during writing time.
Display the Sounds for Spelling
poster and the ‘sh’ sound poster
from Our Class Sound Dictionary.
Students can complete Switch on
to Spelling Activities 1.14-1.16,
2.28-2.30.
Students who need extra practice can work in small
groups with the ‘sh’ Search for Sounds poster, to identify words
that contain the ‘sh’ sound and to recognise the ‘sh’ spelling
patterns around the edge of the poster.
Students can record words that contain the ‘sh’
sound that they wish to remember for writing in
their own copy of My Sound Spelling Dictionary,
highlighting the ‘sh’ sound.
ship
shoe
chef
tissues
‘sh’
show
shy
shut
crash
push
sure
machine
special
station
Sample Lesson
33
34
Upper Primary and Secondary
Purpose:
To learn to pronounce, read and spell words that contain the ‘sh’ sound.
Materials:
Whiteboard
Spelling Under Scrutiny Teacher’s Guide
Practice Activities Books 1 and 2
English Sounds and Spelling Patterns Poster
English Spelling Dictionary
The Code Breaker’s Guide to Spelling English
Method
Part 1: Teaching and Practice –
The ‘sh’ sound and diverse ways it can be written
Use the teaching notes in Topic 1, Spelling Under Scrutiny, page 93. Students can also
use Practice Activities 1, Exercise 1 to record the ‘sh’ sound in words and to find the
various ways it can be written. Exercise 2 can then be completed. Students should
then be able to identify several ways of writing the ‘sh’ sound.
Teach the ‘tion’ suffix, which contains the ‘sh’ sound – page 314,
Spelling Under Scrutiny.
Students can complete Exercises 148-151, Practice Activities 1.
Display the English Sounds and Spelling Patterns poster for quick
reference.
Provide The Code Breaker’s Guide to Spelling English as a reference
during writing.
Use the English Spelling Dictionary, pages 72 and 73 to record
vocabulary words containing the ‘sh’ sound. Words from these
pages can also be used as spelling words for the week.
The people behind the Word Detective Series
Joy Allcock
Joy developed the Word Detective brand. As well as writing and publishing her own resources,
she works with Gilt Edge Publishing, Pixelhouse and Universal Children’s Audio to collectively
produce a wide range of resources that follow the Word Detective philosophy.
Joy is an author, publisher and literacy consultant, facilitating professional development
workshops for teachers throughout New Zealand and internationally. She qualified and
worked for a number of years as an occupational therapist prior to completing a Master of
Education degree with first class honours in 2000. She has been working in the literacy field
for 15 years and has co-ordinated a number of literacy projects in both primary and secondary
schools. Joy was a contributing author to the Ministry of Education publications Effective
Literacy Practice Years 1 to 4 and Effective Literacy Practice Years 5 to 8 (Learning Media). She is
also a member of the Ministry of Education’s National Literacy Reference Group, which meets
annually to discuss and advise on the direction of literacy instruction in New Zealand.
Joy runs her own publishing company (MJA Publishing), which publishes many of the
resources she writes.
www.spelling.co.nz
Margaret Shaw
Margaret is a contributing author to the Sounds and Letters Activity Books series, published
by MJA Publishing. Margaret is a teacher with more than 30 years experience working with
children at junior primary level. She is a teacher at the New Zealand Correspondence School,
which is the largest school in New Zealand, catering for approximately 20,000 distance learners
from school entry to adults. Margaret has been the literacy leader responsible for integrating
literacy instruction across the curriculum. She has conceptualised and written resources for
developing inquiry leaning across all curriculum areas for students in years one to three, and has
also developed and written a series of resources for teaching literacy skills to students in their
first three years at school. Her role has also included facilitating workshops and seminars for
teachers, parents and supervisors of students attending the Correspondence School.
Pixelhouse Ltd
Pixelhouse is a New Zealand company specialising in the development and production of
digital educational resources. The directors, Noeline Anderson and Bruce Nichol, bring their
years of experience in education to the development of cutting-edge resources for digital media.
Bruce has several academic qualifications including a BA (Hons) in Educational Psychology, a
BEd, and a BA in Human Geography and Asian Studies.
He is a registered psychologist and has worked as an educational psychologist since 1980,
moving into the corporate area 20 years ago. Bruce has taught at primary, secondary and
tertiary levels in New Zealand and Malaysia, and he has also taught English in Indonesia. He
remains actively involved as a practitioner and lecturer in many fields of education, from early
childhood to tertiary level.
Noeline has worked in education for over 30 years as a teacher, education advisor for the
New Zealand Ministry of Education, lecturer for the Wellington College of Education and as
a co-principal of a primary school. She is the founder of Pixelhouse and brings her extensive
experience to the creation, development and production of digital resources for education.
www.pixelhouse.co.nz
Sample Lesson
35
36
Gilt Edge Publishing
Gilt Edge Publishing is a family-run, independent, educational publishing house, established in
New Zealand in 1999, that specialises in developing and publishing literacy resources for New
Zealand and international markets.
Gilt Edge Publishing conceptualised Windows on Literacy, the first totally non-fiction early
reading series, and they developed this for the National Geographic Society. They also
worked with Oxford University Press to develop the non-fiction component of The Oxford
Reading Tree. Gilt Edge Publishing’s aim is to provide quality material for students and teachers that will help
lift the standard of literacy achievement.
www.giltedgepublishing.co.nz
Universal Children’s Audio Ltd
Universal Children’s Audio (UCA) was established in 1987 by Radha Sahar and David
Antony Clark. UCA is New Zealand’s most experienced production house for children’s music,
producing albums for a wide range of learning activities. They also regularly create music and
audio resources for the Ministry of Education.
UCA albums have won international awards, including the World Peace Music Award at the
World Judiciary Summit, the UK Practical Preschool Award, the Rainbow Ribbon Award for
Peaceful Play, and the Tui Award for New Zealand Best Children’s Album.
Radha is a professional songwriter and a qualified kindergarten teacher. She has worked
in music therapy and has tutored at the Nelson School of Music, and is well know for the
professional development workshops she leads throughout New Zealand. Her children’s songs
have won honourable mention and were placed as a finalist for three years running at the
International Songwriting Competition, Nashville, USA.
David is UCA’s sound engineer. He trained as a technician for Radio New Zealand and
has worked extensively in this field for over 30 years. As well as producing for UCA, and
engineering for other companies, David creates his own world music albums. One album
he engineered won New Zealand’s first Grammy Award. David travels widely and uses his
experiences to compose instrumental music that bring multi-cultural influences to his albums.
www.ucamusic.com
www.davidantonyclark.com