CORE TEACHER MODELLING CARDS

Very helpful teacher-led ‘lesson introduction’ material for every new, or focus, letter/s-sound correspondence in Units 1 to 12:
This resource was originally provided only in Units 1 to 6 of the Early Years Starter Package webpage (alongside a pupil-version with line drawings). It has proved to be such a helpful and popular resource for adults to introduce the new or focus letter/s-sound correspondence that it has now been added to the full Phonics International programme and extended to Units 7 to 12.
The CORE TEACHER MODELLING CARDS’ include the same key pictures and example words which are used on the Phonics International English Alphabetic Code Charts. The ‘teacher’ is advised to point to the focus sounds and graphemes on the preferred version of the Alphabetic Code Charts as part of the introduction to the lesson. Then the CORE TEACHER MODELLING CARDS provide the ‘teacher’ – whether for whole classes, groups or individuals - with a comprehensive all‐in‐one resource to introduce the new or focus letter/s-sound correspondence/s whilst also providing the word examples to model the three core skills of:

1. sounding out and blending all‐through‐the‐printed‐words for reading (decoding: this is a print-to-sound process)
2. orally segmenting all‐through‐the‐spoken‐words for spelling (encoding: this is a sound-to-print process)
3. handwriting the new letter/s‐sound correspondence and, further, applying handwriting to spelling

[Please refer to the following pdfs for information about the phonics routines for the ‘core’ skills:
Three Posters for Phonics Routines – Reading, Spelling, Handwriting
Guidance for Phonics Routines]

NOTE: AVOID OVER-MODELLING! As soon as learners are picking up the code knowledge and the phonics routines for the skills of blending for reading, and oral segmenting for spelling, the teacher can encourage the learners to go through the information and processes on the CORE TEACHER MODELLING CARDS with the teacher, and then ahead of the teacher to increase the engagement and participation of the learners. So, the teacher can point under the graphemes of the words to be blended, but the learners ‘say the sounds’ and then the ‘whole spoken word’ and so on. Teachers need to be excellent at modelling the phonics routines BUT KNOW WHEN TO HOLD BACK AND LET THE LEARNERS DO THE WORK!

ALSO, point out, as appropriate for the age and needs of the learners, any features of the example words that you may want to touch upon such as prefixes, suffixes, word classes, root words, pronunciation variations, word meanings, unusual spellings and so on.

Suggestions: Providers in school and pre‐school settings can use this as a paper or laminated resource (reduce to half-size in the home if preferred or view on screen, use as the original A4 size or enlarge to A3 if required with whole classes – or view on a screen or project onto a whiteboard during the introduction). After using paper or laminated CORE TEACHER MODELLING CARDS to introduce the new alphabetic code and three core skills, the cards can be immediately transferred to the main display wall to systematically build up a set of posters to support continuous learning. In addition, you could create a browse-book of this resource which learners can access in a book corner or library.

The CORE TEACHER MODELLING CARDS can be used as a stand‐alone lesson introduction resource or used alongside other Phonics International multi‐sensory aids. The PICTURE POSTERS (visual resource) and online ‘HEAR THE SOUNDS’ (audio‐visual resource) in Units 1 to 6 provide picture/word examples with the focus letter/s‐sound correspondence (especially helpful when English is being taught as a foreign language by teachers who are non-native speakers).

IMPORTANT: Aim to follow the teacher-led lesson introduction with each learner using his or her own paper copy  of the core SOUNDS BOOK ACTIVITY SHEETS alternating with the matched ‘SENTENCES’ (In Units 1 to 5) and/or the ‘I CAN READ’ TEXTS and QUESTIONS in Units 1 to 12.

Go to the Early Years Starter Package webpage if you require additional sentence level material ‘SIMPLE SENTENCES’ and text level material ‘BOOKLETS’ for Units 1 to 6. The Early Years Starter Package also has different versions of the multi-skills ACTIVITY SHEETS – very good for younger learners and/or for beginners when English is a new language.

Note: You can hear about the use of the CORE TEACHER MODELLING CARDS in this 8 minute video clip entitled: ‘Demonstrating the power of synthetic phonics teaching with the Phonics International Early Years Starter Package’:

HEAR THE SOUNDS which introduce the 44+ sounds (phonemes) in the English language
Hear the same phonemes modelled in all positions in the words which feature on the phonemic awareness Picture Posters. This facility is available for units 1 - 6. (Switch on PC speakers!)

WORD FLASH CARDS
This strand of large WORD FLASH CARDS is available in all the units 1 to 12 as an optional resource. It is not intended that the words on these flash cards are taught as ‘whole global shapes’. These words are ‘cumulative’ and can be used to model and rehearse the sounding out and blending process as learners are introduced to the letter/s-sound correspondences in each unit. Eventually, familiarity from blending these words will lead to learners recognising them automatically. The same words can be found on other PI resources. Teachers can model the words in simple spoken or written sentences and describe the meanings of the words if the learners do not know them. This will increase the vocabulary bank of the learners. These WORD FLASH CARDS may make a useful ‘hard copy’ resource for the ‘simple code’ units when learners are total beginners. Teachers can use them in front of groups and whole classes. In these circumstances, teachers should track under the graphemes (with the index finger) from left to right in the printed words whilst the graphemes are sounded out. When the whole word is said, the teacher should return to the beginning of the printed word to track under the whole word in time with the spoken word. Learners can have access to hard copies of the cards for reading them independently. When computers are available, learners can read the words ‘online’ with support or independently or they can be projected onto white screens for whole classes to read. To make ‘hard copies’ of the words in the earlier units, print on card or laminate paper copies.  

RESOURCES TO SUPPORT LEARNING ABOUT THE ALPHABET
Support learners' early writing activities with visual resources such as the Alphabet Mini Poster and one of the Say The Sounds posters (no.1, 4, 7, 10 or 13 as appropriate).

SENTENCES
This strand provides cumulative, decodable words in sequenced sentences along with a few writing lines and a drawing space. Wait until learners can ‘blend’ effectively before using this resource. The teacher needs to teach the sound /th/ and the grapheme ‘th’ in order to use the material in this strand. This enables the early use of very helpful words such as ‘the’, ‘this’, ‘then’ and ‘that’ - plus many other words with the grapheme ‘th’ - long before this letter/s-sound correspondence is introduced via the SOUNDS BOOK ACTIVITY SHEETS at the end of unit 4. It is helpful to ask learners to ‘say the sounds’ of the graphemes at the top of each sheet and to undertake ‘grapheme searches’ in the words before reading the sentences.

1) VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT AND ENRICHMENT
2) REHEARSE ORAL SEGMENTNG (sub-skill of spelling)
3) MEMORISE WORD BANKS OF SPELLING ALTERNATIVES

Ultimately, for spelling purposes, learners need to hold in long term memory the knowledge of ‘which words’ are spelt with ‘which spelling alternatives’. When learners are younger or new to reading and spelling in the English language, they can only be expected to remember just a few words with certain spelling patterns. As learners mature and read and write more widely, for spelling they need to build bigger and bigger ‘word banks’ of specific spelling patterns - and these word banks need to be in long term memory.

‘I CAN READ’ STORYLINES - FULL COLOUR ILLUSTRATIONS
Use these illustrations only after the ‘I CAN READ’ texts have been read by the learners so that the pictures are not used as ‘clues’ for the words. Add these illustrations to the main wall display area to help learners become familiar with the storylines and so that, where appropriate, they can memorise the words with the specific spelling patterns associated with each storyline.

1) Talk about the characters and actions in the pictures to increase vocabulary particularly for ‘young’ learners and learners for whom English is a foreign language.

2) For a spelling sub-skill, pick some simple words from the pictures to ‘say slowly’ and identify the sounds all-through-the-word (oral segmenting) - tallying the sounds to thumb and fingers of the left hand, palm facing.

‘I CAN READ’ STORYLINES - BLACK AND WHITE PICTURES WITH WORD BANKS

1) Rehearse reading the words in the word banks to build greater fluency.

2) Recall spelling word banks especially for graphemes of two or more letters. Learners can label and colour the pictures and do ‘memory’ activities. Read the words, spell and write the words - then ‘remember’ which specific words are in the word banks. Play ‘memory games’ revisiting storylines and their associated word banks.