A valuable resource provided by Linda Willis and Narelle Daffurn that provides all data that relates to how the student is able to decode the phonemes and graphemes that are present in different texts. Its a resource that is to be always considered in the selection of different texts for the class where it provides a range of questions that a code-breaker asks relating to both written and visual texts.
The grapheme cards will further support the texts and the wordlists that are read. These will allow students to become more familiar not only with the sounds that are produced with one character but will be further expanded as they will now see how two and later three characters will be able to produce the same units of sound e.g. ou / ow; f / ff / ph. This will be as they “manipulate phonemes in spoken words by addition, deletion and substitution of initial, medial and final phonemes to generate new words” (ACELA1457). This will allow them to see how these different letter-sound combinations are implemented into how different words are spelt e.g. aloud / allowed.
As students “discuss features of plot, character and setting in different types of literature” (ACELT1584) they will be able to explore some features of characters in different texts as in homophones. These will be laminated and attached to walls for students to have in sight and mentally stored for when they encounter different words than those they already know.
The wordlists and grapheme cards mainly deal with the assisting students in their phonemic awareness as they identify the characters of the letters that they see and the sounds that the characters produce. The range in the units will be able to assist students at different levels from the beginning Yr One student to the later year levels that haven’t quite fully understood the distinct units of sound that it produces. This will greatly assist students who have English as another Dialect or Language as although they will already familiarity with the single letter-sounds relating to their own mother tongue but the variation in the units may help the teacher identify the appropriate beginning point to help them catch up.
The brown-bear activity is an activity that may be completed in two ways depending on the learning level of the class. It may be undertaken as a whole class investigating two animals at a time (from the text) using the whiteboard where the whole class will work on vocabulary with subsections that would describe each animal e.g. Brown Bears – ARE / HAVE / CAN. Or it may completed in pairs with all different animals being distributed throughout the class before discussing any similarities or differences between their animals.
A cut and paste activity that will revisit children’s recollection of the story recalling the animals used and their allotted colours.
The storyboard or A4-sized whiteboards will be used as an all class activity after a teaching session that relates to the structure in a simple sentence that involves a) a subject; b) a verb and c) the surrounding circumstance at the basic level. In their table-groups each will be given the opportunity to create a) subject; b) verb and c) surrounding circumstance with a volunteer to stand up with others as they read the genuinely-created sentences.
English & Literacy - FOUR RESOURCES MODEL 