English / Foundation / Language / Phonics and word knowledge

Curriculum content descriptions

Understand how to use knowledge of letters and sounds including onset and rime to spell words (ACELA1438)

Elaborations
  • recognising the most common sound made by each letter of the alphabet, including consonants and short vowel sounds, for example ‘p-op’
  • breaking words into onset and rime, noticing words that share the same pattern, for example ‘p-at’, ‘b-at’
  • breaking words into onset and rime to learn how to spell words that share the same pattern, for example ‘p-at’, ‘b-at’, ‘t-all’ and ‘f-all’
  • building word families using onset and rime, for example ‘h-ot’, ‘g-ot’, ‘n-ot’, ‘sh-ot’
General capabilities
  • Literacy Literacy
ScOT terms

Spelling,  Syllables

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Video

English Year F with Leanne: Decoding unfamiliar words using onset and rime

In this lesson, you will learn how to decode unfamiliar words by breaking them up into onset (the starting sound) and rime (the ending of words). Leanne demonstrates how to build and read new words by changing the onset. She provides opportunities for you to have a go at home.

Downloadable

Sample phonics lesson slides - standard

This slide pack is a sample of a phonics lesson for students who have progressed past the initial stages of their phonics learning.

Downloadable

Phonics lesson slides: Spelling generalisation for letter-sound correspondences ai and ay

This sample slideshow presents a ready-to-use phonics lesson to teach the spelling generalisation for the ai ay spelling pattern, with teacher notes indicating how to teach each part of the lesson.

Downloadable

Phonics lesson slides: Spelling generalisation for ff ll ss zz

This sample slideshow presents a ready-to-use phonics lesson to teach the spelling generalisation for the ff ll ss zz spelling pattern (sometimes known as the 'floss' rule), with teacher notes indicating how to teach each part of the lesson.

Downloadable

Phonics lesson slides: Spelling generalisation for soft g and soft c

This sample slideshow presents a ready-to-use phonics lesson to teach the spelling generalisation for the soft g and soft c sounds (sometimes known as the ‘Gentle Cindy’ rule), with teacher notes indicating how to teach each part of the lesson.

Downloadable

Phonics lesson slides: Syllable division: two-syllable words with a VC/CV pattern

This sample slideshow presents a ready-to-use phonics lesson to teach the syllable division for two-syllable words with a vowel-consonant/consonant-vowel (VC/CV) pattern, with teacher notes indicating how to teach each part of the lesson.

Downloadable

Phonics lesson student worksheet: Spelling generalisation for letter-sound correspondences ai and ay

This worksheet is for independent student practice of concepts taught in the phonics lesson on the ai ay spelling pattern.

Downloadable

Phonics lesson student worksheet: Spelling generalisation for ff ll ss zz

This worksheet is for independent student practice of concepts taught in the phonics lesson for the ff ll ss zz spelling pattern (sometimes known as the ‘floss’ rule).

Downloadable

Phonics lesson student worksheet: Spelling generalisation for soft g and soft c

This worksheet is for independent student practice of concepts taught in the phonics lesson for the soft g and soft c sounds (sometimes known as the ‘Gentle Cindy’ rule).

Downloadable

Phonics lesson student worksheet: Syllable division: two-syllable words with VC/CV

This worksheet is for independent student practice of concepts taught in the phonics lesson for syllable division for two-syllable words with a vowel-consonant/consonant-vowel (VC/CV) pattern.

Downloadable

Steps to spelling accuracy infographic

This infographic highlights the knowledge and skill areas students need to develop for early spelling accuracy, and the key role of spelling generalisations in this development.

Video

Teaching tips for phonics related skills

This short video (2 minutes and 54 seconds) shows two teachers discussing strategies that can be used to support students when they are developing phonics-related skills.

Video

Demonstration of a daily review

This video provides a demonstration of a phonics daily review using explicit instruction principles. It is presented by literacy specialists Elaine Stanley and Rebecca McEwan.

Online

Daily review example

This slide pack provides a sample daily review lesson which is a key component of teaching phonics using a systematic synthetic phonics (SSP) model that follows evidence-based research. It can be adapted to follow any phonics progression or lesson.

Video

Explicit instruction for phonics overview

This video provides an overview of a phonics instructional model for reading and spelling. It is presented by literacy specialists Elaine Stanley and Rebecca McEwan.

Video

Demonstration of a phonics lesson

This video provides a demonstration of a phonics lesson using explicit instruction principles. It is presented by literacy specialists Elaine Stanley and Rebecca McEwan.

Video

Q&A session: Making a start with a phonics progression and phonological awareness instruction

This recording of a 30-minute Q&A session supports schools in choosing and following a systematic synthetic phonics (SSP) progression, including phonological and phonemic awareness instruction.

Downloadable

Sample phonics worksheet - standard

This worksheet accompanies the sample phonics lesson for students who have progressed past the initial stages of their phonics learning.

Text

Progress monitoring tools Phases1-5

These tools support teachers to monitor individual and whole-class student progress in Phases 1-5 of the Literacy hub phonics progression, and instructional notes for the teacher are provided. Each phase has a student reference page and a teacher marking sheet.

Assessment

Progress monitoring tools Phases 21-24

These tools support teachers to monitor individual and whole-class student progress in Phases 21-24 of the Literacy hub phonics progression. Each phase has a student reference page and a teacher marking sheet, and instructional notes for the teacher are provided.