s a t p i n ck e h r m d or z w ng v oo oo y x ch

goulfb sh th th qu

ai j oa ie ee oi ue er ar

QADS, Ministry of Education Belize. Copyright 2007

Fast Phonics, Infant 1 Teachers`Guide was produced to support the teaching of Language Arts in the Lower Division. Fast Phonics is part of the curriculum reform to strengthen students reading abilities within the teaching of Language Arts in the classroom.
This publication is to be used in collaboration with following new publications: 1. Language Arts Curriculum 2. Student Workbook(s) 3. Reproducible Worksheets 4. Fast Phonics Readers The information contained in this document is based on information available at the time and is subject to change. Although every reasonable effort has been made to include accurate information and the elimination of errors, it is possible that some remain. Your suggestions in this regard would be greatly welcomed for future revision and printing. Quality Assurance and Development Services P.O.Box 369 West Landivar, Belize City, Belize Phone: 223-1389 Fax:223-4532 Email: qads.moe.belize@gmail.com

Fast Phonics Infant I Teachers Guide

Published by QADS, Ministry of Education Belize. Copyright 2007

Acknowledgements
The Ministry of Education through the Quality Assurance and Development Services would like to acknowledge and thank the following persons for their dedication and expertise in developing and testing this comprehensive support package Fast Phonics for primary schools:

Production
John Newport Laverne Gillett Darlene Lozano Darlene Belgrave Jacqueline Sutherland Desiree Flowers Shannon Gillett Solis Ines Paquiul Nelson Longsworth

Piloting
Maria Martinez Jesusita Carcamo Dolores Locario Doreen Guzman Veronica Peters Deborah Borland Rocio Trujillo Yesenia Tun Mirta Young Yvonne Casamiro Gladys Jackson Moses Palmar Phillipa Williams Orvin Cunil Elma Garcia Sheryl Distan Maria Pook Lloydia Johnson Verna Jenkins Kate Salata Bendicto Menjivar Berrisford Awardo Gilgardo Arcurio Lavern Gillett Geogette Bartley Odelia Caliz

Desktop Publishing and Graphics

John Newport Nelson Longsworth Martinique Santos Courtney Gillett Claudette Cardona Shalwah Berry

Printing
Shalwah Berry Corina Augustine Brittany Reynolds Karen Froyce

Special Acknowledgement to the District Education Managers and Curriculum Officers of the Ministry of Education for their dedication and continuous support. A special thank you to the management of the Pilot Schools for their unwavering support.

Contents
Introduction ................................................................. 1 Teaching Fast Phonics .................................................... 2 Group One Letters and Sounds ........................................ 8 Group Two Letters and Sounds...................................... 14 Group Three Letters and Sounds ................................... 19 Group Four Letters and Sounds ..................................... 23 Group Five Letters and Sounds...................................... 28 Group Six Letters and Sounds ....................................... 32 Group Seven Letters and Sounds ................................... 36 Appendix One ............................................................. 39
Infant One Learning Outcomes .............................................................................. 39 Related to Phonics and Word Decoding ................................................................... 39

Appendix Two ............................................................. 41

The Alphabet Code ............................................................................................ 41

Appendix Three .......................................................... 43

Assessment Grid ................................................................................................ 43 Fast Phonics Diagnostic Assessment ....................................................................... 44

Appendix Four ............................................................ 49

Tricky Words List............................................................................................... 49

Introduction
Fast Phonics is a phonics programme that covers the first three years of primary school. The complete package contains student workbooks and readers (Infant 1 only), and teachers guides containing teaching tips and photocopy resources, letter sets and word flashcards. Fast Phonics concentrates on four basic skills that are taught at the same time: 1. Identifying the sounds that letters represent 2. Forming the letters in writing 3. Blending letters and sounds for reading 4. Reading tricky, that is, irregularly spelt, words In this book, the term 'lettersound' is used to mean the relationship between a letter or pair of letters (grapheme) and an individual speech sound (phoneme). By the end of Infant I, students should be able to: Recognize and name all the letters of the English alphabet in upper and lower case Write all the letters of the English alphabet in upper and lower case with correct spacing and size, using guidelines if necessary Recognize the main 42 letter-sound relationships (see next page) Blend vowels and consonants together to read two and three letter words Read words beginning with common consonant clusters such as br-, tr-, bl-, gl-, st-, sn-, and dr Read words beginning with common end clusters such as nd, -lp, -st, -sp, and nt. Read commonly occurring irregularly spelt tricky words. In addition, many Infant I students may be able to: Spell short consonant-vowel-consonant words correctly Read short sentences made up of regularly spelt words and common tricky words. Write short sentences in response to a picture.

In Infant, 2 Fast Phonics introduces students to variant ways of spelling long and other vowel sounds and using c and g for the /s/ and /j/ sounds. In Standard I, students are taught the more unusual spelling patterns, such as ur, -ear, -ph, wh, igh and ough.
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When the symbols / / are used it indicates a sound. For example, /s/ indicates an ess sound.

Teaching Fast Phonics

In Fast Phonics, Infant I students learn one way of reading and writing the main forty-two sounds of English. For teaching purposes, these letters-sounds are divided into six groups. At the end of each group of letters-sounds, there should be a pause to allow for consolidation. The groups are: Group Group Group Group Group Group Group 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 s c/k g ai z y qu a e o j w x ou t h u oa ng ch oi i r l ie v sh ue p m f ee oo th er n d b or oo th ar

It is important to realize that, at this stage, students are taught one sound for each letter or letter combination. Thus, in Infant I, g (group 3) always represents the hard g sound, as in goat. The soft g sound, as in gel is introduced in Infant 2.

Infant I Fast Phonics Materials

The Student Workbook The student workbook is the main textbook for Fast Phonics. It should be used by students every day. In the workbook, 4 pages are dedicated to each letter-sound. Usually the first page introduces the sound and letter, the second page concentrates on identifying the sound in words, the third page concentrates on linking the sound to the letter and words containing the letter, and the fourth page provides space for penmanship practice. In addition, at the end of each group, the workbook contains several pages of review and consolidation activities. These should be completed before the students proceed to the next group. The Student Reader The student reader provides short texts for the students to read at the end of each group. The texts contain only the letters and tricky words that the students have learnt to that point. The Teachers Guide The teachers guide contains support materials and also links to reproducible worksheets. These worksheets are designed to be used in addition to the workbook. They can be used as homework, for remediation work with students that are struggling, or as extension activities for students who are making rapid progress.

When Should Fast Phonics Begin?

The Fast Phonics Programme should begin on the first day of the first term of Infant 1 or shortly thereafter. The start of the programme should not be delayed just because some students have not been to pre-school or used a pencil. Schools where the majority of the students do not understand English can still start the programme, but much their first language may have to be used. Initial progress may be slower in these schools.

Rate of Introduction of Letter-Sounds

Letter-sounds are introduced at the rate of at least two per week. Teachers should continue to introduce letter-sounds at the rate of at least two per week until the first group has been completed. The review and consolidation activities should then be done. When all the students can link each letter in a group to its sound, then the next group may be started. As a minimum, groups 1, 2 and 3 should be completed in first term. All seven groups should be completed by the end of the first year.

Characters, Actions, Stories and Jingles

Each letter is linked to a character, an action, a story and a jingle. For example, for the letter sound s, the character is Sam the Snake, the action is to weave the hand in an S shape (like a snake), and the story is about Sam the Snake hissing and sliding in the grass. These characters, actions and stories make learning phonics fun and help the students learn and remember the letter-sounds efficiently. They also cater to students with different learning styles.

When making the actions the students should say and repeat the sound. They should not say the letters name. When students say consonant sounds, encourage them to make the sound as short as possible, that is to say /b/ and not 'buh'.

Reading Words
In Fast Phonics, students are taught to read words by blending the letter-sounds together. For example by blending the sounds s+ i+ t to form sit. Some students find it easy to start reading words by blending, other have more difficulty. Some students entering Infant 2 may be able to recognize all the letters but may still struggle to blend. These students will need remedial sessions with the teacher. In Fast Phonics, the blending of two and three letter words is introduced in the first group. At that early stage, rapid progress through the letters should continue even if all the students can not blend.

Penmanship
Students begin forming letters from the very beginning of the programme. By the end of Infant I they should be able to form, free-hand, the twenty-six letters of the English alphabet with good size, shape and spacing. In Fast Phonics, students learn to write the tail on many letters, for example a i n . This makes it much easier for students to progress to writing cursive scripts.

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Some students may arrive at school for the first time with little or no experience of writing. For these students, progress in forming letters is likely to be slower. They may first have to learn to trace lines, colour pictures and draw lines, slants, crosses and circles. It is very important to check that students hold their pencils correctly. A pencil should be held between the index and middle fingers, supported by the thumb. The grip should be light; a strong grip can damage a young childs muscular development. Natural left-handers should never be forced to write using their right hand.

Free Writing and Spelling

Students should be given opportunities to express themselves in writing from the beginning of the programme. At first, this expression may take the form of drawings or scribbles. Over time, students should be encouraged to write about their drawings by adding letters or words. Initially, they may spell these words using only one or two letters to represent the main sounds. By the end of Infant I, most students should be able to write regularly spelt three and four letter words. Many will be able to write short sentences.

Letter Books
Each student should have an exercise book which is their letter book. When a letter has been taught, the teacher should write, or paste, the letter into their letter books. For homework, the students can copy the letter or they can draw or paste pictures that begin with it. The letter book is a good way of involving parents in Fast Phonics.

Tricky Words
Irregularly spelt words are often known as tricky words. Some important tricky words include: I, the, he, she, was, do, you, said, two, why and their. There is a list of tricky words on page 49. Methods for teaching tricky words include: Look, copy, cover, write, say and Word Walls.

Alphabet Letter Names

Many students begin Infant I already familiar with the names of the letters. They may have learnt these at pre-school from their parents or from their siblings. Teachers should build on this knowledge. The letter name is a useful tool for talking about the letter. Great care should be taken to ensure that students understand that the letter name and letter sound are different.

Assessment
Teachers should constantly monitor their students progress. At the end of each group, teachers should assess if students can: 1. Say the correct sound when shown a letter prompt, for example on a flash card. 2. Form letters correctly while tracing dots. 3. Match a letter to a picture of a word containing the appropriate sound.

If all students can say the correct letter when shown a prompt, then the class is ready to move to the next group, even if not all the students can form the letters correctly or match a letter to an appropriate picture.

As students progress through the Fast Phonics programme, teachers should also assess whether they can blend letters to make words, whether they can form letters freehand, and how they spell words in original writing. There is an assessment chart on page 43.

Teaching Strategies and Learning Activities

The following procedure can be used for introducing the letter sounds, especially during first term. During second and third term, students should be reading and writing increasingly longer texts as part of their phonics work. Day One 1. Tell a short story that includes several examples of the target sound. Thus, if the target sound is /s/, the story could include the words 'snake', 'Sam', 'slide', 'hiss', and so on. Use the action when telling the story and encourage the students to do it as well. 2. Elicit from students what the target sound is. 3. Elicit from students words from the story that contain the target sound. 4. Elicit from students other words that contain the target sound. 5. Introduce the jingle and, if appropriate, have the students do the action along with it. 5. Introduce the letter symbol using a chart or flashcard. 6. Encourage the students to say the sound as you show the letter card. They should perform the action as they do this. 7. Write some words containing the letter and read them aloud. 8. Ask a student to identify the letter on an alphabet chart. 9. Show the students the first page of the workbook related to that letter. Talk about the elements on the page. 10. Ask the students to complete the first activity. 11. Review all letter-sounds covered so far in the programme.

Day Two 1. Review the jingle and repeat it several times, with appropriate actions. 2. Elicit from students the target sound. Elicit other words that begin with (or contain) the target sound. 3. Ask students to identify the target letter on the alphabet chart and in other text displayed in the classroom. 4. Play a game focussing on words with the target sound and/or letter. A popular game is "I spy with my little I something beginning with * (insert a sound (not a letter name) 5. Show a flashcard of the target letter. Demonstrate how it is written. Ask students to imitate you using their fingers. 6. Ask the students to complete the activity on the second page of the relevant section. This activity is usually one that requires students to link pictures to the target sound. For example, students may have to colour the pictures that begin with the sound.

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7. 8. 9. 10. 11. Ask students to complete the third page of the workbook relating to the letter-sound. This usually involves writing the letter to complete a word. Review all the letter-sounds covered so far in the programme. Give homework, usually completing the next page in their letter books. Ask students to complete the page of the workbook that has hand-writing practice. For extension or remediation activities, use the appropriate worksheets in the reproducible package.

Once students can blend, they can be asked to read words and sentences containing the target lettersound. They should also be given opportunities to use the letter in their own, original, writing.

End of Group Review and Consolidation

There is a review and consolidation period at the end of each group. This is very important and should not be skipped. During this time, students review all the letters of the group and do activities in which all the letters are used. Blending to read words can also be focused on at this time. The following materials can be used during the review and consolidation process: - The relevant end of group pages in the student workbook; - The relevant text in the student reader; - The end of group read aloud story (see below); and - The reproducible materials from the accompanying package. Students who are struggling should be given extra help during this time.

Fast Phonics Lesson Planning

When planning the Fast Phonics segment of their lessons, teachers should refer to the content standards and learning outcomes contained in the "Belize National Standards and Curriculum Web for Language Arts". See also Appendix One, Infant One Learning Outcomes Related to Phonics and Word Decoding, page 40. It is recommended that there is a distinct segment of Fast Phonics teaching in every single Infant I Language Arts lesson. This segment should last between 20 and 30 minutes. Activities in the rest of the lesson should focus on other learning outcomes; however, there can still be a link to the Fast Phonics segment. Most Infant I students like teaching routines. Teachers may decide to include the following in their plans every day: Fast Phonics Activities. The reading aloud of a story, poem or other text by the teacher. A morning circle in which students orally share experiences and ideas. Time for the students to read to themselves. Opportunities for students to write or draw using inventive spelling if necessary. Practice forming letters in writing (penmanship).

Fast Phonics and Languages other than English

The Fast Phonics materials are in Standard English. However, both teachers and students may use other languages when this helps the students achieve the lessons objectives. Most of the time, teachers should use Standard English when they write. Refer to the Language Policy Statement in the Belize National Standards and Curriculum Web for Language Arts (page 3) for more details. The start of the Fast Phonics programme should not be delayed because students do not understand English. However, a slower rate of letter-sound introduction may be necessary.

Group One Letters and Sounds

General Comments Group One can be started on the first day of school or shortly thereafter, even if the students did not go to pre-school or do not understand English. The suggested rate of progress is for each letter to be covered in two or three days of teaching. After the end of the group there must be a period of consolidation and review. There is no time set for this review. It should continue until all, or almost all, the students can link the six symbols to the appropriate sound. It is usual to introduce each new sound and letter with a story. The Fast Phonics programme creates a character for each sound. Teachers should use the story starters to build a story around that character and the action that he or she performs that makes the sound. There is also a jingle associated with each sound. Usually the jingle can be linked to the story and the character. By using the stories, characters, actions and jingles in their lessons, teachers can make their teaching fun and cater to a variety of learning styles.

Teaching Points: This is the first letter. It can be done on the first day or shortly afterwards. Follow the procedures outlined in the introduction to this guide, (page 5). Some teachers may find they need three days to complete the activities, especially if their students have little previous experience in writing or holding a pencil. Note that it is not necessary for all the students to be able to trace the letter before continuing to the /a/ sound. Character: Sam the Snake Action: Weave hands in an sshape, like a snake and say s s s s s

When making the actions the students should say and repeat the sound. They should not say the letters name. The sound can be drawn out like a
snake that is hissing. Story Starter: Sam the snake slides slowly, sliding in the grass. He spies a sparrow. Ever so slowly, he weaves toward the sparrow and hisses.

The story starters are designed as prompts for the teachers. They can use them to make up stories to introduce the sounds and letters. The stories should feature the character and the action.
Jingle: Sam the snake Sat in the sun With soap on his scales Having such fun

Teaching Points: This is the short /a/ sound, as in cat. Words containing the long a sound should be used at this point. There are relatively few 3 and 4 letter words that begin with the short /a/ sound, so words with the short /a/ as a medial sound should also be introduced. Follow, or modify, the procedures outlined in the introduction to this guide, (page 5). These procedures can be used for most sessions in first term. Note that it is likely that teachers will have to modify the writing related activities to meet the needs of their particular students. Words beginning with short /a/: act, add, agony, agree, amber, anchor, and, anger, ant, axe, axle. Three letter words with medial /a/: bad, bag, ban, bat, cab, can, cap, cat, fan, fat, gap, gas, ham, jam, lad, nap, pad, pan, pat, rag, ram, ran, rat, rap, sad, sag, sat, tan, tap, van, vat, yak, yam, zag. Character: Ann and Andy the Ants Action: Wiggle fingers an your arm as if covered in ants and say a a a a Story Starter: Ann and Andy are army ants. They like to march and chant. They March onto Agathas arm and begin to bite. A a a says Agatha as she tries to brush the ants off with her hand. A a a Jingle: Andy and Ann the angry ants Sat on Dans hat and began to chant When Dan the Man put on his pants They jumped on his arm and began to dance Teaching Points: Some students may not hear or pronounce the difference between the /t/ and /d/ sounds. The /t/ sound is made with a puff of air. This makes it different from the /d/ sound. Students can hold their hand in front of their mouth when they make the two sounds to feel the difference. Note that the stick of the letter t is written with a curve, not straight up and down like a cross. Blending letters together to read words is introduced in the t section. Some students will pick up the concept immediately and some will not. At this stage, this is expected and should not be a cause for concern. Words for blending: at, an, sat. Note that as should not be used as a word for blending because the letter s represents the /z/ sound, (it is az, not ass). Character: Tori the Turtle Action: Push head in and out like a turtle and say t t t

When students say sound, encourage them to make it as short as possible, that is to say /t/ and not tuh.
Story Starter: Tori the Turtle touched ten on the telephone. She wanted to talk to her friend, Myrtle.

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Jingle: Tory is a tiny turtle Who talks on the telephone With her friend Myrtle. Tory likes to talk and tease Myrtle likes to eat tough cheese.

Teaching Points: The /p/ sound is made with a puff of air. This makes it different from the /b/ sound. Students can hold their hand in front of their mouth when they make the two sounds to feel the difference. Words for blending: pat, tap. Character: Prince the Parrot Action: Pat your hand as if patting a pet and say p p p Story Starter: Prince the Parrot wanted some popcorn. He popped into Peters house to see if he could pick any up. Luckily, Peter had some popcorn in a pot. Up jumped Prince the Parrot. He pecked the popcorn. Just then, Peter came in. He caught the Parrot by the tail. What a pretty parrot he said. I will keep him as a pet. Peter began to pat Prince. Pat, pat, pat. Prince liked being patted. P p p he said, to show that he was happy.

Jingle: Proud Peter went pat, pat, pat On Prince the Parrots hat, hat, hat. Prince the Parrot went p, p, p On Proud Peters piece of paper

Note that the p p p sound in the jingle is the sound /p/, not the letter p (pee).

Teaching Points: This is the short /i/ sound, as in ink. Words with the long /i/ sound, for example ice, should not be introduced at this stage. Words for blending: it, sit, pit, sip, tip Character: Inky Iguana Action: Pretend to be an iguana, wriggle your fingers on your nose and say i i i

Students say the sound /i/, not the word I.

Story Outline: Inky the Iguana was out hunting for food. He saw an inch long insect. He tried to lick. The insect jumped up and bit Inky on the nose. i i i said Inky as he wiggled his toes at the insect. Jingle: Inky was a hungry iguana He ate ten insects and a banana When inky had an itchy nose He said i i i and waved his toes.

Teaching Points: Students should continue to have the opportunity to read words by blending. Words for blending: nip, pin, nap, pan. Character: Nurse Nelly Action: Move finger from side to side and say n n n n no. Story Outline: Naughty Nina was not very nice. She was always doing nasty things to her neighbours. One day, Nina trod on nine nails. She rushed to see Nurse Nelly. I will have to give you an injection, said Nurse Nelly. I hate injections, said Nina. I will run away. Nurse Nelly wagged her finger at Nina. No, no, no, she said. You must not run away. Jingle: Nelly is a new nurse She has a very big purse Full of nylons and pills For night time chills And nine needles to make you feel better.

Review and Consolidation

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13The workbook contains activities to be completed at the end of each group. These are very important. Students need to review what they have learnt and they must begin to work with more than one letter at a time. During the end-of-group review activities, teachers should assess the progress made by the students. When all the students can link the groups letters to the correct sounds, the next group can be started. There is no set time allocated for review. The end-of-group stories allow time for the development of other language arts skills. Group 1 Story The Snail and the Snake Gail the Slow Snail, and Sam the Snake, were very close friends. They were both students of Saint Stephens School on South Street. This school was on the Southside of Belize City. Gail and Sam and some other friends were hurrying to school. It was a bright sunny Saturday afternoon in September. They were going to celebrate the birthday of their Principal Mr. Parrot. Their class had planned a special party to celebrate this event. The children made sure they walked on the side of the street. When they crossed the street, a sad thing happened. A silly spider was speeding by on his scooter. He did not slow down. He did not obey the STOP sign. He hit Gail the Slow Snail, and scratched her shell. Two ants, Ann and Andy were marching by in their army. They saw the accident. Andy ran inside and told Mr Parrot, the Principal. Inky the Iguana had heard a terrible noise when the spider had hit Gail the Slow Snail with his scooter. He ran to see what the sound was. When he saw Gail with her broken shell, he quickly used Tory the Turtles telephone to call Gails parents and give them the bad news. He also called Nurse Nelly to come and help them. Soon the sound of blaring sirens could be heard rushing to the scene. Nurse Nelly carefully put Gail the Slow Snail into the ambulance and took her to the animal hospital nearby. Gail was in a lot of pain, and was feeling very sad. She started to cry. Nurse Nelly said, No, no, Gail, no need to cry. Just then Mr. Pig the policeman came into the room with Gails parents Stuart and Susan Snail. Gail stopped crying and gave her parents a shy smile. The doctor gave her seven stitches and told her she would get better very soon.

Learning Activities for The Snail and the Snake. Listening Comprehension Activities. 1. 2. Read the story through once without interruptions. Read the story again. After the end of each paragraph ask some literal comprehension questions. If students cannot answer the questions, re-read the paragraph. - What is the name of the snail? - What day is it? - Why are Gail the Slow Snail and Sam the Snake going to school on a Saturday? - What happens to Gail? - Who told Mr Parrot the Principal what had happened? - What did Inky Iguana do when he heard a terrible noise? - What did Nurse Nelly say to Gail? - Who visited Gail? - What did the doctor say? Ask students what they think about the story. How did it make them feel? Ask students to share similar experiences. Ask students to draw a picture of the story. Ask them to write about the picture. Expect most students to write only a few letters or letterlike shapes. These will probably not make an identifiable word.

3. 4. 5. 6.

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Group Two Letters and Sounds

General Comments The procedures that were used for teaching Group 1 can also be used for Group 2. It is very important that all the letters learnt so far, and not just Group 2 letters, are reviewed every day. Tricky words, that is ones that do not follow phonetic spelling rules can be introduced for the first time during the teaching of Group Two. The workbook pages contain suggested tricky words. See also page 49 Teaching Points: Students learn both that both c and k can be used to write the /c/ sound (as in cat). They also learn that they can be combined, as in back. This is the first time that students encounter one sound being spelt in more than one way. This is an important concept and teachers should ensure that all students understand it. It is not necessary to teach hard c/soft c rules at this stage and soft c words, as in cell, should not be used. Students can be told that words can begin with c or k, but not ck. Similarly, words do not end with c, but they do end with k or ck. If the /k/ sound is in the middle of a word, it is almost always spelt ck. Character: Clicker the Clock. Action: Move your finger around like the hands of a clock and say kkk Story Outline:: Clicker was an old clock. He always told the exact time and never stopped. But one day, Clickers hands fell off! Clicker still said tick, tock, tick, tock but nobody could tell the time. Then Prince the Parrot saw Clickers hand on the floor. He picked it up in his beak and flew up to Clickers clock face. Very carefully, so that his claws did not scratch Clicker, he put the hand back in place. Then, once again, Clickers hand could go round and round. Jingle: Clicker is a clever clock That stands all day and says tick tock. It never stops ticking And never stops clicking Unless you put a key in its lock.

c/k

h e

Teaching Points: This is the /h/ sound at the beginning of words like hot. H rarely represents this sound in the middle of words unless preceded by a suffix. It never represents this sound at the end of a word. Words for blending: hat, hit, hot. Character: Henry the Horse Action: Hold your hand in front of your mouth, pant as if you are hot and say h . . . h . . . h . . Story Outline: Henry the Happy horse won a race and got very hot. He panted h h h Jingle: Henry the Happy Horse come here! The sun is all bright and clear Henry the horse come at a trot Tongue hanging out because youre hot. Teaching Points: This is the short /e/ sound, as in egg. It should not be confused with the long /e/ sound. Few words begin with the short e sound, so most words used in teaching will have /e/ as the middle sound. Words beginning with the short /e/ sound include: echo, edge, egg, elephant, elf, elk, end, ever, every, exam. At this stage, students are unlikely to read any of these words. Students may be able to read words like pen and ten. Character: Esther the Hen Action: Pretend to tap Esthers egg on the side of a frying pan and say e e e Story Outline: Esther the hen lost her egg. She was sad because she had promised Mrs Elton an egg for her cake. All the animals tried to help find the egg. After a long search they found it under an elephant. As fast as she could, Esther took the egg to Mrs Elton who tapped it on the side of a pan e e e to crack it. After the cake was finished, all the animals had a piece. Jingle: Esther the hen broke her egg At the edge of the river bend Elly the elephant saw the egg And sat down to make it mend.

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Teaching Points: First language Spanish speaking students may pronounce r slightly differently than Kriol speaking students. This difference in pronunciation is unimportant and does not need to be corrected. Character: Rick and his rag Action: Pretend to be Rick, a puppy holding a rag in his mouth. Shake your head from side to side and say r r r r r Story Outline: Renita had a new puppy called Rick. Rick always liked to play with a rag in the yard. When he picked up the rag he would say r r r. Jingle: The rabbit goes run, run, run Eating raisins in a bun The robin goes tweet, tweet, tweet Rushing round with a sweet Rick the puppy has a rag That he waves like a flag.

Teaching Points: Play Mick goes to market to buy a mango. Each student in a circle has to remember the items Mick has already bought. Play the game again but say Mick can only buy things that begin with the /m/ sound. Character: Mick Action: Rub your tummy like Mick seeing a mango and say m m mm Story Outline: Rick goes to market and buys mangoes, melons, mackerel and mustard. He gets hungry, rubs his tummy and says mmm Jingle: One day I went to market And met Merry Mick Monster Mark Merry Mick had some maize And a piece of mango tart. m m m said Merry Mick This tart is very yummy Im sure that in a tick It will be in my tummy.

d
Group 2 Story

Character: Dicky the Duck Action: Beat hands up and down as if playing Dickies drum and say d d d d Story Outline: Dicky has a drum. He takes the drum with him wherever he goes and never stops playing it. Dicky plays the drum when he eats. He plays the drum when he goes to school. The only time he stops playing the drum is when he goes to sleep. Jingle: Dicky the Duck plays the drum By the kitchen door D, d, d, d, d Donalds drumming annoys his Mum Who cant take it any more.

On the Farm Mr. Mike was a farmer. He lived in the calm village of Cotton Tree in the Cayo District. At five oclock one hot Monday morning, Clicker the Clock, sounded his alarm to wake up the animals. It was market day. Mr. Mike had to travel to town in his Tacoma Truck. He needed to take the fruits and vegetables to sell. The animals all ran to help load the truck with eggs, craboo, mangoes, cashews, hot peppers, cassava and rice. Mr. Mike drove off happily. All his animals had helped him. Candy the Cow, Esther the Hen, Donald the Duck and Randy the Rooster ran ahead of the rest. Ms. Mary, the farmers wife was feeding the other animals. She threw the corn and called their names. Henry the Horse kicked up his hoofs. He was very hot and hungry after all that work. Suddenly Rocky the Rabbit came hopping into the farm yard. Esther has lost her egg! he shouted. Oh no! said Ms. Mary. What will farmer Mike say? Immediately the animals started to search for the missing egg. Inky the Iguana and Randy the Rooster ran down to the riverside. They looked and looked, but they did not see the egg. Donald the Duck and Candy the Cow called Henry the Horse to come and help them. Chuck the Chicken took them to check her chicken coop. There was no sign of the egg. Esther felt so helpless. Where can my egg be? she squawked and shouted at the animals. She blamed all the animals. She thought they had stolen her egg. Just then, Doris the Dove flew in from the roadside. She had seen a brokem egg shell near the forest. The animals all raced to see. There in the hot morning sun, a small baby chick was seen calling for its Mom. Peep, peep, peep, peep it said. Peep, peep, peep, peep. Esthers egg had hatched into a tiny chicken. Esther was so happy, but she was also sorry that she had behaved so rudely and shouted at her animal friends.

18
Learning Activities for On the Farm. Listening Comprehension Activities. 1. Before reading the story, ask students what they know about hens. Elicit that hens lay eggs that hatch into chickens. Ask if any students keep chickens and get them to share what they know with the class. Read the story through once without interruptions. Read the story again. After the end of each paragraph ask some comprehension questions. If students cannot answer the questions, re-read the paragraph. - What time did Clicker the Clock sound the alarm? - Why did Mr Mike go to town? - What did Esther lose? - What did the animals do when they heard that Esther had lost her egg? - What did Esther do? - Who found the egg? - What had happened to the egg? - Why was Esther sorry? Ask students what they think about the story. How did it make them feel? Ask them their opinions about Esther. Ask what words could be used to describe Esther. Ask students to share an experience about when they lost something special.

2. 3.

4. 5.

Group Three Letters and Sounds

General Comments Group Three should normally be completed before the end of first term. Many teachers will start Group 4 before Christmas. During this time, students can also be introduced to new tricky words every day. By the end of Group 3, many students will be blending to read short words. It is important to check that students can understand the words they are sounding out. This is a good time to focus on encouraging the students to write short words for themselves. They can add words as captions to their own drawings. Teaching Points: This is the hard /g/ sound, as in goat.

g o

Character: Gabriel the Goat Action: Pretend to be a baby in a buggy and say g g g Story Starter: Gabriel the goat finds a baby in a buggy. The baby says g g g. Gabriel tries to find the babys mummy. He looks in the garden. He looks by the gate. He looks in the garage and in the garbage. All the time, Gabriel is pushing the baby in the buggy as the baby says g g g Jingle: The girl is at the garden gate For good food she must wait The goat and goose are waiting too For the golden grapes that are only a few

Teaching Points: This is the short /o/ sound as in hot. Very few words begin with the short /o/ sound. These include off, on, onto, okra (ochre), opera, offer, often, olive, otter.. ostrich, octopus and October. However, students should know many words with /o/ as the middle sound. Many will be able to read words like cot, hop, and hot. Character: Otto the Octopus Action: Pretend to be Otto the Octopus. Pull up your hands as if you have touched something hot and say o o o. Story Starter: Otto the Octopus likes okra. He likes to chop in and drop it in a pot. When the okra is very hot, he picks up out of the pot and says o o o.

Jingle: Otto the Octopus likes his okra hot.

20
But Olga the Otter definitely does not When Otto picks his okra from the boiling pot He lifts it with his fingers saying o o o o o

Note the short /o/ sound is used for this jingle.

Teaching Points: This is the short /u/ sound, as in cup.

u l

Character: Uncle Ulrick and his Umbrella Action: Keep one hand still. Raise the other and say u u u Story Starter: One day Uncle Ulrick went out. It began to rain. He tried to open his umbrella but it was stuck. Up, up, up, he said, but he couldnt get the umbrella open. I must find something to hide under, he said Jingle: My Uncle Ulrick had an umbrella, He loved it very much But one day he was out of luck It rained but his umbrella got stuck.

Teaching Points: The /l/ sound is made by pressing the tongue on the roof of the mouth behind the front teeth. Character: Lizzy Lizard Action:: Pretend to eat licorice, lick lips and say l l l Story Starter: Lizzy was a lazy lizard, but she loved to eat licorice. Jingle: Lazy Lizzy wanted the licorice She saw lying in Larrys lap Lucky Larry wanted it more So he licked it and left through the door.

Teaching Points: The shape of the letter f used in Fast Phonics has been chosen to make the transition to cursive writing easier. Character: Freddy the Firefighter Action: Pretend to be fishing by casting a rod and say f f f Story Starter: Freddy the firefighter helped to put out a fire. The hard work made him very hungry so he decided to go fishing. He went to the sea front and cast his rod. f f f f f went the fishing line as it flopped into the water. Jingle: Fanny the funny fish Got fried for Freddys dish Fanny was big and fresh and fat And Freddy was hungry so that was that

Teaching Points: The sounds and letters b and p are easily confused by young students. The /p/ sound is made with a puff of air which can be felt by holding a hand in front of the mouth. When /b/ is made, no air can be felt. Character: Barry and his bright blue ball Action: Pretend to bop a balloon and say b b b Story Starter: Barry was a big boy. He liked to play baseball. He could always be seen carrying his bat and his special blue ball. Jingle: Barry the boy on the bus Batted a balloon and made a big fuss He bumped and batted, bounced and bopped All until the balloon got popped

22
Group 3 Story Beyond the Reef Mr Lloyd was a fisherman who lived on the beautiful island of San Pedro in the country of Belize. Mr. Lloyd was famous for catching a gigantic fish. One day a very strange thing happened to him. It was early in the morning. Mr Lloyd and his friends boarded his fishing boat, the Glenda B. They sailed out to the Barrier Reef. It was a perfect day for fishing. The sun was shining brightly, and there was a cool breeze blowing. As the group neared the reef, Mr. Lloyd slowed the motor and lowered the anchor to the bottom of the sea bed. The anchor hit the sea bed with a loud thud. The fish who saw the anchor drop became very frightened. They knew they had to swim very carefully. The older, wiser fish all hid under the big rocks. Larry the lobster, Fanny the fish, and Brenda the barracuda, were very busy planning a party. Suddenly Brenda the Barracuda felt a great weight on her fins. She was caught in the fishermens net. Brenda the Barracuda banged her tail against the net. She tried to bite through its ropes. She tried to squeeze through its holes. But Brenda the Barracuda was trapped! Mr Lloyd felt the net was heavy. We have a good catch, he said. Lets go home. Mr Lloyd started his boat. Keep the net in the water, said his friend. That way, the fish will stay fresh. Meanwhile, Tori the Turtle saw Brenda the Barracuda being towed away in the net. Desperately, Tori swan alongside the net and began to take little bites at the ropes. Soon the other fish saw what Tori was doing and they all joined in. Snip, snip, snip they went as they swam along, biting the net. Snip, snip, snip. The fish noticed that the water was getting shallow. We have to hurry, said Tori. The boat will soon reach San Pedro. Snip, snip, snip went the fish. Finally, the ropes on the net came loose. With a flick of her tail, Brenda the Barracuda swam free! Meanwhile, Mr Lloyd and his friend reached the sandy shore of San Pedro. Mr Lloyd began boasting about his big catch. They called the other fishermen to come to help them lift the net. What a disappointment Mr Lloyd had. When he pulled the net out of the water, all the fishermen saw it was empty. The big fish had escaped. Out in the sea, at the barrier reef, all the fish had a big party. Meanwhile, Mr Lloyd went home to his wife feeling very hungry. Listening Comprehension Activities. 1. 2. 3. 4. 3. Before reading the story, ask students what they know about San Pedro and the barrier reef. Read the story through once without interruptions. Orally, teach some vocabulary words that appear in the story, for example famous, gigantic,

barracuda, boarded.
Ask the students what they remember about the story. Read the story again. After the end of each paragraph ask some comprehension questions. If students cannot answer the questions, re-read the paragraph.

Where did Mr Lloyd live? Why was Mr Lloyd famous? Who got caught in the net? How did Tori the Turtle try to rescue Brenda the Barracuda?

4. 5.

- Why did the animals have a party? - Why was Mr Lloyd hungry. Ask students what they think about the story. How did it make them feel? Ask the students to draw a picture about the story. Ask them to write about their picture. Some students may be able to write one or two short words. These will probably be written as they sound.

Group Four Letters and Sounds

General Comments Group 4 introduces digraphs (two letters representing a single sound) for the long vowel sounds. This is a new concept and teachers may wish to slow down the rate of introducing new sounds until they are certain the students have grasped it. By this stage, some students may be able to read short sentences. Some will be able to read most of the words of the jingles. These can be presented on a chart.

ai

Teaching Points: This is the long /a/ sound, as in bait. Students should not be introduced to the a_e or ay spellings of the long /a/ sound at this time. Ai words include: again, bail, bait, braid, brain, chain, claim, email, fail, jail, sail, laid, maid, mail, main, paid, pail, plain, raid, rail, rain, sail, snail, stain, tail, train, vain, wail, wait. Introduce the digraph using a flashcard. Explain to students that sometimes two letters are used for one sound.. Character: Gail the Snail Action: Cup hand over ear and say ai ai ai Story Starter: Gail the snail was a little bit deaf. Whenever she could not hear the other animal talking to her she would put her hand to her ear and say ai ai ai Jingle: Gail the Snail went out in the rain. Got all wet and went home again. When she got home she began to wail The rain had stained her lovely tail.

24
Character: Junior the Jaguar Action: Pretend to be a jaguar jumping and say j j j

j oa

Story Starter: Junior the Jaguar went hunting in the jungle. He saw a juicy jackdaw and jumped. Jingle: Jolly Jack in a jeep With a jumping Jaguar and a herd of sheep. Jimmy is juggling jelly beans Dressed up in a shirt and jeans

Teaching Points: This is the long /o/ sound, as in coat. Students should not be introduced to the o_e spelling of the long /o/ sound at this time. Character: Toad and his toast Action: Hold your hand to your mouth in surprise and say oa oa oa Story Starter: Mister Toad had a red coat. He loved his coat and never went anyway without it. One day he was followed by a goat. The goat began to eat Mr Toads coat. When Mr Toad saw the goat he was very surprised. He put his hand to his mouth and said oa oa oa. Jingle: Mister Toad eats his oats Floating on a piece of toast Catch a boat from the coast To see this toad in his coat..

ie

Teaching Points: This is the long /i/ sound, as in pie. However, students will probably have already encountered long /i/ words ending in y, for example by and my. Some teachers may wish to also introduce i_e spellings at this time. Character: Ryan and his pie. Action: Stand to attention, salute and say ie ie. Story Starter: Ryan was a soldier in the BDF. Soldiers have to be very neat and tidy. One day just before the big parade, Ryan was eating a lemon pie. He dropped some pie on his tie. He tried and tried to get the tie clean but he could not. Then the General came. Ryan leapt up and saluted, shouting aye aye sir. The General saw the pie on Ryans tie. Jingle: Ryan liked lemon pie Until he spilled some on his tie He tried to get out the spot He tried and tried but he could not. Teaching Points: This is the long /e/ sound, as in tree. There are many other common ways of spelling the long /e/ sound, for example ea (eat). Furthermore, students should already be familiar with the words be, he, me, and she. Under no circumstances should these words be incorrectly written as hee, shee, etc. It is useful for students to understand that the same sound can be written in different ways, and teachers may want to elicit from students other long /e/ words. However, the focus at this time must be the /ee/ spelling. Character: Screechy Jeep Action: Pretend to be driving. Screech to a halt and say ee ee ee Story Starter: Screechy was a very old jeep. Whenever he used his brakes he would squeal ee ee ee. Jeeves was Screechys driver. One day he was driving when a bee flew into the jeep and bit Jeeves. He slammed his foot on the brakes. Ee ee ee went the brakes. Jingle: Jeeves the driver of the jeep Had an accident, he fell asleep When he woke, three friends did see Screechy Jeep in a tree.

ee

26
Teaching Points: This is the first r-controlled vowel introduced to the students. The other r-controlled vowel they encounter in Infant I is ar. The letter r modifies the preceding vowel and is not, usually, pronounced. Character: Corkie the Stork Action: Flap hands like the wings of a stork and say or or or Story Starter: Corkie the Stork lived in the North. His favourite food was corn. Whenever he saw corn getting ripe he would flap his wings in excitement and say or or or. Jingle: Way up in the Belizean North Lived Corkie the Jabiru Stork He ate leaves with his beak But corn with a spoon and a fork.

or

Group 4 Story Deep In the Rainforest Deep in the rainforest of Belize, the animals were very busy. Inky the Iguana, Prince the Parrot, Corkie the Jabiru Stork, Dorian the Deer and Keiri the Keskidee were holding a meeting. They had a problem. A serious problem. The hunters are back, said Corkie the Jabiru Stork. I have seen them myself. They have nets and guns! They have been putting down traps. They want to catch Junior the Jaguar, Prince the Parrot said. They want his beautiful fur coat. Soon there will be no jaguars left, said Dorian the Deer. Soon there will be no animals left at all, said Keiri the Keskidee. We need a plan, said Inky the Iguana. All the birds of the forest agreed to act as look-outs. We can fly high in the sky, said Prince the Parrot. When we see the hunters we will scream out a warning. One hot afternoon, while the toads were resting in the cool pools of the rainforest, Edith the Egret saw the hunters. Ie, ie, ie, she squawked, as loud as she could.

When the animals heard Edith screeching, they rushed off to hide. Korkie the Jabiru Stork and Prince the Parrot flew up into a big tree. Dorian the Deer hid in a cave. Inky the Iguana found a hole in the ground. Junior the Jaguar also heard Ediths cries. He began to run as fast as he could. Suddenly, Junior fell into a deep hole that had been covered with leaves and branches. It was the hunters trap. Junior the Jaguar let out a big roar. He roared and roared. He roared so loudly that all the leaves in the trees began to shake. We have caught a jaguar, shouted the hunters happily. They began to run to where Junior was caught in their trap.

Listening Comprehension Activities. 1. 2. 3. 3. Before reading the story, ask students what they know about the rainforest. Ask them to list animals that live there. Read the story through once without interruptions. Ask the students what they remember about the story. Read the story again. Ask some comprehension questions. If students cannot answer the questions, re-read the paragraph. - Why did the animals hold a meeting? - Who had seen the hunters? - What did the birds agree to do? - Why did Edith the Egret squawk ie ie ie? - What did the animals do when they heard Ediths cries? - Which animal was caught in the trap.

4. 5.

Ask students what they think about the story. Ask them what they think happened next. Elicit various ideas. Ask the students to draw a picture about the story. Ask them to write about their picture. Some students may be able to write one or two short words. These will probably be written as they sound.

28

Group Five Letters and Sounds

General Comments

Most classes should complete Group Five no later than the end of second term. By this time, most students should be blending to read words and short sentences. When writing words for themselves, they are likely to spell words as they sound.

Character: Zelda the Zoo Keeper Action: Flap hands very fast like a bee and say z z z Story Starter: Zelda the Zoo Keeper has lost her bees. Jingle: Zelda the Zesty Zoo Keeper Gathered a zillion bees around her To some she gave zinnias To others zirconias Just to make them feel better.

Character: Willy and the Water Melon Action: Pretend to hold a piece of watermelon and blow flies from it. Story Starter: Willy had a watermelon. He wanted to eat it but his Mummy whispered that he had to wait. Willy put the watermelon in his hand and watched it. He saw a fly pitch on the watermelon. Willy wished the fly would go away but it did not, so he picked up the watermelon and blew hard. w w w Jingle: Wilda the wicked witch Went wildly into a ditch Willy walked over to help her And fell into the water beside her.

ng

Teaching Points: In words like sing and bang, the sound at the end of the word is not n+g but the single, nasal sound /ng/. This can be understood by paying attention to what the mouth and tongue do when saying sing compared to saying sin+g with the n and g as separate sounds. Character: Ching with the broken wing. Action: Pretend to be lifting something heavy above the head and say ng ng ng. Story Starter: Ching was a small bird, but he thought he was very strong. He went to the eagle and said, I know I am stronger than you. To prove his strength Ching tried to lift a big rock over his head. As he tried to lift it he said ng ng ng. But the rock was too heavy and Ching broke his wing. Jingle: Cheerful Ching broke his wing Banging into a clanging thing The wing got put in a sling So Ching felt strong enough to sing.

Teaching Points: Some children may confuse /v/ and /f// When saying /v/, the air vibrates as it passes the teeth and lips. Ask students to put their fingers on their throats and say /v/ and /f/ alternately. They should feel vibrations with /v/. Students who speak Spanish may also confuse /v/ and /b/. In English, the lips touch when saying /b/ but not when saying /v/. Tell the students that b is a lip-smacker sound but v is not. Students can also learn that when the /v/ sound is at the end of a word, it is spelt -ve. Character: Violet the Vulture. Action: Pretend to be driving a van and say v v v Story Starter: Violet the Vulture was very vain. She liked to look at her reflection in glass windows. One day she was so pround of her appearance that she flew straight into the glass. She dropped to the ground just behind a van driven by Velda the Vet. . . Jingle: Velda the very good vet Saw Violet the Vulture in bed. She put Violet in her Van And drove her to the vaccination man.

30
Teaching Points: The digraph oo has two common pronunciations, short as in book and long as in moon. The short sound is introduced first. Words: book, cook, good, hood, hook, look, took, wood, woof Character: Brooke the Cook Action: Help Brooke turn the pages of a recipe book and say look, look, look. Story Starter: Brooke was a cook in a restaurant. But her cooking was not any good. Every day she took a book to work and looked up things to cook. Jingle: Brooke did not know how to cook She always had to use a book Oh how long things always took But her meals tasted nicer than they looked.

oo

oo

Teaching Points: This is the long oo sound, as in moon and spoon. Words: boom. boo, boot, food, hoof, hoop, hoot, moo, moon, roof, root, spoon, too, zoom, zoo. Character: Mr Maroon Action: Lift your arm high into the air as if holding a balloon. Story Starter: Mr Maroon put on his boots. He was going to the zoo. At the zoo he saw a baboon eating with a spoon. The spoon put Mr Maroon in the mood for food. On the way to the food stall he bought a big balloon. The balloon was full of gas. It lifted Mr Maroon off his feet so fast he thought he would zoom to the moon. Jingle: One day big Mister Maroon Blew up his balloon too soon Like a baboon he acted The string was retracted But the balloon still flew to the moon.

Group 5 Story A Visit to the Zoo Principal Parrot and the teachers of St. Stephens School told the pupils that they were going on a trip to the Belize Zoo. Ms Vilma, the cook, made lunch for everyone. She prepared buffalo wings and fries with vegetable salad. She also made fudge, cutobrute and tableta from half green coconuts. The bus left at seven oclock and they arrived at the zoo at eight oclock. The pupils from St. Stephens School entered the zoo. They saw a flag on top of a big pole. It is very pretty, said a pupil. That is our national flag, said a teacher. Next they saw a toucan. What a big beak it has, said one pupil. That is our national bird, said a teacher. All the pupils walked around the zoo. They saw April, the tapir. She is big and strong, said a pupil. That is our national animal, said a teacher. A few minutes later they saw a huge tree. It was very tall and very wide. That is the biggest tree I have ever seen, said a pupil. It is called a mahogany tree, said a teacher. It is our national tree. As the visiting children walked around to view the animals, the teacher told them about the importance of the national symbols. They make us feel proud of Belize, she said. At the end of the visit, the pupils were very happy. They had seen lots of birds and animals. They had also learnt about their national symbols. It was a great day. As they got on the bus to go back home, they could barely wait to tell their parents about everything they had seen.

Listening Comprehension Activities. 1. 2. 3. 4. Before reading the story, ask students what they know about the zoo. Ask them to list animals that live there. Read the story through once without interruptions. Ask the students what they remember about the story. Read the story again. Ask: - What is the national bird of Belize? - What is the national animal of Belize? - What is the national tree of Belize? Ask students if they know about the other national symbols. Give the students an outline of the national flag to colour.

5. 6.

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Group Six Letters and Sounds

General Comments: By this time, students should not need the actions to link letters to sounds. However, they are still a fun way of introducing new sounds. Teaching Points: This is the consonant, not the vowel sound. In other words it is the sound found at the beginning of words such as year and yeast. Many students have difficulty pronouncing this sound. It is made by resting the tip of the tongue on the ridge of the gum below the lower teeth. Character: Yoli Action: Pretend to eat yogurt and say y y y yummy Story Starter: Yoli is a young girl who liked adventure. She decided to visit Mount Everest with Yasser her yellow yak. She put a yogurt and a yam in Yassers pack and set off. When they were climbing Mount Everest they saw a huge hairy man. It was Yousef the giant Yeti. The yeti roared and began to chase her. Yoli yelled with fright but Yasser the Yellow Yak said, Do not worry, he is hungry. So Yoli gave the yeti her yam and her yogurt. The yeti ate the yogurt and thought it was yummy. Y y y yummy he said as he patted his big hairy stomach. After that Yousef the Yeti showed Yasser and Yoli how to reach the top of Mount Everest Jingle: Yasser the yellow yak Had a yam in his back pack Yousef the giant yeti Had yogurt and green spaghetti.

A yeti is a giant man-creature, like the North American Big Foot. They live in the Himalaya Mountains in South Asia.

Teaching Points: This is the /ks/ sound, as in taxi. X is never used in English to make the /ks/ sound at the beginning of a word. It should not be confused with ecks as in X-Ray or z as in Xylophone. Character: Twiz the Ox Action: Take a picture with a camera and say x x x

During the action the students say ks, ks, ks

Story Starter: Twix the Ox was a famous photographer. He wanted to take a picture of a fox in a box. Jingle Old Mr Alex Cox Had a lovely jack-in-the-box

In the box there lived an ox And a purple giant fox.

ch

Teaching Points: The /ch/ sound, as in chop, should not be confused with /k/ as in Christmas, or /sh/ as in Charlotte. Play the game Charley likes chocolate but not candy. Students get a point if Charley likes a something beginning with /ch/ but not something beginning with another sound. Character: Charley the Chick chops the cheese. Action: Pretend to chop cheese and say ch ch ch. Story Starter: Charley the Chick was a very fussy bird. He would only eat certain foods. He would eat chocolate but he would not eat candy. He would eat chips, but he wouldnt eat dips. He would not eat yogurt but he loved cheese. Jingle: Chubby Charlie Chewed some cheese He choked on it And began to wheeze. Teaching Points: The difference between /ch/ and /sh/ is that in making /ch/ the flow of air is temporarily blocked by the tongue touching the roof of the mouth whereas when the /sh/ sound is made, the air flow is continuous and uninterrupted. /sh/ usually has the same spelling at the beginning, middle and end of a word. Character: Shedae on the Sea Shore Action: Move hand like a sea wave and say shhh. Story Starter: Shedae loved the sea shore. She loved to walk on the beach and pick up shells. One day she saw a big shell. She went to the edge of the beach to polish it and shine it on her shirt. Just then a huge wave rushed to the shore. Sh sh sh. It pushed Shedae off her feet. Jingle: Sh. . . sh. . . sh and be quiet Shelly and Shedae are on a sea food diet Sh sh.. sh.. they are eating shell fish Shrimp and lobster on a shiny dish.

sh

34
Teaching Points: There are two /th/ sounds. One, as in thumb, is unvoiced. meaning that there is no vocal chord vibration. The other, as in this, is voiced. When making the /th/ sound correctly, a person can feel the tip of the tongue vibrating on the teeth. Many students will say /d/ for /th/. Both the unvoiced and voiced /th/ sounds are made with the tip of the tongue on the teeth. There is also an unbroken flow of air as the sound is made. The /d/ sound involved stopping the flow of air temporarily. Unvoiced /th/ words: thirty, three, thousand, theatre, thimble, thumb, thump, third, thick, thin, think. thanks, throw, healthy, wealthy, Character: Mr Thumb Action: Put your thumbs up and say th th th Story Starter: Mr Thumb went to the theatre at three oclock. As he entered the theatre he trod on a thick thorn.. Jingle: Mr Thumb is very thin Almost like cotton thread, He had three thorns on his chin. And thirty thimbles on his head.

th

th

Teaching Points (see above,) Voiced /th/ words: the, this, that, those, other, another, mother, brother, father, they, them, than, though Character: Brother Clown Action Point left and right and say this and that. Story Starter: Brother Clown, his mother and father were trying to choose some pants. I want this one and that one said Brother Clown. I want this one and not any other. Jingle: I have to do this I must do that I need money to buy a hat I need it for my lovely mother She has a hat but wants another.

Group 6 Story Tour of the City and Museum Teacher Thelma had a group of children in her class that always liked to talk about things that took place in the past. She decided to take them out on a tour of the city to visit the museum of Belize. It was a beautiful, sunny day. The yellow bus drove up to the school. The children chatting about what they hoped to see and learn. They were all excited and happy. First, they started with the tour of the city. Michael said, Look, teacher, that is Holy Redeemer Church! Yes, Michael, said Teacher Thelma as the bus headed down Albert Street, and that is St. Johns Cathedral, the oldest church in the country. Next, they went to the Belize Museum and saw many interesting objects from the Maya period. They passed Baron Bliss lighthouse. The teacher talked about his donation of money to our country and about his yacht the Sea King, After the tour finished, it was off to eat in a restaurant. They had grilled chicken and vegetables, and ice-cream for dessert. On their way home, everyone was wide awake. All the children were talking excitedly about their trip. They were eager to get home and tell their parents about their wonderful day.

36

Group Seven Letters and Sounds

General Comments This group should be completed before the end of Infant 1.

Teaching Points: Qu is pronounced kw.

qu

Character: Queeny the Quacking Duck Action: Move fingers on hands as if to show a duck quacking. Say qu qu qu (kw, kw, kw) Story Starter: Queeny the Quacking Duck needed help to answer a question in her quick quiz. She asked all the animals on the farm. The question asked, Qunatisha the Quail had a quaint quilt. She cut it into four parts. What size was each part. Quincie the Drake knew the answer. He began to quake with excitement. The answer is a qu . . . . . , he quacked. What do you think Quincie said? Jingle: Queenie said quack to her friend the quail She quickly sang and wagged her tail She questioned the quail about his quilt And the quiet house he had just built.

ou

Teaching Points: This is the sound in out and cow. The /ow/ spelling is not introduced until Infant 2 because it is easily confused with the sound in low. Character: Proud Pou Action: Pretend your finger is a needle and prick your thumb, say ou ou ou Story Starter: Proud Pou was in his house. He had a lovely clean couch. He sat in the couch and felt a prick. He had put his hand on a needle. Ou (ow) ou ou he said. Jingle: Shout, shout, shout it out Holler out loud! Open your mouth! Way up north and way down south Proud Pou sat on a needle Lying down on his couch Shout, shout and shout it out. Ou ou ou ou ouch.

oi

Teaching Points: This is the sound in oil, oink and boy. With a few rare exceptions, the sound is always spelt oy at the end of a word. It is almost always spelt /oi/ in the middle of a word unless there is a suffix like ed or ing after it. Words: boil, choice, coil, coin, foil, noise, oil, oink, soil, toil, voice. Character: Toycie with the loud voice. Action: Put hand next to mouth and shout oi oi oi stop that noise. Story Starter: Toycie had a very loud voice. Wherever she went, she made lots of noise. Jingle: After a long, hard days toil Toycie put some water on to boil She fried some fish in cooking oil And put a tamale in kitchen foil.

ue er

Teaching Points: This is the long /u/ sound. Variations such as ew (flew) should not be used at this time. However, students may be aware of words like uniform and unit. Character: Clueless Sue Action: Point to people around you and say ue ue ue (or you you

you)
Story Starter: One day someone stole Sues pot of glue. Sue said to her friends, Who has my glue, is it you or you or you? Jingle: There was a maid named Sue Who lost her bottle of glue. She said I wanted you To stick on this blue And now I dont know what to do.

Teaching Points: This is the sound that is usually written /er/ at the end of words like father and mixer. It is the sound technically known of as a schwa. Character: Maria and her corn grinder. Action: Roll a hand over and over as using a corn grinder and say er er er

38
Story Starter: Maria had to grind some corn. First she tried a hammer but that didnt work. Then she tried a cake mixer but that didnt work either. Finally she tried a corn grinder. It ground the corn perfectly. As she turned the grinders handle it went er er er. Jingle I wish the weather was cooler And I could work slower I wish I was much wiser And that people were much nicer

ar

Teaching Points: This is the second r-controlled vowel in the Fast Phonics programme. The r is not usually pronounced. Character: Carter the Farmer Action: Twist your arm and say ar ar ar Story Starter: Carter the Farmer drives fast in his car. One day he was driving along and tried to get some peanuts out of a jar. He got is arm stuck in the jar.. Carter the Farmer stopped the car and tried to free his arm but it was stuck. He tried to twist the jar round and round. It hurt him a lot. Ar ar ar he said. Jingle: Instead of eating a chocolate bar Or driving too fast in a car And trying to get nuts from a jar, It would be better to sing Like a Belizean star.

Appendix One
Infant One Learning Outcomes Related to Phonics and Word Decoding
Content Standard 1: Identify and Distinguish Between Sounds
1.1 1.2 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Identify a series of words that begin with the same sound. Listen to rhymes and songs to begin developing a sense of rhyme. Identify and distinguish between the main 42 phonemes used in the English Language. Identify, orally, all the individual phonemes in consonant-vowel-consonant and vowel-consonant-vowel words. Blend three phonemes together to make a word. Understand the terms vowel & consonant as they relate to sounds.

Content Standard 20: Apply Phonics Knowledge

20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 20.5 20.6 20.7 20.8 20.9 Recognise and name all letters of the alphabet in upper and lower case. Recognise the most common letter-sound relationship for all the letters of the alphabet and for the digraphs ng,

ck, ch, sh, th, ai, ee, ie (pie), oa, ue, ou (ouch), ar, er, or, oi, oo (moon and look).
Identify the initial sound and the corresponding letter of a spoken word, object or picture. Blend a vowel and a consonant together to read a two letter word, for example, at, it, ma, pa, in, am. Blend letters by sound to read regularly spelt Consonant-Vowel-Consonant and Vowel-Consonant-Consonant words. Read words with initial consonant clusters, br-, tr-, bl-, gl-, st-, sn-, and dr-. Sound out most phonetically spelt one and two syllable words that contain short vowel sounds and long vowel sounds spelt using ai, ee, ie, oa, oo, a_e, i_e. Read words ending with the consonant clusters, -nd, -lp, -st, -nk, -sp, and -nt. Understand the terms vowel and consonant as they relate to letters and sounds.

Content Standard 21: Recognize Words by Sight

21.2 Read on sight a range of familiar words, for examples, numbers one to twenty, labels, captions, names of familiar people, days of the week, and approximately fifty high frequency words from books.

Content Standard 21: Read Aloud

25.1 25.2 Read consonant-vowel-consonant and vowel-consonant-consonant words and short sentences containing these words aloud to the teacher. Individually and in chorus, read aloud words which are used on a regular basis, e.g. numbers, days, and weather words.

Content Standard 34: Write Stories

34.1 Illustrate a sentence or short story with a picture and add a caption made up of one or two letters or short words.

40

Content Standard 40: Write Clearly and Legibly

40.1 Demonstrate correct technique for holding a pencil. 40.2 Develop motor skills through colouring, tracing and scribbling. 40.3 Write slants, curves and letter-like shapes free-hand. 40.4 Write letters on a page from left to right and top to bottom. 40.5 Form the 26 upper and lower-case letters of the alphabet and numbers by tracing dots on a page. 40.6 Distinguish in writing between easily confused letters, for example b,d,p,q. 40.7 Write on a line provided in a notebook. 40.8 Write with correct letter size and space using guidelines. 40.9 Form letters with the "tails" necessary for cursive writing. 40.10 Colour an outline shape while keeping between the lines.

Content Standard 41: Spell Words Appropriately

41.1 Include letter like forms or single letters when communicating through drawing. 41.2 Spell words using one or two feature letters, for example, first and last letters only.

Appendix Two
The Alphabet Code
Spoken words are made up of individual sounds, called phonemes. The Alphabet Code is the relationship between these sounds and the letters that represent them in writing. In English, there approximately 40-45 individual phonemes , or sounds of speech. These are represented by 26 letters.
2

Fast Phonics concentrates on the 42 main sounds, of which 24 are consonant sounds and 18 are vowel sounds, (see Table 1, below).

Table 1: English Phonemes.

The Consonant Sounds b as in bed d as in dog f as in fan or graph g as in get h as in hat j as in jam k as in cat or kite l as in laugh m as in man n as in net p as in pig r as in rabbit s as in silk or cell t as in tap v as in van w as in water y as in yellow z as in zoo. sh as in sheep ch as in chips dj as in pleasure ng as in sing th as in this th as in thumb

5 short vowel sounds

The Vowel Sounds 5 long vowel sounds

8 other variant and r-controlled vowel sounds ar as in car ir as in bird or as in ford air as in chair oo as in look oo as in moon er as in father ow as in owl

a as in cat e as in bed i as in fit o as in hot u as in cut

ai as in bait ee as in feet ie as in pie oa as in boat ue as in blue

Letter-Sound Relationships Often a sound is represented by a single letter. Thus, the words cat, dog, pig and hen all have 3 sounds represented by 3 letters. Similarly, in all the following words, each sound is represented by one letter: front, me, jump, and blink. However, single sounds are also often represented by a pair of letters, called a digraph. The main consonant digraphs are ch, sh, ng and th. Long vowels are usually represented by digraphs, as in boat, beat, cake (a_e), and pie. Variant vowel sounds are also usually represented by digraphs. Two features of the English alphabet code make it complicated: 1. Most consonant sounds and all the vowel sounds can be written in more than one way. For example, all the following words contain the long a sound written in a different way.: cake, bait, eight, play, atheist, grey.

The exact number of sounds in spoken English depends on the dialect of the speaker.

42
2. Most of the letters can be used to represent different sounds. For example, all these words begin with a /s/ sound: sell, cell, psychic, tsunami.

Fast Phonics and the Alphabet Code Fast Phonics divides the alphabet code into three segments. 1. The basic code, in which the 42 main sounds of English are written in one way. This is taught in Infant I. 2. The main variations, that is the most common different ways of writing the main sounds. This is taught in Infant 2. 3. The complete code, which includes all the ways of writing the 42 main sounds of English. This is taught from Standard I onwards.

Appendix Three
Assessment Grid

Class: Term

Year

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

Group 4

Group 5

Group 6

Says the correct sound to flashcard prompt Forms the letter correctly while tracing dots. Matches letter to picture containing the sound.

Says the correct sound to flashcard prompt Forms the letter correctly while tracing dots. Matches letter to picture containing the sound.

Says the correct sound to flashcard prompt Forms the letter correctly while tracing dots. Matches letter to picture containing the sound.

Says the correct sound to flashcard prompt Forms the letter correctly while tracing dots. Matches letter to picture containing the sound.

Says the correct sound to flashcard prompt Forms the letter correctly while tracing dots. Matches letter to picture containing the sound.

Says the correct sound to flashcard prompt Forms the letter correctly while tracing dots. Matches letter to picture containing the sound.

Group 7

Letter Groups >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

44

Fast Phonics Diagnostic Assessment

This assessment is designed to be conducted before the end of the second week of September. It should help the teacher understand what the students know and can do as they begin school. However, teachers should not
wait until the test has been completed to start the Fast Phonics programme.

There are three tests in this assessment 1. 2. 3. Vocabulary Test Letter Recognition Test Word Recognition Test

If necessary, use the childs first language to explain the instructions for each test.

1.

Vocabulary Test

Show the student six common objects or pictures. Ask the child to name each one. Record whether the child responds in English or in another language. Do not prompt the child or provide the correct answer. Substitute names for the pictures, for example wrench instead of spanner are acceptable.

2.

Letter Recognition Test

One set of six upper case letter flashcards. One set of six lower case letter flashcards.

Equipment:

Place the page of upper case letters on the table in front of the child. Ask the child to name the letters. If the child is reluctant, ask the child to point to a named letter, for example, say show me the letter A. Repeat this process for the lower case letters.

3.

Word Recognition Test

Show the child the page of words. Point to each word and ask the child to read it. Record as correct any reading of the word, however hesitant. The tests are designed to be conducted by the teacher or another adult one on one with each student.

FAST PHONCS PRE-TEST RESULT CARD School Name

Students Name Students Register Number Students Age Students First Language Students Pre-School Experience Language Used by Student
Please tick: Entirely English Mostly English * Mostly another Language * Entirely another Language * * Please specify which languages were used

Yrs

Mths

At least one year Summer pre-school No pre-school Other

Use this space for comments

Date of Test Test 1: Vocabulary Test

Tick appropriate box for each correct answer. Note that an alternative word that describes the picture, for example spanner instead of wrench, should be ticked as correct.
Objects (Write in) English Other Language
Rabbit House Light Wrench Star Ball Lock Tree Triangle Total

Test 2: Letter Recognition

Tick appropriate box for each correct answer A F P
m h s J e C b X r Total Total

Test 3: Word Recognition

Tick appropriate box for each correct answer. If the word is read correctly, even with much hesitation, then tick box. me ant it I the man Total

46
Fast Phonics Letter Recognition Test

A P C

F J X

m s b

h e r

48

Fast Phonics Word Recognition Test

me ant it I the man

Appendix Four
Tricky Words List
A tricky word is one that does not follow the spelling rules of the basic alphabet code introduced by Fast Phonics in Infant 1. Tricky words are introduced a few at a time in the students workbook. It is recommended that teachers introduce the words in the same order, since they are also used in the reader. However, they may choose to vary the rate of introduction of these words. In the following table, the words are arranged in columns from left to right. The words in the first column should be introduced before the words in the second column, and so on. Teachers may add other tricky words from other reading materials and from other subject areas.

I the he she me we be was to do are all you

your come some said here there they go no so my one by

like have live give only old little down what when why where who

which any many more before other were because want saw put could should

would right two four goes does made their

Additional tricky words for Infant 1 include the numbers one to twenty, names of familiar people and the days of
the week.

50
Group 1

s t
p

a i n

Group 2 (For the letter k, see group 5)

c e h r m d

52

Group 3

o u l f b
g

Group 4

ai j oa ie ee or

54

Group 5, plus the letter k (group 2)

z w ng v oo k

Group 6

x ch sh th
y

56

Group 7

qu

ou oi ue er ar

Tricky Words Flash Cards.

58

I she be

the me was

he we to

do

are

all

you your come some said here

60

there they no one so by

go my like

have live give only old little down what why

62

when who where any more which many before other

were saw

because

want

put could
should

right two

64

four goes

would

does their made

Name ________________________________

(Practice Sheet for Capital Letters)

66

Name ________________________________

(Practice Sheet for Small Letters)

Name ________________________________

(Practise Sheet for Combined Letters)

68

it tin pat nip sat as ant tip pan sit map rat his rip set hand sand men ram end

tap pin is pit snap in nap tan snip Pat cat hen can hat neck camp kick met pen sack

man red dip pest hip pet mat ran dip ham deck imp den nut fluff lost hog tug got stuck

slug slab fill egg first bin fed elf hill lock pub gun flip land fun band bun loft run gift

kiss mist pram hiss test get pig log fat bat rain jog coat jail loaf lie rail snail tree feed

drip miss rock back duck pot gas fit stamp bad or cork see seed sheet storm born float oak snail

70

Cards
Instructions A stack of word cards is needed and a dice with the numbers restricted to1, 2, and 3. (Cover 4,5,and 6) Counters are needed for each player. Each player takes turn to throw the dice and move along. If you land on pick card you try to read the word. If correct you move forward one space if not you move back one space. The first person to reach finish is the winner.

c/k

ai

qu

ou

ao

ng

ch

oi

ie

sh

ue

ee

oo

th

er

or

oo

th

ar

Ministry of Education Belize