Build Literacy Learning Teaching Guide by Eleanor Curtain Publishing

Build Literacy Learning

Program overview and teaching guide

As young readers develop and their decoding skills grow, they need to master fluency and comprehension. They also need to build knowledge about their world by reading content-rich books.

Build Literacy Learning™, Build L eracy ning ™ ,

Flying Start to Literacy ® and ® are trade marks of EC Licensing Pty Ltd in Australia and New Zealand.

Developed by Eleanor Curtain Publishing

Text consultants: Kerrie Shanahan and Ellen Waters Consultant: Sue Hill

Distribution details ECPublishing.com.au/contact-us

More information

ECPublishing.com.au

BuildLiteracyLearning.com.au

Program overview

Why do you need to Build Literacy Learning?

When decoding skills have developed and students are reading words with less common letter sounds, they are building automaticity and are becoming skilled readers. This is when students need to further develop their literacy skills with engaging and conceptually-rich texts.

When do you need Build Literacy Learning?

At this stage, readers need to grow and expand their abilities – fluency and comprehension in particular – and build knowledge about their world. They need to build a body of knowledge through a deeper and wider view of particular topics. For books that are rich in content, engaging and enlightening, you need Build Literacy Learning.

Why are Build Literacy Learning books right for your students who have finished with their initial decodable texts?

The collections of books in Build Literacy Learning contain words with letter–sound correspondences that students have already learnt. Therefore, they are ideal for students to use to apply their phonics knowledge and practise their skills. The books will support students to build automaticity and become skilled readers.

Engaging Enlightening Enjoyable

Then, one day, Lee saw one. It was on the beach. Something is wrong, thought Lee. It should be on the sea, floating on the kelp

Lee ran and told her dad.

“Are you sure it’s a sea otter?” said Dad.

“Yes,” said Lee.

help,” said Dad. And he called the ranger.

and her dad went down to the beach. The otter was breathing, but it couldn’t move.

Program overview

How do skilled readers Build Literacy Learning?

Young students need explicitly taught, relatable texts that build on their existing knowledge to create new knowledge networks. They need the Build Literacy Learning program. All the books are paired, and each pair is supported by a Lesson Plan. This forms a Text Study Unit. Each Unit provides explicit teaching and learning related to the language structures and content in the pair of books the students are reading.

/r/ sound in the word wrap

List other words with this letter–sound correspondence. For example, wrote wring and wrist. Have students write a word with the letters wr making the /r/ sound.

Teach Teach words in the book with letter–sound correspondences that students may not have learnt.

school: the letters ch making the /k/ sound

work the letters or making the /er/ sound

★ High-utility words

Review high-utility words such as could our and there using sound–letter charts.

★ Vocabulary

Teach the meaning of words that might be new to students in the context of how they are used in the text.

compost (pp. 12, 13, 15) A mixture made up of broken-down things such as leftover food, grass clippings, straw and leaves used to help plants grow

Example We put apple cores and banana peels in our compost.

scraps (pp. 12, 13) Leftover bits of food that will not be eaten

Example We threw our food scraps to the chickens.

Text summary

Show the front cover of No More Rubbish. Say: No More Rubbish is a recount about a group of students who work hard to decrease the amount of rubbish they produce in their classroom. They come up with lots of great ways to do this.

Content knowledge

Build students’ content knowledge.

Say: Rubbish is not good for the environment, so it is good to reduce the amount of rubbish you make. This book recounts how a group of children started using lunch boxes rather than lunch wrap for their food, setting up recycling and composting, and reusing things.

Ask: What do you do with your rubbish? Encourage students to share their ideas.

Text structure

Explain the text structure of the book. Say: This book is a factual recount. It describes real events in the order that they happened.

Point out features of the book such as the section headings. Say: This book organises information into sections with headings. It is written in chronological order. This means the events are told from the beginning to the end.

Study Unit from Build Literacy Learning, Collection Two.

about how fluent and smooth their reading sounds. Say: As you read, make the story sound interesting by making your voice go louder or softer, and faster or slower.

Comprehension

Talk about the text

Use the following questions to check students’ understanding of what they have read. Why did the children decide to do something about their rubbish? What things did they do? (Literal)

Were these children successful? How do you know? (Inferential) Can all classes do what these children did? Why? Why not? (Critical)

Sequence of events

Say: This book recounts events in the order that they happened.

Talk through these events. Say: The first thing that happened was that the children decided to reduce the amount of rubbish they made. In week one they brought lunches to school without wrapping. This reduced a lot of rubbish in their classroom. Write this on the whiteboard.

Ask: What happened next? Use students’ ideas to record the rest of the events in the order that they happened.

Discuss and check the book for accuracy.

Students can complete the Graphic organiser: Sequence of events.

See page 82 for the Graphic organiser: Sequence of events.

Writing

Sentence expansion

Write a short sentence on the whiteboard.

We used old drink bottles.

Think aloud as you add more information to the sentence.

Say: I am going to add information about when the children reused the bottles. They used the bottles when they did maths.

Write the new sentence.

We used old drink bottles when we did maths.

Ask: Where did the students do maths? Add this information to the sentence.

We used old drink bottles when we did maths in the classroom.

Write a sentence on the whiteboard for students to expand.

We used both sides of the paper.

Ask: When did the students use both sides of the paper? Discuss the answers and list them on the whiteboard. For example, when they did their work.

Have students write the sentence with extra information added to it. Students can share their sentences in small groups.

Word building

Morphology

Use week as the base word to demonstrate how to add the suffix ly to change to

More Rubbish

The environment

No More Rubbish

The Rock of Killeen

What is needed to Build Literacy Learning?

Build Literacy Learning is a supportive, explicit and structured literacy program that builds young readers’ skills and knowledge.

Rich Real Relatable

• It is built around a curated collection of texts organised into topic sets.

• All the texts are paired (one informative and one narrative).

• Each pair is central to a Text Study Unit.

• The Text Study Units support decoding, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, writing, word building and building content knowledge.

• The Units offer opportunities for students to read the texts, comprehend what they read, write about the topic and build word knowledge.

Text Study Unit organisation

The Text Study Units build on students’ existing knowledge to create new knowledge networks. Each Unit consists of comprehensive teaching and learning activities related to a pair of books.

The Units offer opportunities for students to:

• read the texts

• comprehend what they read

• write about the topic

• build word knowledge.

Each Text Study Unit follows the same sequence. This ‘low-variance routine’ reduces the students’ cognitive load so they can fully focus on learning.

Introduce

No More Rubbish Say:

Fluency

Say:

★ Vocabulary

Teach the meaning of words that might be new to students in the context of how they are used in the text.

compost (pp. 12, 13, 15) A mixture made up of broken-down things such as leftover food, grass clippings, straw and leaves used to help plants grow

Text

Writing

Sentence

Write

Comprehension

“We’ll make less rubbish,” the people all said.

“We’ll make compost from food scraps and recycle instead.”

They worked and they worked, night and day, day and night, until all of the mess was cleaned up and put right.

drink bottles when we did maths.

Ask: Where did the students do maths? Add this information to the sentence.

We used old drink bottles when we did maths in the classroom.

Write a sentence on the whiteboard for students to

From that day on, on the Rock of Killeen, that was just what they did so the place stayed quite clean.

Collection

One topics and paired book titles – Early Year 1

People and animals

Build Literacy Learning

Phonic code

What people do

The texts have words that contain basic phonic code, plus the letter–sound correspondences listed below.

Consonants

Double letters in one syllable words (FLoSS rule):

• ff as in Tiff

• ll as in hill

• ss as in dress

• zz as in buzz

Consonant digraphs:

• ck as in tracks and rock

• sh as in fish

• ch as in lunch and chicks

• th as in that and then

• ng as in wing and hang

Vowels

Long /ē/ made by:

• ea as in beach and eat

• ee as in tree

• y as in happy and Sally

Long /ā/ made by:

• a e as in safe and cake

• ai as in paint

• ay as in day and play

Long /ō/ made by:

• oa as in coach

• o e as in home

Long /ī/ made by:

• i e as in hike and like

• y as in dry

• igh as in right

Habitats Animals

Collection Two topics and paired book titles – Mid Year 1

Phonic code

The books support students to build their phonics knowledge by including words with the letter–sound correspondences listed below.

Vowel sounds

long /ōō/ made by:

• oo as in food and shoot

• ue as in blue

• ew as in crew

/ow/ made by:

• ow as in down

• ou as in house

long /ī/ made by:

• i as in find

• ie as in lie

long /ō/ made by:

• o as in over

• ow as in grow and blow

long /ā/ made by

• a as in baby

/e/ made by

• ea as in bread

Uncommon consonant digraphs

/m/ made by mb as in climb

/n/ made by kn as in knew and know

/r/ made by wr as in wrap

/w/ made by wh as in why and what

Other uncommon letter–sound correspondences

/s/ made by c (followed by e, i or y) as in cyclone and made by ce as in ice and race

/ch/ made by tch as in catch

/v/ made by ve as in leaves and live

/z/ made by ze as in wheeze

Collection Three topics and paired book titles – Upper Year 1–2

Build Literacy Learning

Phonic code

The books support students to build their phonics knowledge by including words with the letter–sound correspondences listed below.

Consonant sounds

/j/ sound made by:

• g as in strange, danger and huge

• dge as in edge

R-controlled vowel sounds

/or/ sound made by:

• or as in Rory, sport and born

• au as in cause

• aw as in claws and jaw

/er/ sound made by:

• er as in herd and person

• ur as in turn, fur and burn

• ir as in bird and dirt

• or as in work

/ar/ sound made by:

• ar as in mark, part and barked

• a as in fast and asked

/air/ sound made by air as in stairs

/ear/ sound made by ear as in hear and ear

Other vowel sounds

/oy/ sound made by:

• oy as in joy and enjoy

• oi as in noise and pointing

/oo/ sound made by oo as in cook and hook

/o/ sound made by a as in swan

/y-ōō/ sound made by u e as in used

Living with technology

Living in our world

Habitats Health and fitness

Text Study Unit explainer

Paired texts

Content-rich texts that share the same topic – one informative and one narrative are studied in each Text Study Unit.

Introduce the paired texts

Say: These two books are about rubbish and how we can reduce the amount we produce. No More Rubbish is an informative text and The Rock of Killeen is a narrative text. The informative text is a recount about a group of students who decide to reduce the amount of rubbish they produce. The narrative text is a story about how a group of people f ind a beautiful island and how they keep it rubbish-free.

No More Rubbish

Say: Today we are reading this informative book called No More Rubbish. Before we do, we will practise our decoding skills and learn some new words to help us read the book.

Decoding and word recognition

★ Vocabulary

Teach the meaning of words that might be new to students in the context of how they are used in the text.

compost (pp. 12, 13, 15) A mixture made up of broken-down things such as leftover food, grass clippings, straw and leaves used to help plants grow

Phonological awareness

Knowledge of syllables and how sounds map to letter combinations underpins reading and writing.

Phonics

Being able to decode words automatically and efficiently supports students to read fluently. Students review known letter–sound correspondences and continue to learn more challenging phonic code.

High-utility words

High-utility words are useful for students to know for reading and writing. High-utility words can be challenging for students to decode because they contain uncommon letter sound correspondences. High-utility words with irregular spellings are identified in each text. Teachers are supported to explicitly teach these words before students read the book.

Phonological awareness

Syllables

Say: The word compost has two syllables com–post. Now say compost without the second syllable.

Repeat with the words something, hardly and swimming Phoneme manipulation

Have students repeat a word after you. Ask them to change a sound and then say the new word. word change sound new word bin add /s/ to the end bins smell /m/ to /p/ spell

★ Phonics

Review

Review the letters wr making the /r/ sound. Write the word wrap on the whiteboard. Have students say the sounds they hear in wrap: /r/ /a/ /p/. Say: The letters wr make the /r/ sound in the word wrap

List other words with this letter–sound correspondence. For example, wrote, wring and wrist. Have students write a word with the letters wr making the /r/ sound.

Teach

Teach words in the book with letter–sound correspondences that students may not have learnt.

• school: the letters ch making the /k/ sound work: the letters or making the /er/ sound

★ High-utility words

Review high-utility words such as could, our and there using sound–letter charts.

Build vocabulary

Example We put apple cores and banana peels in our compost.

scraps (pp. 12, 13) Leftover bits of food that will not be eaten

Example We threw our food scraps to the chickens.

Text summary

Content knowledge

Build students’ content knowledge.

Ask: What do you do with your rubbish?

Encourage students to share their ideas.

Text structure

Explain the text structure of the book.

Say: This book is a factual recount. It describes real events in the order that they happened.

★ See pages 9–12 for a detailed instructional sequence for each of these activities.

A broad, rich vocabulary is strongly linked to reading comprehension. Each Text Study Unit supports the teaching of vocabulary and word meanings.

Each Text Study Units follow the same sequence, so students know what they are expected to do. This ‘low-variance routine’ reduces students’ cognitive load so they can fully focus on learning.

No More Rubbish

The Rock of Killeen

The environment

Fluency

Say: I am going to read aloud f luently. I will make my voice louder or softer, and faster or slower so the story sounds interesting. Read aloud the first two pages.

Have students read the book independently. Support students where necessary.

Students could record themselves reading the book using an audio-recording device. Have students listen back to the recording and think about how fluent and smooth their reading sounds. Say: As you read, make the story sound interesting by making your voice go louder or softer, and faster or slower.

Comprehension

Talk about the text

Use the following questions to check students’ understanding of what they have read. Why did the children decide to do something about their rubbish? What things did they do? (Literal)

Were these children successful? How do you know? (Inferential) Can all classes do what these children did? Why? Why not? (Critical)

Sequence of events

Say: This book recounts events in the order that they happened. Talk through these events. Say: The first thing that happened was that the children decided to reduce the amount of rubbish they made. In week one they brought lunches to school without wrapping. This reduced a lot of rubbish in their classroom. Write this on the whiteboard.

Ask: What happened next? Use students’ ideas to record the rest of the events in the order that they happened. Discuss and check the book for accuracy.

Students can complete the Graphic organiser: Sequence of events.

See page 82 for the Graphic organiser: Sequence of events.

Writing

Sentence expansion

Write a short sentence on the whiteboard.

We used old drink bottles.

Think aloud as you add more information to the sentence. Say: I am going to add information about when the children reused the bottles. They used the bottles when they did maths.

Write the new sentence.

We used old drink bottles when we did maths.

Ask: Where did the students do maths? Add this information to the sentence.

We used old drink bottles when we did maths in the classroom.

Write a sentence on the whiteboard for students to expand.

We used both sides of the paper.

Ask: When did the students use both sides of the paper? Discuss the answers and list them on the whiteboard. For example, when they did their work.

Have students write the sentence with extra information added to it. Students can share their sentences in small groups.

Word building

Morphology

Use week as the base word to demonstrate how to add the suffix ly to change to an adjective.

Write the word week on the whiteboard. Say: I will add the suffix ly to show what something is like or how something is done. week + ly = weekly

Say: Adding the suffix ly to week shows how something is done –it is done weekly. I can use the word in a sentence such as: We put the bins out weekly

Have students write the word quick. Say: Add the suffix ly to the word quick. What does the word quickly mean?

(Something is done with speed or very soon.) Have students say the word quickly in a sentence.

Repeat with the words loud → loudly and strong → strongly

Content knowledge and text structure

Having background knowledge about the content of a text and understanding the structure of a text supports comprehension. Detailed information about the text, its content and its vocabulary is provided.

Fluency

The books in each collection are curated to help develop students’ confidence and support fluent reading. Instructions for developing fluency are provided.

Writing

The content-rich texts provide teachers with the literacy base for sentence-level writing instruction.

Word building

Word-building activities focus on morphology or building word ladders. Students learn to read and write new words by making compound words and adding suffixes and/or prefixes. Teachers are supported to explicitly teach spelling rules and how prefixes and suffixes can change the meaning or tense of words.

Comprehension

For reading comprehension to occur, students must be able to fluently decode the words in the text. They can then use their background knowledge, vocabulary knowledge and understanding of language to make meaning of what they have read.

How to teach a Text Study Unit

Each explicitly taught Text Study Unit:

• explains concepts and ideas

• gives students information and facts about texts

• models and demonstrating skills

• provides worked examples

• supports students as they practise

• provides time for students to apply their skills and knowledge.

Teaching decoding and word recognition

A summary of the teaching opportunities in the Text Study Units is provided in each Teacher Resource Book. Before reading each text, students use their decoding and word recognition skills. This supports them to read the text accurately and efficiently.

Phonological awareness

Support students to build phonological awareness using the teaching and learning sequence provided in each Text Study Unit.

Phonics

Use the explicit phonics instruction to review letter–sound correspondences and to teach phonetically challenging and/or multi-syllabic words.

Introduce the paired texts

Decoding and word recognition

Phonological awareness

Syllables

Say:

Repeat with the words something hardly and swimming Phoneme manipulation

Have students repeat a word after you. Ask them to change a sound and then say the new word. word change sound new word bin add /s/ to the end bins smell /m/ to /p/ spell

★ Phonics

Review Review the letters wr making the /r/ sound.

Write the word wrap on the whiteboard. Have students say the sounds they hear in wrap /r/ /a/ /p/. Say: The letters wr make the /r/ sound in the word wrap

★ Vocabulary

No More Rubbish

Say: Today we are reading this informative book called No More Rubbish. Before we do, we will practise our decoding skills and learn some new words to help us read the book.

Decoding and word recognition

Phonological awareness

Syllables

Say: The word compost has two syllables com–post. Now say compost without the second syllable.

Repeat with the words something, hardly and swimming. Phoneme manipulation

Have students repeat a word after you. Ask them to change a sound and then say the new word.

word change sound new word bin add /s/ to the end bins smell /m/ to /p/ spell

Fluency

★ Phonics

Teach the meaning of words that might be new to students in the context of how they are used in the text.

Review

★ Vocabulary

Teach the meaning students in the context compost (pp. broken-down clippings, straw Example We compost. scraps (pp. 12, not be eaten Example We

Text summary

Show the front cover Rubbish is a recount decrease the amount They come up with

Writing

Sentence expansion

scraps (pp. 12, 13) Leftover bits of food that will not be eaten

Example We threw our food scraps to the chickens.

Text summary

List other words with this letter–sound correspondence. For example, wrote wring and wrist. Have students write a word with the letters wr making the /r/ sound.

Teach Teach words in the book with letter–sound correspondences that students may not have learnt. school: the letters ch making the /k/ sound work the letters or making the /er/ sound

★ High-utility words

Review high-utility words such as could our and there using sound–letter charts.

Content knowledge

Build students’ content knowledge.

Say: I am going to read aloud f luently. I will make my voice louder or softer, and faster or slower so the story sounds interesting. Read aloud the first two pages. Have students read the book independently. Support students where necessary. Students could record themselves reading the book using an audio-recording device. Have students listen back to the recording and think about how fluent and smooth their reading sounds. Say: As you read, make the story sound interesting by making your voice go louder or softer, and faster or slower.

Write a short sentence on the whiteboard.

We used old drink bottles.

Content knowledge

Think aloud as you add more information to the sentence.

Say: am going to add information about when the children reused the bottles. They used the bottles when they did maths.

Build students’ content

Write the new sentence.

We used old drink bottles when we did maths.

Review the letters wr making the /r/ sound.

Ask: Where did the students do maths? Add this information to the sentence.

We used old drink bottles when we did maths in the classroom.

Comprehension

Write the word wrap on the whiteboard. Have students say the sounds they hear in wrap: /r/ /a/ /p/. Say: The letters wr make the /r/ sound in the word wrap

Show the front cover of No More Rubbish Say: No More Rubbish is a recount about a group of students who work hard to decrease the amount of rubbish they produce in their classroom. They come up with lots of great ways to do this.

Talk about the text

Use the following questions to check students’ understanding of what they have read. Why did the children decide to do something about their rubbish? What things did they do? (Literal)

Were these children successful? How do you know? (Inferential) Can all classes do what these children did? Why? Why not? (Critical)

Sequence of events

Write a sentence on the whiteboard for students to expand.

We used both sides of the paper.

Ask: When did the students use both sides of the paper? Discuss the answers and list them on the whiteboard. For example, when they did their work.

List other words with this letter–sound correspondence. For example, wrote, wring and wrist. Have students write a word with the letters wr making the /r/ sound.

Teach

Ask: What do you do with your rubbish?

Encourage students to share their ideas.

Text structure

Explain the text structure of the book.

Say: Rubbish is not reduce the amount a group of children wrap for their food, things.

Have students write the sentence with extra information added to it. Students can share their sentences in small groups.

Word building

Morphology

Use week as the base word to demonstrate how to add the suffix ly to change to an adjective.

Teach words in the book with letter–sound correspondences that students may not have learnt.

Ask: What happened next? Use students’ ideas to record the rest of the events in the order that they happened. Discuss and check the book for accuracy.

Ask: What do you Encourage students

Text structure

Write the word week on the whiteboard. Say: I will add the suffix ly to show what something is like or how something is done.

• school: the letters ch making the /k/ sound

Students can complete the Graphic organiser: Sequence of events.

See page 82 for the Graphic organiser: Sequence of events.

• work: the letters or making the /er/ sound

Say: This book is a factual recount. It describes real events in the order that they happened.

★ High-utility words

Review high-utility words such as could, our and there using sound–letter charts.

Explain the text Say: This book is a order that they happened. Point out features headings. Say: This headings. It is written are told from the beginning

57 56 ★ See pages 9–12 for a detailed instructional sequence for each of these activities.

★ See pages 9–12 for a detailed instructional

No More Rubbish

Teaching high-utility words

High-utility words are useful words for students to know for reading and writing. Review high-utility words in the text by using sound–letter charts.

1. Draw a sound–letter chart on the whiteboard. (Always draw one or two more spaces than needed so that students do not guess the number of sounds based on the number of spaces.)

2. Have students tap the sounds in the word, for example: /w/ /o/ /n/ /t/.

3. Place a dot in a box on the top row of the chart to indicate each sound.

4. Write the letter(s) that represent each sound on the bottom row of the chart.

5. Point out any letter–sound correspondences that students have already learnt. For example, in the word want, students know that w makes the /w/ sound, n makes the /n/ sound and t makes the /t/ sound, so they can decode those parts of the word. Then tell them that in this word, the letter a makes the /o/ sound.

6. Have students write the word and read it to a partner.

No More Rubbish

The Rock of Killeen

Teaching vocabulary

Introduce the paired texts

In each Text Study Unit, there is a list of key vocabulary along with the page number(s) where the words are found in the text, student-friendly definitions and an example sentence for each word. Teach students the meaning of these words before they read the text.

No More Rubbish

Say: Today we are reading this informative book called No More Rubbish. Before we do, we will practise our decoding skills and learn some new words to help us read the book.

Decoding and word recognition

Introduce the paired texts

Say: These two books are about

and

informative

and The Rock

Phonological awareness

Syllables

★ Vocabulary

Teach the meaning of words that might be new to students in the context of how they are used in the text.

compost (pp. 12, 13, 15) A mixture made up of broken-down things such as leftover food, grass clippings, straw and leaves used to help plants grow

Example We put apple cores and banana peels in our compost.

Fluency

Say: I am going to read aloud f luently. I will make my voice louder or softer, and faster or slower so the story sounds interesting. Read aloud the first two pages.

Writing

Sentence expansion

Write a short sentence on the whiteboard.

scraps (pp. 12, 13) Leftover bits of food that will not be eaten

We used old drink bottles.

★ Vocabulary

Say: The word compost has two syllables com–post. Now say compost without the second syllable.

Teach the meaning of words that might be new to students in the context of how they are used in the text.

compost (pp. 12, 13, 15) A mixture made up of broken-down things such as leftover food, grass clippings, straw and leaves used to help plants grow

Repeat with the words something, hardly and swimming

Decoding

Phoneme manipulation

Example We put apple cores and banana peels in our compost. scraps (pp. 12, 13) Leftover bits of food that will not be eaten

Example We threw our food scraps to the chickens.

Have students repeat a word after you. Ask them to change a sound and then say the new word. word change sound new word bin add /s/ to the end bins smell /m/ to /p/ spell

★ Phonics

Review

the letters wr making the /r/ sound. Write the word

on the whiteboard. Have

★ Phonics

Review

say the sounds they hear in wrap /r/ /a/ /p/. Say: The letters wr make the /r/ sound in the word wrap List other words with this letter–sound correspondence. For example, wrote wring and wrist. Have students write a word with the letters wr making the /r/ sound.

Teach

Teach words in the book with letter–sound correspondences that students may not have learnt.

school: the letters ch making the /k/ sound work the letters or making the /er/ sound

★ High-utility words

Text summary

Show the front cover of No More Rubbish Say: No More

Rubbish is a recount about a group of students who work hard to decrease the amount of rubbish they produce in their classroom.

They come up with lots of great ways to do this.

Content knowledge

Build students’ content knowledge.

Ask: What do you do with your rubbish? Encourage students to share their ideas.

Text structure

Explain the text structure of the book.

Review the letters wr making the /r/ sound. Write the word wrap on the whiteboard. Have students say the sounds they hear in wrap: /r/ /a/ /p/. Say: The letters wr make the /r/ sound in the word wrap

Say: This book is a factual recount. It describes real events in the order that they happened.

Point out features of the book such as the section headings. Say: This book organises information into sections with headings. It is written in chronological order. This means the events

Review high-utility words such as could our and there using sound–letter charts.

List other words with this letter–sound correspondence. For example, wrote, wring and wrist. Have students write a word with the letters wr making the /r/ sound.

Build deeper word knowledge

Teach

Teach words in the book with letter–sound correspondences that students may not have learnt.

• school: the letters ch making the /k/ sound

• work: the letters or making the /er/ sound

★ High-utility words

Review high-utility words such as could, our and there using sound–letter charts.

Have students read the book independently. Support students where necessary. Students could record themselves reading the book using an audio-recording device. Have students listen back to the recording and think about how fluent and smooth their reading sounds. Say: As you read, make the story sound interesting by making your voice go louder or softer, and faster or slower.

Think aloud as you add more information to the sentence.

Say: am going to add information about when the children reused the bottles. They used the bottles when they did maths.

Example We threw our food scraps to the chickens.

Write the new sentence.

We used old drink bottles when we did maths.

Ask: Where did the students do maths? Add this information to the sentence.

We used old drink bottles when we did maths in the classroom.

Comprehension

Text summary

Talk about the text

Use the following questions to check students’ understanding of what they have read. Why did the children decide to do something about their rubbish? What things did they do? (Literal) Were these children successful? How do you know? (Inferential) Can all classes do what these children did? Why? Why not? (Critical)

Sequence of events

Write a sentence on the whiteboard for students to expand.

We used both sides of the paper.

Ask: When did the students use both sides of the paper? Discuss the answers and list them on the whiteboard. For example, when they did their work.

Have students write the sentence with extra information added to it. Students can share their sentences in small groups.

Word building

Morphology

Use week as the base word to demonstrate how to add the suffix ly to change to an adjective.

Content knowledge

Write the word week on the whiteboard. Say: I will add the suffix ly to show what something is like or how something is done. week + ly = weekly

Ask: What happened next? Use students’ ideas to record the rest of the events in the order that they happened. Discuss and check the book for accuracy.

Say:

Build students’ content knowledge.

Students can complete the Graphic organiser: Sequence of events.

See page 82 for the Graphic organiser: Sequence of events.

Ask: What do you do with your rubbish? Encourage students to share their ideas.

Text structure

As well as learning the meaning of words before reading, students can benefit from building a deep knowledge of key words in the text. There are word-building activities included in each Text Study Unit.

Explain the text structure of the book.

Say: This book is a factual recount. It describes real events in the order that they happened.

Say: Today we are reading this informative book called No More Rubbish. Before we do, we will practise our decoding skills and learn some new words to help us read the book.

Decoding and word recognition

Phonological awareness

Syllables

Teach the meaning of words that might be new to students in the context of how they are used in the text.

compost (pp. 12, 13, 15) A mixture made up of broken-down things such as leftover food, grass clippings, straw and leaves used to help plants grow

Example We put apple cores and banana peels in our compost.

Teaching content knowledge and text structure

scraps (pp. 12, 13) Leftover bits of food that will not be eaten

Say: The word compost has two syllables com–post. Now say compost without the second syllable.

Repeat with the words something, hardly and swimming

Reading comprehension is strongly linked to topic knowledge. The more students know about a topic, the easier it is to make meaning when reading a text about that topic. Understanding the structure of a text also helps students read and comprehend it.

Phoneme manipulation

Have students repeat a word after you. Ask them to change a sound and then say the new word. word change sound new word bin add /s/ to the end bins smell /m/ to /p/ spell

Review

Example We threw our food scraps to the chickens.

Text summary

Each Text Study Unit has detailed information about the text and its content that you can tell students before they read the text.

Content knowledge

Review the letters wr making the /r/ sound. Write the word wrap on the whiteboard. Have students say the sounds they hear in wrap: /r/ /a/ /p/. Say: The letters wr make the /r/ sound in the word wrap.

List other words with this letter–sound correspondence. For example, wrote, wring and wrist. Have students write a word with the letters wr making the /r/ sound.

Teach

Introduce the paired texts

Say:

Teach words in the book with letter–sound correspondences that students may not have learnt.

• school: the letters ch making the /k/ sound

★ Vocabulary

Build students’ content knowledge. Say: Rubbish is not good for the environment, so it is good to reduce the amount of rubbish you make. This book recounts how a group of children started using lunch boxes rather than lunch wrap for their food, setting up recycling and composting, and reusing things.

Ask: What do you do with your rubbish? Encourage students to share their ideas.

Text structure

Fluency

Writing

Explain the text structure of the book.

Sentence expansion

Write a short sentence on the whiteboard.

We used old drink bottles.

Say: This book is a factual recount. It describes real events in the order that they happened.

Think aloud as you add more information to the sentence.

Say: am going to add information about when the children reused the bottles. They used the bottles when they did maths.

• work: the letters or making the /er/ sound

Teach the meaning of words that might be new to students in the context of how they are used in the text.

★ High-utility words

Review high-utility words such as could, our and there using sound–letter charts.

with the words something hardly and swimming

Phoneme manipulation

compost (pp. 12, 13, 15) A mixture made up of broken-down things such as leftover food, grass clippings, straw and leaves used to help plants grow Example We put apple cores and banana peels in our compost. scraps (pp. 12, 13) Leftover bits of food that will not be eaten Example We threw our food scraps to the chickens.

Comprehension

Talk about the text

Write the new sentence.

We used old drink bottles when we did maths.

★ See pages 9–12 for a detailed instructional sequence for each of these activities.

Have students repeat a word after you. Ask them to change a sound and then say the new word. word change sound new word bin add /s/ to the end bins smell /m/ to /p/ spell

★ Phonics

Review Review the letters

List other words with this letter–sound correspondence. For example, wrote wring and wrist. Have students write a word with the letters wr making the /r/ sound.

Teach Teach words in the book with letter–sound correspondences that students may not have learnt. school: the letters ch making the /k/ sound work the letters or making the /er/ sound

★ High-utility words

Review high-utility words such as could our and there using sound–letter charts.

Text summary

Show the front cover of No More Rubbish Say: No More

Rubbish is a recount about a group of students who work hard to decrease the amount of rubbish they produce in their classroom. They come up with lots of great ways to do this.

Content knowledge

Build students’ content knowledge.

Ask: What do you do with your rubbish? Encourage students to share their ideas.

Text structure

Explain the text structure of the book.

Say: This book is a factual recount. It describes real events in the order that they happened.

Point out features of the book such as the section headings. Say: This

Sequence of events

Ask: What happened next? Use students’ ideas to record the rest of the events in the order that they happened. Discuss and check the book for accuracy. Students can complete the Graphic organiser: Sequence of events.

See page 82 for the Graphic organiser: Sequence of events.

Ask: Where did the students do maths? Add this information to the sentence.

We used old drink bottles when we did maths in the classroom.

Write a sentence on the whiteboard for students to expand.

We used both sides of the paper.

Ask: When did the students use both sides of the paper? Discuss the answers and list them on the whiteboard. For example, when they did their work.

Have students write the sentence with extra information added to it. Students can share their sentences in small groups.

Word building

Morphology

Use week as the base word to demonstrate how to add the suffix ly to change to an adjective.

Write the word week on the whiteboard. Say: I will add

The environment

No More Rubbish The Rock of Killeen

Developing fluency

To develop fluency, the teacher reads to the group explicitly modelling specific aspects of fluency. Students then move on to reading independently. Independent reading time can be completed as a whole-class activity or done with a small-group focus.

Then, one day, Lee saw one. It was on the beach. Something is wrong, thought Lee. It should be on the sea, floating on the kelp

Lee ran and told her dad.

“Are you sure it’s a sea otter?” said Dad.

“Yes,” said Lee.

“It needs help,” said Dad. And he called the ranger.

Whole-class

During whole-class fluent reading time, most students can be reading independently, and you can work with a small group who you know need supported guidance.

Teacher-led group

Reading in a teacher-led small group allows you to support students who require close attention to read with fluency. Activity suggestions are provided.

Lee and her dad went down to the beach. The otter was breathing, but it couldn’t move.

Developing comprehension

After students have read the text, it is important to support them to make meaning of what they have read.

Talk about the text

Students’ comprehension is supported when you discuss the text they have just read. This helps them to build further knowledge of the topic they have read about. This can be done in small teacher-led groups or as a whole class.

Monitor comprehension

As students are reading independently, you could stop individual students and discuss the text with them to find out whether they are understanding what they are reading. Graphic organisers are included to help with this.

Summarise

Support students to learn how to summarise by modelling it and providing worked examples. Graphic organisers are provided, and a teaching sequence is outlined in each Text Study Unit.

Understand story structure

Students can better comprehend a story when they understand how it is structured. A teaching sequence is outlined in the Text Study Units to support students to do this, and graphic organisers are provided for this activity.

Graphic organiser: Sequence of events

Name:

and/or draw the events in the order that they happened.

Graphic organiser: Story map 2

Name:

Write and/or draw the events at the beginning, the middle and the end of the story. Beginning

Have students listen back to the recording and think about how fluent and smooth their reading sounds. Say: As you read, make the story sound interesting by making your voice go louder or softer, and faster or slower.

Comprehension

Talk about the text

Use the following questions to check students’ understanding of what they have read. Why did the children decide to do something about their rubbish? What things did they do? (Literal)

the bottles. They used the bottles when they did maths. Write the new sentence.

We used old drink bottles when we did maths.

Ask: Where did the students do maths? Add this information to the sentence.

We used old drink bottles when we did maths in the classroom. Write a sentence on the whiteboard for students to expand.

We used both sides of the paper.

Ask: When did the students use both sides of the paper? Discuss the answers and list them on the whiteboard. For example, when they did their work.

Fluency

Writing

Introduce the paired texts Say:

Were these children successful? How do you know? (Inferential)

Can all classes do what these children did? Why? Why not? (Critical)

★ Vocabulary

Say:

Have students write the sentence with extra information added to it. Students can share their sentences in small groups.

Sentence expansion

Write

Have students read the book independently. Support students where necessary.

Students

Teach the meaning of words that might be new to students in the context of how they are used in the text.

Sequence of events

Word building

compost (pp. 12, 13, 15) A mixture made up of broken-down things such as leftover food, grass clippings, straw and leaves used to help plants grow

Example We put apple cores and banana peels in our compost.

scraps (pp. 12, 13) Leftover bits of food that will not be eaten

Example We threw our food scraps to the chickens.

Text summary

Ask: What happened next? Use students’ ideas to record the rest of the events in the order that they happened. Discuss and check the book for accuracy.

Content knowledge

Build students’ content knowledge.

Say: Rubbish is not good for the environment, so it is good to reduce the

Students can complete the Graphic organiser: Sequence of events.

See page 82 for the Graphic organiser: Sequence of events.

Teach Teach words in the book with letter–sound correspondences that students may not have learnt. school: the letters ch making the /k/ sound work the letters or making the /er/ sound

★ High-utility words

Review high-utility words such as could our and there using sound–letter charts.

Morphology

Comprehension

Talk about the text

Use week as the base word to demonstrate how to add the suffix ly to change to an adjective.

Use the following questions to check students’ understanding of what they have read. Why did the children decide to do something about their

Were these children successful? How do you know? (Inferential) Can all classes do what these children did? Why? Why not? (Critical)

Write the word week on the whiteboard. Say: I will add the suffix ly to show what something is like or how something is done. week + ly = weekly

Sequence of events

Say: This book recounts events in the order that they happened.

Say: Adding the suffix ly to week shows how something is done –it is done weekly. I can use the word in a sentence such as: We put the bins out weekly

Ask: What happened next? Use students’ ideas to record the rest of the events in the order that they happened. Discuss and check the book for accuracy.

Students can complete the Graphic organiser: Sequence of events.

See page 82 for the Graphic organiser: Sequence of events.

Have students write the word quick. Say: Add the suffix ly to the word quick. What does the word quickly mean? (Something is done with speed or very soon.) Have students say the word quickly in a sentence.

Repeat with the words loud → loudly and strong → strongly

Developing writing skills

Writing is most effectively taught in small steps, to build on skills and knowledge systematically. Begin with highly supported sentence-writing instruction. Teaching writing in this manner allows you to teach grammar and punctuation in context. Each Text Study Unit has a teaching sequence for sentence-writing instruction with worked examples and topic ideas. The sequence follows the ‘I do, We do, You do’ approach where writing is modelled, worked examples are completed during guided practice, and students apply their knowledge and write independently.

The environment

Writing

luently. I will make my voice louder the story sounds interesting. Read independently. Support themselves reading the book using Have students listen back to about how fluent and smooth you read, make the story sound go louder or softer, and faster to check students’ have read. something about their rubbish? (Literal)

Sentence expansion

Write a short sentence on the whiteboard.

We used old drink bottles.

Think aloud as you add more information to the sentence. Say: I am going to add information about when the children reused the bottles. They used the bottles when they did maths.

Write the new sentence.

We used old drink bottles when we did maths.

Introduce the paired texts

Ask: Where did the students do maths? Add this information to the sentence.

Fluency

Say: I am going to read aloud f luently. I will make my voice louder or softer, and faster or slower so the story sounds interesting. Read aloud the first two pages.

We used old drink bottles when we did maths in the classroom. Write a sentence on the whiteboard for students to expand.

★ Vocabulary

Teach the meaning of words that might be new to students in the context of how they are used in the text.

We used both sides of the paper.

Decoding and word recognition

Phonological awareness

Syllables Say: The word compost has two syllables com–post. Now say compost without the second syllable.

Repeat with the words something hardly and swimming

Phoneme manipulation

compost (pp. 12, 13, 15) A mixture made up of broken-down things such as leftover food, grass clippings, straw and leaves used to help plants grow

Example We put apple cores and banana peels in our compost. scraps (pp. 12, 13) Leftover bits of food that will not be eaten

Example We threw our food scraps to the chickens.

Text summary

Show the front cover of No More Rubbish Say: No More

Have students read the book independently. Support students where necessary.

Comprehension

Talk about the text

Writing

Sentence expansion

Write a short sentence on the whiteboard.

We used old drink bottles.

Think aloud as you add more information to the sentence.

Say: am going to add information about when the children reused the bottles. They used the bottles when they did maths.

Write the new sentence.

We used old drink bottles when we did maths.

Ask: Where did the students do maths? Add this information to the sentence.

We used old drink bottles when we did maths in the classroom.

Write a sentence on the whiteboard for students to expand.

We used both sides of the paper.

How do you know? (Inferential) children did? Why? Why not? the order that they happened. Say: The first thing that happened reduce the amount of rubbish brought lunches to school without rubbish in their classroom. Write students’ ideas to record order that they happened. for accuracy.

Have students repeat a word after you. Ask them to change a sound and then say the new word. word change sound new word

bin add /s/ to the end bins smell /m/ to /p/ spell

★ Phonics

Review Review the letters wr making the /r/ sound.

Ask: When did the students use both sides of the paper? Discuss the answers and list them on the whiteboard. For example, when they did their work. Have students write the sentence with extra information added to it. Students can share their sentences in small groups.

Rubbish is a recount about a group of students who work hard to decrease the amount of rubbish they produce in their classroom. They come up with lots of great ways to do this.

Content knowledge

Build students’ content knowledge.

Word building

Write the word wrap on the whiteboard. Have students say the sounds they hear in wrap /r/ /a/ /p/. Say: The letters wr make the /r/ sound in the word wrap List other words with this letter–sound correspondence. For example, wrote wring and wrist. Have students write a word with the letters wr making the /r/ sound.

Teach

Morphology

Ask: What do you do with your rubbish?

Encourage students to share their ideas.

Text structure

Teach words in the book with letter–sound correspondences that students may not have learnt.

school: the letters ch making the /k/ sound work the letters or making the /er/ sound

★ High-utility words

Sequence of events

Ask: What happened next? Use students’ ideas to record the rest of the events in the order that they happened. Discuss and check the book for accuracy.

Students can complete the Graphic organiser: Sequence of events.

See page 82 for the Graphic organiser: Sequence of events.

Use week as the base word to demonstrate how to add the suffix ly to change to an adjective.

Explain the text structure of the book.

Say: This book is a factual recount. It describes real events in the order that they happened. Point out features of the book such as the section headings. Say: This book organises information into sections with headings. It is written in chronological order. This means the events

Review high-utility words such as could our and there using sound–letter charts.

Write the word week on the whiteboard. Say: I will add the suffix ly to show what something is like or how something is done. week + ly = weekly

Say: Adding the suffix ly to week shows how something is done –it is done weekly. I can use the word in a sentence such as: We put the bins out weekly

Ask: When did the students use both sides of the paper? Discuss the answers and list them on the whiteboard. For example, when they did their work.

Have students write the sentence with extra information added to it. Students can share their sentences in small groups.

Word building

Morphology

Use week as the base word to demonstrate how to add the suffix ly to change to an adjective.

Write the word week on the whiteboard. Say: I will add the suffix ly to show what something is like or how something is done. week + ly = weekly

Say: Adding the suffix ly to week shows how something is done –it is done weekly. I can use the word in a sentence such as: We put the bins out weekly

Have students write the word quick Say: Add the suffix ly to the word quick What does the word quickly mean?

(Something is done

Graphic organiser: Sequence

Repeat with the words loud → loudly and strong → strongly

Planning your literacy instruction

Each Text Study Unit will take approximately two × four 30-minute blocks to complete. If needed, include a further 30-minute block to review any content missed by students, provide extra instruction or complete further consolidation activities. This timing will vary from class to class as the pace of instruction is adjusted to meet your students’ learning needs.

Text 1: Informative text study

Block 1

Decoding and word recognition, and vocabulary

This teaching session covers:

• Introducing the paired texts

• Phonological awareness

• Phonics review and teaching

• High-utility words review

• Vocabulary

This teaching session covers:

• Text summary

• Content knowledge

• Text structure

• Fluency

Text 2: Narrative text study

Decoding and word recognition, and vocabulary

This teaching session covers:

• Phonological awareness

• Phonics review and teaching

• High-utility words review

• Vocabulary

This teaching session covers:

• Text summary

• Content knowledge

• Text structure

• Fluency

This teaching session covers:

• Comprehension questions and discussion

• Summarising, recalling facts or sequencing using a graphic organiser

This teaching session covers:

• Writing –sentence-writing instruction

• Word building –morphology or word ladders

This teaching session covers:

• Comprehension questions and discussion

• Sequencing and plotting the story structure using a graphic organiser

This teaching session covers:

• Writing –sentence-writing instruction

• Word building –morphology or word ladders

• Paired text content

Planning considerations

The structure of the text study blocks will depend upon students’ literacy learning needs. Factors that need to be considered include the number of students that need extra support to read the texts, and how many students are reading fluently and understanding the texts.

You can plan an extra session each week for:

• students who need to catch up on missed lessons

• reteaching students who need further support

• students to do further consolidation activities

• students to apply their reading and writing skills.

Weekly timetable sample

Week 1: Informative text study

Week 2: Narrative text study

Note: More than one block can be implemented in a day, depending on other components of your literacy program.

Can I use Build Literacy Learning after teaching any decodable book series?

The short answer is ‘yes’. If you have successfully deployed an explicit teaching program that has developed your students’ decoding skills, they are reading words with less common letter–sounds and are building automaticity, it is now time build a body of knowledge.

A phonics teaching program like Flying Start to Literacy: Phonics is the perfect lead into the structure and range of topics provided in Build Literacy Learning

Flying Start to Literacy: Phonics is an explicit teaching program that engages your students and supports their literacy development. All the key components of a rich literacy program are covered, but what makes this program different, and offers the classroom teacher greater efficacy, is that the lessons are multi-layered and cohesive.

The lessons join all the literacy activities to the lesson’s phonic focus and all lessons are then supported by decodable books that are rich with content.

At the end of this decodable series, your young readers will continue their reading journey seamlessly with Build Literacy Learning.