English Resource Description
In Week 7, Day 3 of the phonics programme, the lesson centres on the versatile grapheme and the various phonemes it can represent, namely /y/, /ee/, /i/, and /igh/. The objective for the day is clear: to explore all the sounds that the grapheme can make. The lesson begins with a quickwrite activity where children are asked to write down the grapheme corresponding to phonemes called out by the teacher, encouraging active participation and recall of previous knowledge.
The teaching segment involves writing a large on the board and inviting the children to suggest phonemes associated with this grapheme. To aid visual memory, images representing Yak, Eagle, Igloo, and Ice Cream are placed around the to symbolise the sounds /y/, /ee/, /i/, and /igh/ respectively, with example words like 'yes', 'happy', 'gym', and 'sky' illustrating each sound. During the practice phase, a word sort exercise helps children to decode words and categorise them under the correct phoneme, reinforcing their understanding. To apply their learning, children work in pairs to spot the grapheme in a paragraph, underlining it and vocalising the corresponding phoneme. Finally, mini whiteboard work consolidates the lesson by having children write dictated words and sentences that include the grapheme , such as 'Fly a kite high in the sky' and 'A puppy makes me happy', along with individual words like 'spy', 'myth', 'baby', and 'yesterday'.
