English Resource Description
In the third lesson of Week 23, students revisit and reinforce their understanding of the phonemes /or/ and /o/, with a particular focus on the graphemes and . The objective of the lesson is to review the spellings associated with these phonemes and to introduce the new ways of writing them. The session begins with a 'Quickdash Words' activity, where words from recent lessons are displayed on the board, complete with sound buttons. The class decodes these words together, focusing on each phoneme in turn.
Diving deeper into the lesson, the teacher introduces the Organ pictophone, a visual aid that helps students recall the phoneme it represents and associated graphemes such as , , and . The lesson then expands to teach two additional graphemes, and , which are written on the board and practiced within words like 'draw' and 'haunt', highlighting the /or/ sound. To consolidate learning, the 'Missing Letter' game is played, where students identify the correct letter to complete partially spelled words. For applied learning, children use mini whiteboards to write dictated words and sentences that incorporate the new graphemes, such as 'The book launch was a big hit' and 'Dog paws are awfully cute'. In Scotland, it is noted that the and graphemes are pronounced with the /o/ phoneme, a regional variation that the teacher should take into account.
