Week 25, lesson 4 Review Day "ar" - Phonics Phase 5, unit 3 - Lesson plan

During the phonics lesson for Week 25, Day 4, the focus is on revising the spellings associated with the /ar/ phoneme. The objective of the day is clearly stated at the start: to review how the /ar/ sound is represented in various words. The session begins with a 'Word Breaker' activity where a word is spoken aloud and the children are tasked with breaking it down into its constituent sounds before reassembling it and saying the word together. This activity is repeated with several words to reinforce learning.

The teaching portion of the lesson involves presenting the 'Ark' pictophone to the class and discussing words that contain the /ar/ phoneme. The teacher demonstrates writing words such as 'harsh', 'rather', and 'calf', and highlights the graphemes that represent the /ar/ sound. In the practice phase, a game called 'Countdown' is played where children line up and take turns to decode and blend words from a list on the board, with options for free choice or a lucky dip selection. Points are tallied for each correctly read word. The lesson concludes with an application activity where children use mini whiteboards to write phrases dictated by the teacher, such as "We ate half a jar of jam" and "I can’t stay calm", which incorporate the /ar/ phoneme. Teaching notes advise that the focus on the 'Ark' sound should be emphasised in the South of England, while other regions may use both the 'Ark' and 'Ant' sounds for the words in the lesson.