PREP-2 SCOPE AND SEQUENCE FOR PHONICS, MORPHOLOGY AND WORD KNOWLEDGE AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM

This scope and sequence for phonics, morphology and word knowledge is 42 pages in length and based on a validated SOR sequence. The difference between this and other sequences is that it combines phonics and morphology as opposed to separate scopes and provides teachers with all spelling, syllable and morphology rules and ideas for activities included as well as a sequence for handwriting. At the end of the sequence for each year are 'Level Descriptors' and 'Achievement Standards' intended to help teachers make judgements about attainment. Also included are ‘I can statements’ and a comprehensive list of resource links and phonics and morphology glossaries and ideas for investigations.

Key contents

1. Intended for Reading and Spelling:

Many schools have a separate reading and spelling program. I believe that this is a missed opportunity to link encoding and decoding and often leads to students making progress in reading but not with spelling. This scope is therefore designed to teach reading and spelling together. Catherine Snow et al. summarise the real importance of spelling for reading as follows: “Spelling and reading build and rely on the same mental representation of a word. Knowing the spelling of a word makes the representation of it sturdy and accessible for fluent reading.”

2. Morphology is included in the sequence:

I have included morphology in this scope and sequence with more emphasis on morphology as the sequence progresses. Morphology is a critical element of successful vocabulary development and accurate decoding by understanding the meaning of prefixes and suffixes and the rules governing syllable division. Awareness of morphology has been shown to be a strong indicator of and positive influence upon reading comprehension (Soifer, 2005).

3. High Frequency and Irregular Words

These words are introduced, for the most part, as the sound spellings are introduced. However, words such as ‘‘the’’ may be introduced before /th/ is covered.

4. Handwriting:

A handwriting scope and sequence is included for each year. I can provide further detailed information, and a policy if schools wish to follow this scheme.

5. Assessment:

These lessons are intended to be taught to the class in an explicit direct instruction mode. Assessment is important and tracking data but there has to be a time to use the data to target individuals and groups and to ‘fill the gaps.’ Sometimes scopes and sequences do not allow for this. Therefore, every 5th to 6th week I have inserted an assess and review week for teachers to assess where there are gaps and to group the students to focus on areas of weakness.

6. Teacher Judgements:

At the end of the sequence for each year are Level Descriptors, Achievement Standards and 'I can' statements. Helps teachers make judgements and support/extend students below and above standard.

Additional Features: Year Prep-2 scope.

1. Each year is colour coded to make location easier .

2. After the ‘End of Year Attainment are ‘Content Descriptors’ and ‘I can statements’

3. A ‘Resources’ section with links to websites to support teaching.

4. A glossary of terms for phonics and an additional glossary of morphology and etymology terms.

5. Ideas for Investigations and examples.

6. Suggested Timetable for teaching the Phonics and Word Knowledge Scope and Sequence.

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