Explicit phonics instruction – Illustration of practice
A series of videos showcasing explicit phonics instruction in a K–2 classroom.
This illustration of practice showcases explicit phonics teaching to support reading. The series of videos demonstrate explicit teaching strategies and elements of quality phonics instruction.
School leadership teams, aspiring leaders and teachers can use the illustration of practice to:
- reflect on their practice to strengthen curriculum implementation
- exemplify explicit teaching and create a shared understanding of strategies
- promote team discussions on effective phonics instruction
- aid in leading curriculum implementation in different school contexts.
Collaborative planning
Watch the Collaborative planning video (4:30).
Megan Thompson
I think the best place to start would probably be the student data.
Lucy Partridge
Yeah, absolutely.
Megan Thompson
So, after looking at the results of the phonics screeners that we've done with our students, for my kids, it would seem like they've got a really good grasp of their single-letter graphemes and phonemes.
Lucy Partridge
I agree. Mine did really well with the single letters. And looking at the K-2 syllabus for English, I think the next step for us is moving on to digraphs.
Megan Thompson
Yeah.
Lucy Partridge
Do you think your kids would be up to that?
Megan Thompson
Absolutely. Yes. So that, we've got the GPC instructional sequence here and you can see that they move through the single-letter graphemes, and the next step is,
Lucy Partridge
/sh/. Okay.
Megan Thompson
That's the first digraph.
Lucy Partridge
Beautiful. That's the same for our decodables as well. The next sound moving through there is /sh/, so that's perfect timing.
Megan Thompson
That works well. Okay, so what we want to do in our lesson is make sure we've got whole class, really explicit teaching, before they move off to some independent work.
Lucy Partridge
Excellent, so you're thinking SMART board with some resources, kids have their mini whiteboards?
Megan Thompson
Yeah, definitely.
Lucy Partridge
Great.
Megan Thompson
And let's see how we can get some connected content happening there.
Lucy Partridge
Well, handwriting, that will be easy because you can explicitly demonstrate how to do both the letters together and then maybe even just make sure they're aware that the ‘s’ and the ‘h’... the ‘h’ is a tall letter.
Megan Thompson
Yeah.
Lucy Partridge
They can practise that in the air. They love doing it on each other's backs. And then practise on their whiteboards.
Megan Thompson
All right, so in that explicit lesson on the SMART board, we'll get lots of blending practice, some encoding practice, and spelling practice as well. So, I guess some more connected content would be looking at where the digraph falls in different words.
Lucy Partridge
Whether it's at the front or at the back, at the end.
Megan Thompson
Beginning or end, that sounds good. So, we need to think about which kids we're going to try and extend a little bit.
Lucy Partridge
I definitely have a few that will need some sort of extension. What if when they're writing the words, so we'll get them to write some words down onto their mini whiteboards, what if we get them to add some suffixes onto the end? So they might add a couple of extra Elkonin boxes and maybe add ‘ing’ or ‘es’ or something like that to extend them a little bit.
Megan Thompson
Yeah, I've got a few kids who could definitely work with that.
Lucy Partridge
Okay.
Megan Thompson
And I'll tell you where we could get some more connected content. If we have some decodable sentences and I read, the children read back to me, we can work on fluency and really model fluent reading, and…
Lucy Partridge
And actually bring up the word fluency and get them to, yeah.
Megan Thompson
And some comprehension. So, you could have your decodable sentence, a couple of pictures underneath. We've read the sentence a few times, a couple of pictures, and they have to select the picture, you could say, by pointing.
Lucy Partridge
Oh yeah, they could just go, "This sentence matches that picture."
Megan Thompson
Yeah, exactly.
Lucy Partridge
That'd be fun.
Megan Thompson
And then how about whole class, explicit part, and then half of the kids stay on the floor and we've got these decodables really feature the /sh/ sound and they've already got a good grasp of all these single letters.
Lucy Partridge
So, they're all known ones.
Megan Thompson
So, if we keep half on the floor and they do a bit of partner reading, and the other half...
Lucy Partridge
The other half could do this independently.
Megan Thompson
Yeah, so some work on Elkonin boxes.
Lucy Partridge
Great.
Megan Thompson
And.
Lucy Partridge
Oh, this is good because that has the GPC at the start and some of them have it at the end, like ‘fish’.
Megan Thompson
Yeah. Perfect. And then some more comprehension: read, trace, write. And if they can draw the picture to match the word, that shows comprehension.
Lucy Partridge
In your own pace.
Megan Thompson
Yeah. Okay, I think we're ready to move forward.
Lucy Partridge
Great. Let's do it.
[End of transcript]
Reflection questions
- How do you assess students’ phonic understanding as part of a teaching and learning cycle?
- How does teaching syllabus content in parallel enhance student learning?
Connecting to prior learning
Watch the Connecting to prior learning video (2:06).
Megan Thompson
So, today, we're going to start by revising and reviewing some of the sounds that we've been learning over the last few weeks. So, I'm going to show you a grapheme and you're going to tell me the phoneme or the sound that it makes. Are you ready?
Students
Yes.
Megan Thompson
There's nothing new here. These are all sounds that we've done before. Eyes to the board. Here we go.
Students
/g/ + /l/ + /f/ + /k/ + /r/ + /h/ + /u/ + /z/ + /l/.
Megan Thompson
Remember that one? We don't say, /l/ + /l/ do we?
Students
No.
Megan Thompson
We just say, /l/. Here's another one like that.
Students
- /s/.
Megan Thompson
Now the next slide you're going to see is some words that we're going to blend the graphemes together, and we're going to read the words, but you have to wait until the arrows pop up. Remember, let's not rush in. Okay. Even though you might know the word straight away. Are you ready?
Students
/z/ + /a/ + /p/ ... ‘zap’.
Megan Thompson
You've got it.
Students
/z/ + /i/ + /p/ ... ‘zip’.
Megan Thompson
Perfect. Here's another one.
Students
/f/ + /e/ + /l/ ... ‘fell’.
Megan Thompson
Excellent. I think there might be one more.
Students
/m/ + /e/ + /s/ ... ‘mess’.
Megan Thompson
Fantastic.
[End of transcript]
Reflection questions
- What instructional routines are evident in this video? How does the use of instructional routines enhance learning?
- Why is connecting to prior learning an important part of explicit phonics instruction?
Modelled and guided practice
Watch the Modelled and guided practice video (10:00).
Megan Thompson
Because you know all of those sounds so well, it's time to introduce a new one, different to the one we did yesterday. The sound we're going to learn today is this one. /sh/.
Students
/sh/.
Megan Thompson
Oh, I noticed some people lifting their finger to their lips. Take your finger away. Look at my mouth. /sh/.
Students
/sh/.
Megan Thompson
What is my mouth doing? The corners of my lips come in. My lips come out. /sh/. And I blow. You have a go at making that sound.
Students
/sh/.
Megan Thompson
Perfect. Stop and put up your hand if you can tell me where your tongue is when you make the sound /sh/?
Student
At the top.
Megan Thompson
Okay, let's do it again.
Students
/sh/.
Megan Thompson
Is your tongue touching anything?
Students
No...
Megan Thompson
It's not, it is up the top, but it's not actually touching anything in our mouth. Listen to me, make the sound again.
Students
/sh/.
Megan Thompson
Am I using my voice?
Students
No.
Megan Thompson
I'm not. I'm just blowing. So, the way we make the /sh/ sound is by blowing. Okay, let's do it one more time.
Students
/sh/.
Megan Thompson
Perfect. Can you look at the person next to you or someone near you and watch them make the /sh/ sound?
Students
/sh/.
Megan Thompson
All right. Everybody eyes back to me. Now that we can hear the /sh/ sound and we know how to make the /sh/ sound, let's see how we write and read the /sh/ sound. I wonder if anyone can remember what it's called. This is a very special grapheme because we have two letters that come together to make one sound. That's got a special name.
Students
A digraph.
Megan Thompson
A digraph! Two letters that come together to make one sound. And those two letters are 's' and 'h'. And when they come together, we don't say /s/ + /h/ anymore, we're going to say /sh/. Okay? I think you're ready to learn how to write the grapheme that represents /sh/. Let's have a look first at, we're going to follow these dots so we know how to write it. Ready? We've got our 's' first and then our 'h'. Now let's get our pretend pencils. Okay. Ready? I'm going to turn around this way as well. Start your 's' at the top. Make an 's', that's it. Pencil comes off, pencil back on and make our 'h' up and over. So we have... do it one more time. We have 's' is a short letter. And then we have a nice tall 'h'. Get your pretend pencil and on the floor have a go at writing, /sh/. Great! You write on someone's back, the grapheme /sh/. See if you can feel it. Are they doing it properly? Okay everybody, eyes back to me. We've written it in the air. We've written it on the floor. Let's write the grapheme /sh/ on your whiteboard. Let's do it three times. Can you make sure that your 'h' is nice and tall? Have a look up here again. If you forget, look at the screen. Because your 'h' needs to be much taller than your 's'. Perfect. They are amazing. 1, 2, 3. Chin it! Do you know what I love, how, you've got the 'h', nice and tall and the 's' is smaller. Look, the 's' comes up to that hump on the 'h'. Wonderful. Okay, I'm going to say a word and I want you to listen for the /sh/ sound and tell me if it's at the beginning, the middle, or the end of the word. ‘ship’.
Students
‘ship’.
Megan Thompson
Beginning, middle or end? ‘ship’.
Students
In the beginning.
Megan Thompson
You've got it. It's at the beginning. Let's try that again. ‘fish’. ‘fish’.
Students
The end.
Megan Thompson
‘fish’. You are right. It's at the end, good girl. Okay. Little bit more practise. This time, every time you see that grapheme, we are going to make the sound that matches it, okay? Sometimes I'm going to ask you to make it loud. Sometimes I'm going to ask you to make it soft. Are you ready?
Students
Yeah. Yes.
Megan Thompson
Okay. Let's go.
Students
/sh/.
Megan Thompson
This one I want you to do really soft.
Students
/sh/.
Megan Thompson
The next one I want you to do really loud.
Students
/sh/.
Megan Thompson
It's hard to do loud because we don't use our voice. We are just blowing, aren't we? We've gone through the sounds we already know. We've learnt /sh/... And now we're going to read some words that have /sh/ in them. Okay? And we're going to blend the letters together, the sounds together to read the words. Eyes up on the screen. Here we go.
Students
/sh/ + /i/ + /p/ ... ‘ship’.
Megan Thompson
Again.
Students
/sh/ + /i/ + /p/ ... ‘ship’.
Megan Thompson
Well done.
Students
/f/ + /i/ + /sh/ ... ‘fish’.
Megan Thompson
One more time.
Students
/f/ + /i/ + /sh/ ... ‘fish’.
Megan Thompson
Nicely done.
Students
/d/ + /i/ + /sh/ ... ‘dish’.
Megan Thompson
Again.
Students
/d/ + /i/ + /sh/ ... ‘dish’.
/sh/ + /e/ + /l/ ... ‘shell’.
Megan Thompson
Again.
Students
/sh/ + /e/ + /l/ ... ‘shell’.
Megan Thompson
We're going to do some writing now. Say this after me, say it.
Students
Say it.
Megan Thompson
Stretch it.
Students
Stretch it.
Megan Thompson
Listen to each phoneme.
Students
Listen to each phoneme.
Megan Thompson
Write each phoneme.
Students
Write each phoneme.
Megan Thompson
Here's a little reminder. We're going to say each word each; we are going to stretch it or segment it into its parts; we are going to write what we hear and then we are going to check. Okay? What's the last step? Checking what we've written. Say, ‘ship’.
Students
‘ship’.
Megan Thompson
Say it again.
Students
‘ship’.
Megan Thompson
Okay, let's stretch it out into its phonemes. ‘ship’.
Students
/sh/ + /i/ + /p/ ... ‘ship’.
Megan Thompson
One more time.
Students
/sh/ + /i/ + /p/ ... ‘ship’.
Megan Thompson
Can you please draw on your board a big rectangle and 2 lines inside it to make 3 boxes and have a go at writing. /sh/ + /i/ + /p/ ... There we go. /sh/ + /i/ + /p/ ... You have a go. Are you ready? 1, 2, 3. ‘ship’. Also, I love how your 'h' is taller than your 's' as well, like we talked about before. Okay, last step is check. Let's check! /sh/ + /i/ + /p/ ... Did you get that?
Students
Yeah.
Megan Thompson
Awesome. Let's rub out our letters, but leave our 3 boxes there. We're going to do another one. Okay, next one is ‘fish’. Let's say it.
Students
‘fish’.
Megan Thompson
Let's stretch it into its phonemes.
Students
/f/ + /i/ + /sh/ ... ‘fish’.
Megan Thompson
One more time.
Students
/f/ + /i/ + /sh/ ... ‘fish’.
Megan Thompson
It's time to write it. /f/ + /i/ + /sh/ ... Do you remember? Well done. That is amazing. Gee, you guys are quick learners. Fish. Okay, it's time to do another one. Check before you rub it out. Are you ready everybody? ‘shell’! Say ‘shell’.
Students
‘shell’.
Megan Thompson
Let's stretch it.
Students
/sh/ + /e/ + /l/ ... ‘shell’.
Megan Thompson
Write it. I want you to write, ‘splashing’. ‘splashing’. Have a go at ‘splashing’.
‘shell. /sh/ + /e/ + /l/ ... Okay. How did you go with splashing? /s/ + /p/ + /l/ + /a/ + /sh/ + /ing/. You got it! Good girl, let's have a look at shell everybody. Do you notice everyone this time in ‘shell’, there are two 'l's at the end?
Students
Yes.
Megan Thompson
Okay. When we have that short vowel /e/ and then a /l/, it's followed by two 'l's. So, if you didn't put two 'l's, pop your second one in when you check, awesome. Rub out and congratulations girl, you got the hard one. ‘splashing’. Well done.
[End of transcript]
Reflection questions
- How does the teacher check for student understanding?
- How did the teacher differentiate her instruction? What other forms of differentiation could be included?
Guided practice
Watch the Guided practice video (4:16).
Megan Thompson
We have learnt /sh/. We have read words and written words that have /sh/, now we're going to read sentences that have /sh/ words in them, okay? Now, you're going to listen to me read the sentence nice and fluently, and then we're going to read it together. And then, we're going to do that activity where you have to pick the right picture. There's going to be two pictures, and you have to pick the one that matches the sentence. Do you remember doing that previously?
Students
Yeah.
Megan Thompson
And I know it's going to be tempting for you to jump in and read, but listen to me read it fluently first and then you can have a go. Are you ready? Here we go. ‘The /sh/ + /i/ + /p/ … ship, is very /b/ + /i/ + /g/ … big.’ I'm going to do it and then we'll do it together. ‘The ship is very big.’ Let's do it together, go.
Megan Thompson and students
‘The ship is very big.’
Megan Thompson
Okay, one more time.
Megan Thompson and students
‘The ship is very big.’
Megan Thompson
This time, when you see the picture, pick the right one that matches the sentence. This one, or this one?
Students
That one.
Megan Thompson
You've got it, perfect. Let's do that again with a different sentence. My turn first, then yours. ‘The’... Shh, my turn first. ‘The /sh/ + /e/ + /l/ … shell, is /p/ + /i/ + /n/ + /k/ … pink and /r/ + /e/ + /d/ … red.’ Do you think we're ready to do it together?
Students
Yes.
Megan Thompson
Fluently?
Megan Thompson and students
‘The shell is pink and red.’
Megan Thompson
I might get out Mr. Pointy so I don't have to walk across in front of it. Let's do it again.
Students
Mr. Pointy!
Megan Thompson and students
‘The shell is pink and red.’
Megan Thompson
We might try that one more time because I think I heard some people saying something else. Let's go.
Megan Thompson and students
‘The shell is pink and red.’
Megan Thompson
Which picture, is it this one, is it that one? Let me see.
Students
That one.
Megan Thompson
Exactly, this one's pink and red, very good. Okay, before we do our next one, I've shown you how to read the sentence and sound out the words. If you flip over your whiteboard, you're going to find a sentence of your own to try and read. ‘A’-
Megan Thompson and student
‘A fish is’-
Student
‘In the dish.’
Megan Thompson
How you doing there, mate?
Student
‘A’…
Megan Thompson
/f/ + /i/ + /sh/ ...
Student
‘Fish is in’-
Megan Thompson
‘The.’
Student
‘The’-
Megan Thompson and student
/d/ + /i/ + /sh/ ...
Student
‘dish.’
Megan Thompson and student
‘A fish is in the dish.’
Megan Thompson
Okay. Are we ready to try that together?
Students
Yes.
Megan Thompson
Okay, put your finger under the first word.
Students
‘A’-
Megan Thompson
Hang on a second. And let's do it together, go.
Megan Thompson and students
‘A fish is in the dish.’
Megan Thompson
Alright, look up here. Here it is, let's do it together.
Megan Thompson and students
‘A fish is in the dish.’
Megan Thompson
Choose the picture that matches that sentence. That's it. Because the fish is not in the dish in this one.
Student
It's trying to get out.
Megan Thompson
It doesn't want to be eaten for dinner, I think. Okay.
[End of transcript]
Reflection questions
- How is reading comprehension incorporated into this lesson?
- Why is it important to address reading comprehension alongside decoding?
Independent practice
Watch the Independent practice video (6:02).
Megan Thompson
Now we are going to break up into two groups and I'm going to have half of you on the floor and we're going to be reading to a partner. Either this book or this book. Okay, taking it in turns. Have a page each. Like we just said, if you finish the book, please read it again because every time you read it, you become more fluent. And the other half of the class are going to be back at tables doing this one, which is very similar to what we were doing on our whiteboards before. Do you remember? We were saying the word, stretching the word, and writing the word into the boxes.
Student
And listening to the phoneme.
Megan Thompson
And listening to the phonemes. Perfect, and then another sheet that I have for you to do, do you remember yesterday we read the word?
Students
Yeah.
Megan Thompson
We traced the word.
Students
Yeah.
Megan Thompson
We had a go at writing it by ourselves.
Students
Yeah.
Megan Thompson
And then, hands up and tell me what we did in this last box?
Student
We drew it.
Megan Thompson
We drew it, that's exactly right. And that tells me that you were able to read the word. Okay, go and find somewhere to work and you can get started. My reading friends come down here.
Student
‘He /g/ + /o/ + /t/ ... got a /f/... fresh... but...’
Megan Thompson
‘He got a fresh /b/ + /u/ + /n/ ...’
Student
‘bun’. ‘The /s/ + /m/ + /e/ + /l/ ... smell of the /b/ + /u/ + /n/ ... was yummy, yummy, yummy.’
Megan Thompson
Great job!
Student
‘Pam went to the big fish on the shell. It had a shell in it and a red fish. The fish in the dish had long lashes.’
Student
Can you have a turn?
Student
‘A ship was in the fish for the fish.’
Student
/i/ ... /p/ ... ship. Fish.'
Megan Thompson
Good. So we've got, you say these sounds in ‘kiss’.
Student
‘/k/ + /i/ + /s/ ...’
Megan Thompson
Yes. When we've got an /i/ followed by /s/, we need to put two ‘s's there. Can you add another 's'? And 's' goes that way. Okay, let's say the sounds.
Student
‘/k/ + /i/ + /s/ ... kiss.’
Megan Thompson
That's it!
All right everybody. So, now is your chance to show me that you know how to hear the /sh/ sound and write the grapheme for /sh/. We're going to go back to our tables in a minute. And on each of the desks you'll find a little post-it note. I want you to do two things on that post-it note. I want you to write your name. That's really important. And then I want you to think of a word that has /sh/ in it and write that onto your post-it note. It can be one of the words we've talked about today. Or you might know another word that has /sh/ in it. And you are going to have a go at spelling that by yourself. Find a table with a post-it note.
Can you write your name down the bottom? All right everyone! Leave your post-it note on the table. And you can put your chair in and come back to the floor. What did you do?
Student
‘shocking’.
Megan Thompson
Shocking? Shocking! Like... Like that? Oh! Just to finish off, let's get our pencils out one more time and let's write /sh/ and say it.
Students
/sh/.
Megan Thompson
Three times.
Students
/sh/.
Megan Thompson
One more time.
Students
/sh/.
Megan Thompson
Fantastic. You have all been absolute superstars today and I'm so proud of you. Go like this. Turn it around. Give yourself a pat on the back.
[End of transcript]
Reflection questions
- Why does the teacher include decoding (reading) and encoding (spelling) as part of independent practice?
- How does the teacher check for student understanding?
Analysis of assessment and reflection
Watch the Analysis of assessment and reflection on learning video (3:33).
Megan Thompson
All right, Lucy, so now the lesson is finished, I've got some work samples here that we could use as formative assessment tasks. For this one, the children had to come up with their own word that had the /sh/ sound. So, they had to show us that they could hear, read, and write a word that contained /sh/. And what I've done is sorted them out. So, with these two, this student is using the /ow/ sound. Their word was show, ‘o’ + ‘w’, we haven't learnt that GPC yet.
Lucy Partridge
We haven't learnt that. So, they would definitely be ready for some extension. And is this the ‘splashing’?
Megan Thompson
‘Splashing’. So they've taken what we did in class and sort of-
Lucy Partridge
Added the suffix.
Megan Thompson
Yeah, added the suffix. This group of students all chose words that we did in the lesson, except ‘shot’. That one was a new one. This little group over here, so we've got someone who wanted to write ‘shocking’. So, they've had a really good go at that. We haven't learned the GPC ‘ing’ yet. So, and we seem to have, I've noticed a little bit of confusion between the /e/ and the /i/ sou nd. So, this is supposed to be ‘shell’, but she's written ‘shill’.
Lucy Partridge
Okay.
Megan Thompson
Here, these two students probably need another go at that lesson. Maybe we could have a little focus group where we revisit that because they haven't really shown that they've been able-
Lucy Partridge
Maybe more segmenting, because they're missing a vowel here. So, maybe they need to go back to counting how many sounds and phonemes are in a word.
Megan Thompson
I have a feeling this student might've looked at the person next to them, lacked a bit of confidence there.
Lucy Partridge
It is backwards, so maybe they've-
Megan Thompson
And they couldn't read it back to me when I said, "What word did you write?" They couldn't read it back to me.
Lucy Partridge
So, probably not confident, so...
Megan Thompson
But as a whole, I think that we'd be ready to move on to /ch/ with a few people having a little bit of revision. What about the other independent work that we had?
Lucy Partridge
Okay. Oh, so I've got this as well where a lot of the students are reversing their ‘b's and ‘d's. So, maybe a handwriting focus.
Megan Thompson
About where the letter, where the formation starts.
Lucy Partridge
Starts. Exactly.
Megan Thompson
Okay.
Lucy Partridge
They did well. Good fish.
Megan Thompson
Ah, there's another example of the confusion between /e/ and /i/. That's a short vowel.
Lucy Partridge
Yeah, okay. What else do we need to see?
Megan Thompson
Oh, the other thing is the double consonant at the end, so.
Lucy Partridge
Which we've spoken about, but maybe we need to revisit that a little bit more.
Megan Thompson
I think they know how to read it, but they might need a little bit of revision in writing it. So when there's the short vowel followed by an /l/ , /s/ or /z/ s ound, you've got to double that final consonant, because there's a few in there.
Lucy Partridge
A couple.
Megan Thompson
Yeah. ‘Hill’.
Lucy Partridge
‘Hill’ as well. Okay, oh and ‘shell’.
Megan Thompson
‘Shell’, yeah, there we go. Overall as a group, I think that we've achieved the learning intention.
Lucy Partridge
Absolutely.
Megan Thompson
And we are ready to move on to the next digraph.
Lucy Partridge
Excellent.
Megan Thompson
Sure. Sure.
Lucy Partridge
Let's do it.
[End of transcript]
Reflection questions
- When analysing student work samples, what next steps were identified by the teachers?
- What are the benefits of analysing data and planning for learning collaboratively?
The department acknowledges and thanks teachers and leaders from Newcastle East Public School for their participation in these videos.
Resources
The following resources may support explicit phonics instruction:
Effective reading: Phonics: This online professional learning provides Kindergarten to Year 2 teachers with practical applications of evidence-based teaching of reading.
English K-2 microlearning: A series of 11 individual microlearning modules to support implementation of the K-2 component of the English K-10 Syllabus.
Phonics diagnostic assessment: A short, on-demand assessment showing students’ progress in phonics.
Grapheme-phoneme correspondences (GPC) instructional sequence: A suggested sequence for introducing GPCs in a systematic, explicit and cumulative way from Kindergarten through to Year 2.