Follow-on Phonics and Vocabulary
The focus in these list is on different spelling patterns for individual sounds. Phonic knowledge is linked to vocabulary.
Each lesson should take 20-30 minutes.
List 1
Introduction: Tell the class that they are going to be looking again at words they learnt when they first started school, and will be using the ‘metalanguage’ of the English pronunciation and spelling system. In this lesson, they will be focussing on VC & CV words and talking about long and short vowels (Check understanding). Quick read through of word list.
Ask them to make two columns on their whiteboards and label them ‘long’ and short’. Give them 2 minutes to sort as many of the words from the list into the two columns. Go round and check as they do this. Ask 2 children to come up to board. Give them a marker each and ask one to underline words with short vowels and the other to circle long vowels. Ask class to monitor.
Ask them to talk to partner and see if they can identify a pattern (VC short; CV long).
Plenary - talk to partner: they have learnt anything new? Feedback. Preview of next lesson.
List 2
Introduction: Show list and ask what they think CVC means. Ask them to count the words with long vowels. When they can’t find any, ask them to work with a partner to think of some. (They won’t be able to). What rule have we discovered about CVC words?
Whiteboard activity. 5 columns, labelled A,E,I,O,U. Sort the words into columns. Which vowel appears most frequently?
Ask them if they know what the 6th vowel is. Write up the word try. What makes it a vowel? (It’s a sound made with the voice). Which other letter makes the same sound as Y (long I). Why don’t we group it with the vowels? (Because sometimes it’s a consonant - yes, yet). Paired activity: make a list of words with vocalic y. Feedback and write some up on board. Are they CVC words? (No - CCV) How many are verbs? How many nouns? What happens when you change to past tense (cry - cried; try - tried; fly - flew). Adding ing?
Plenary: What have we learnt? What do you think the next list will be?
List 3
Introduction: Recap on last lesson. Show list and ask what they think VCC means. Ask pupils to divide words into CVC and VCC.
Ask them how many living creatures are on the list. (4 including tot). Ask them to write down what they think asp means, and then to look it up in dictionary and note down all the information. Take answers and talk about dictionary abbreviations (n = noun). What other dictionary definitions might we see? Look up got. What is the abbreviation? What does it mean? Look up other words from the list and note what part of speech they are on whiteboards.
A group of children could come up to whiteboard and put dictionary abbreviations next to words. Ask why some have more than one (a word can be different things according to function in sentence)
Plenary: What have you learned? What didn’t you understand? (Tell partner and feed back. )
List 4
Introduction: What does CVCC stand for? Write down all the words where the vowel is A. What do you notice? (There are two different sounds - at least in southern English). Past and last have a long a.
Can you think of any more CVCC words with long ‘a’? Is there a pattern? (partner work).
Whiteboard work - go through list individually or with a partner and give as much information as possible about each word. Noun, verb etc. Singular, plural? Share, using board.
Plenary: What have you learned? What didn’t you understand? (Tell partner and feed back.) Discuss difficulties.
List 5
Introduction: As last time. Write down all the words with a long vowel. What do you notice? (I and O in this list). Child(ren) at front write(s) L/S by each word. Class monitors.
Whiteboard work - go through list individually or with a partner and give as much information as possible about each word. Noun, verb etc. Singular, plural? Share, using board.
Plenary: What have you learned? What didn’t you understand? (Tell partner and feed back.) Discuss difficulties.
List 6
Introduction: As last time. Write down all the words with a long vowel. What do you notice? (only O in this list).
Are there CVCC words with a short o? (bond, fond, cost, lots....) Is there a pattern? (partner work). Whiteboard work - go through list individually or with a partner and give as much information as possible about each word. Noun, verb etc. Singular, plural? Share, using board.
Plenary: What have you learned? What didn’t you understand? (Tell partner and feed back.) Discuss difficulties.
List 7
Introduction: As last time. Write down all the words with a long vowel. What do you notice? There are none. Can you think of any? Do we have a pattern?
Changing words (inflections). Without changing root meaning of word, and without changing the vowel, add suffixes to make longer words (eg brag, bragged, bragging; mat, mats). Sharing and feedback.
Plenary: What have you learned? What didn’t you understand? (Tell partner and feed back.) Discuss difficulties.
List 8
Introduction: As last time. Write down all the words with a long vowel. What do you notice? There are none.
Dictionary work. Underline the words club, spud, fled, stub, span crop, glen, and ask pupils to look them up in dictionary and write down findings. Do any have more than one meaning? How many didn’t you know before? Ask for examples of different meanings in sentences.
Plenary: What have you learned? What didn’t you understand? (Tell partner and feed back.) Discuss difficulties.
List 9
Introduction: Briefly read through list. Discuss alphabetical order and ask what happens when you have several words beginning with the same letter. What happens in a dictionary? Challenge class to put words into alphabetical order. Share results
Dictionary work. Underline the words grub, clan, grim, glum, plod, and ask pupils to look them up in dictionary and write down findings. How many didn’t you know before? Elicit examples of different meanings in sentences.
Plenary: What have you learned? What didn’t you understand? (Tell partner and feed back.) Discuss difficulties.
List 10
Introduction: Briefly read through list.
Pupils make 3 columns on whiteboards/in notebooks, labelling them noun, adjective, verb. Without using a dictionary, they sort the words into columns. Some may need to be written more than once (eg trip). Afterwords, they check with dictionary.
Plenary: What have you learned? What didn’t you understand? (Tell partner and feed back.) Discuss difficulties.
List 11
Introduction: Briefly read through list, as last time.
Pupils make 3 columns on whiteboards/in notebooks, labelling them noun, adjective, verb. Without using a dictionary, they should sort the words into columns. Some may need to be written more than once (eg trip). Afterwards, they check with dictionary.
Plenary: Write 3 of the words on the board and challenge class to come up with sentences including the words plus a clause beginning with the subordinating conjunction because.
List 12
Introduction: Read through list together. Ask class to find long vowels (blast, clasp)
Write the words brink, flank, cramp, slink on the word. Ask pupils to discuss what they understand by the words and come up with sentences to show their meaning.
Challenge pupils to identify 3 past tenses of verbs (spilt, slept, stank) . What would they be in the present tense?
Plenary: Feedback. What other tenses do we know?
List 13
Introduction: Read through list together. Ask class to find long vowels (finds).
Pupils make 3 columns on whiteboards/in notebooks, labelling them noun, adjective, verb. Without using a dictionary, they should sort the words into columns. Some may need to be written more than once (eg tramp). Afterwards, they check with dictionary.
Plenary: Feedback.
List 14
Introduction: Read through list together. Remind class they have been learning about long and short vowels. Ask what we could call the sound of the grapheme ay. (Long a)
Write these words on board and ask pupils to check meanings in dictionary and write them down with as much extra information as possible (eg noun, verb): bay, jay, fray, bray, slay.
Plenary: Share definitions and extra information. Ask for examples in sentences.
List 15
Introduction: Read through list together. Ask class to think about the vowel sounds. Talk with a partner about what they notice. (They are all short). Tell them that you can’t have a long vowel before the letters ck.
Challenge pupils to come up with single syllable words that end in c (unlikely to find any). They should check with dictionary. Then k. Ask them how many words end in k without another consonant in front (foreign words, maybe : yak). Then make a collection of the consonants that appear with k. They should come up with l, n, r, s.
Plenary: Make a collection on the board. Discuss what was new in the lesson.
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List 1
Introduction: Tell the class that they are going to be looking again at words they learnt when they first started school, and will be using the ‘metalanguage’ of the English pronunciation and spelling system. In this lesson, they will be focussing on VC & CV words and talking about long and short vowels (Check understanding). Quick read through of word list.
Ask them to make two columns on their whiteboards and label them ‘long’ and short’. Give them 2 minutes to sort as many of the words from the list into the two columns. Go round and check as they do this. Ask 2 children to come up to board. Give them a marker each and ask one to underline words with short vowels and the other to circle long vowels. Ask class to monitor.
Ask them to talk to partner and see if they can identify a pattern (VC short; CV long).
Plenary - talk to partner: they have learnt anything new? Feedback. Preview of next lesson.
List 2
Introduction: Show list and ask what they think CVC means. Ask them to count the words with long vowels. When they can’t find any, ask them to work with a partner to think of some. (They won’t be able to). What rule have we discovered about CVC words?
Whiteboard activity. 5 columns, labelled A,E,I,O,U. Sort the words into columns. Which vowel appears most frequently?
Ask them if they know what the 6th vowel is. Write up the word try. What makes it a vowel? (It’s a sound made with the voice). Which other letter makes the same sound as Y (long I). Why don’t we group it with the vowels? (Because sometimes it’s a consonant - yes, yet). Paired activity: make a list of words with vocalic y. Feedback and write some up on board. Are they CVC words? (No - CCV) How many are verbs? How many nouns? What happens when you change to past tense (cry - cried; try - tried; fly - flew). Adding ing?
Plenary: What have we learnt? What do you think the next list will be?
List 3
Introduction: Recap on last lesson. Show list and ask what they think VCC means. Ask pupils to divide words into CVC and VCC.
Ask them how many living creatures are on the list. (4 including tot). Ask them to write down what they think asp means, and then to look it up in dictionary and note down all the information. Take answers and talk about dictionary abbreviations (n = noun). What other dictionary definitions might we see? Look up got. What is the abbreviation? What does it mean? Look up other words from the list and note what part of speech they are on whiteboards.
A group of children could come up to whiteboard and put dictionary abbreviations next to words. Ask why some have more than one (a word can be different things according to function in sentence)
Plenary: What have you learned? What didn’t you understand? (Tell partner and feed back. )
List 4
Introduction: What does CVCC stand for? Write down all the words where the vowel is A. What do you notice? (There are two different sounds - at least in southern English). Past and last have a long a.
Can you think of any more CVCC words with long ‘a’? Is there a pattern? (partner work).
Whiteboard work - go through list individually or with a partner and give as much information as possible about each word. Noun, verb etc. Singular, plural? Share, using board.
Plenary: What have you learned? What didn’t you understand? (Tell partner and feed back.) Discuss difficulties.
List 5
Introduction: As last time. Write down all the words with a long vowel. What do you notice? (I and O in this list). Child(ren) at front write(s) L/S by each word. Class monitors.
Whiteboard work - go through list individually or with a partner and give as much information as possible about each word. Noun, verb etc. Singular, plural? Share, using board.
Plenary: What have you learned? What didn’t you understand? (Tell partner and feed back.) Discuss difficulties.
List 6
Introduction: As last time. Write down all the words with a long vowel. What do you notice? (only O in this list).
Are there CVCC words with a short o? (bond, fond, cost, lots....) Is there a pattern? (partner work). Whiteboard work - go through list individually or with a partner and give as much information as possible about each word. Noun, verb etc. Singular, plural? Share, using board.
Plenary: What have you learned? What didn’t you understand? (Tell partner and feed back.) Discuss difficulties.
List 7
Introduction: As last time. Write down all the words with a long vowel. What do you notice? There are none. Can you think of any? Do we have a pattern?
Changing words (inflections). Without changing root meaning of word, and without changing the vowel, add suffixes to make longer words (eg brag, bragged, bragging; mat, mats). Sharing and feedback.
Plenary: What have you learned? What didn’t you understand? (Tell partner and feed back.) Discuss difficulties.
List 8
Introduction: As last time. Write down all the words with a long vowel. What do you notice? There are none.
Dictionary work. Underline the words club, spud, fled, stub, span crop, glen, and ask pupils to look them up in dictionary and write down findings. Do any have more than one meaning? How many didn’t you know before? Ask for examples of different meanings in sentences.
Plenary: What have you learned? What didn’t you understand? (Tell partner and feed back.) Discuss difficulties.
List 9
Introduction: Briefly read through list. Discuss alphabetical order and ask what happens when you have several words beginning with the same letter. What happens in a dictionary? Challenge class to put words into alphabetical order. Share results
Dictionary work. Underline the words grub, clan, grim, glum, plod, and ask pupils to look them up in dictionary and write down findings. How many didn’t you know before? Elicit examples of different meanings in sentences.
Plenary: What have you learned? What didn’t you understand? (Tell partner and feed back.) Discuss difficulties.
List 10
Introduction: Briefly read through list.
Pupils make 3 columns on whiteboards/in notebooks, labelling them noun, adjective, verb. Without using a dictionary, they sort the words into columns. Some may need to be written more than once (eg trip). Afterwords, they check with dictionary.
Plenary: What have you learned? What didn’t you understand? (Tell partner and feed back.) Discuss difficulties.
List 11
Introduction: Briefly read through list, as last time.
Pupils make 3 columns on whiteboards/in notebooks, labelling them noun, adjective, verb. Without using a dictionary, they should sort the words into columns. Some may need to be written more than once (eg trip). Afterwards, they check with dictionary.
Plenary: Write 3 of the words on the board and challenge class to come up with sentences including the words plus a clause beginning with the subordinating conjunction because.
List 12
Introduction: Read through list together. Ask class to find long vowels (blast, clasp)
Write the words brink, flank, cramp, slink on the word. Ask pupils to discuss what they understand by the words and come up with sentences to show their meaning.
Challenge pupils to identify 3 past tenses of verbs (spilt, slept, stank) . What would they be in the present tense?
Plenary: Feedback. What other tenses do we know?
List 13
Introduction: Read through list together. Ask class to find long vowels (finds).
Pupils make 3 columns on whiteboards/in notebooks, labelling them noun, adjective, verb. Without using a dictionary, they should sort the words into columns. Some may need to be written more than once (eg tramp). Afterwards, they check with dictionary.
Plenary: Feedback.
List 14
Introduction: Read through list together. Remind class they have been learning about long and short vowels. Ask what we could call the sound of the grapheme ay. (Long a)
Write these words on board and ask pupils to check meanings in dictionary and write them down with as much extra information as possible (eg noun, verb): bay, jay, fray, bray, slay.
Plenary: Share definitions and extra information. Ask for examples in sentences.
List 15
Introduction: Read through list together. Ask class to think about the vowel sounds. Talk with a partner about what they notice. (They are all short). Tell them that you can’t have a long vowel before the letters ck.
Challenge pupils to come up with single syllable words that end in c (unlikely to find any). They should check with dictionary. Then k. Ask them how many words end in k without another consonant in front (foreign words, maybe : yak). Then make a collection of the consonants that appear with k. They should come up with l, n, r, s.
Plenary: Make a collection on the board. Discuss what was new in the lesson.
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