Key Words & Pictures Units 8-20

Key Words and Picture Cues

This section is the key to the success of the program.

In Units 8 to 20, students are introduced to the ‘extended code’. In Units 8-11, students are introduced to four or five graphemes (letter combinations) and the phoneme (sound) they commonly represent. Each grapheme is linked to a key word and picture to assist with retention.

In Units12-20, students are introduced to a phoneme and the common graphemes used to represent that phoneme. Each grapheme is linked to a key word and picture combined into an integrated picture story for each phoneme. The picture story is written at the bottom of the box for easy reference. The key words and integrated picture both assist in retention and recall.

Once a grapheme has been introduced, the student will continue to receive multiple opportunities to practise it throughout the program.

Introduce the phoneme, accompanying graphemes, key words and integrated picture story.

Rules associated with the reading (decoding) or spelling (encoding) of the phonemes or graphemes are highlighted in a box under the grapheme pictures.

Discuss the rule(s)

Note 1: From Unit 8 onwards, in the vocabulary section, students should place a coloured line under the key graphemes for that unit to highlight theses graphemes. A different colour should be used for each grapheme and graphemes should be colour-coded one at a time (e.g., all the a-e graphemes might be coloured red, then all the e-e graphemes coloured green, etc.). This requires the student to practise scanning which is an important skill for locating information.

Note 2: It is important that the student says the phoneme and the picture cue out loud while writing the grapheme (e.g., /ay/ for cake). Once picture stories are introduced it is important that the student spends time remembering the picture story as this will provide a cue to all the graphemes associated with a particular phoneme.

Note 3: Teach and encourage the student to use the following strategy when working out the spelling of unfamiliar words. Say the sounds in the word (e.g., drain=/d/-/r/-/ay/-/n/). Think of the /ay/ picture and story (e.g., The rain is falling on the cake on the tray). Write the word using each of the different graphemes (e.g., drain, drane, drayn). Eliminate any word which doesn’t agree with the rules (e.g., ‘ay’ only used at the end of base words -‘drayn’ must be wrong).