Teaching segmentation for spelling is a combination of oral segmentation and letter recall. Some children need a lot of practice before they grasp CVC segmentation.
Resources
Large two-phoneme or three-phoneme frame drawn on a magnetic or interactive whiteboard
Selection of magnetic letters (e.g. sets 1 and 2 letters) displayed on a whiteboard
List of words (visible only to the teacher)
Small phoneme frames, each with a selection of magnetic letters, or six-letter fans, one per child or pair of children
Soft toy (optional)
Procedure
This sequence of suggestions will require building over a few days. Children should be able to spell VC words before moving on to spell CVC words.
Say a VC word (e.g. at) and then say it in sound-talk.
Say another VC word (e.g. it) and ask the children to tell their partners what it would be in sound-talk.
Demonstrate finding the letter i from the selection of magnetic letters and put it in the first square on phoneme frame and the letter t in the second square, sound-talk i-t and then say it.
Say another VC word (e.g. in) and ask the children to tell their partners what it would be in sound-talk.
Ask the children to tell you what to put in the first square in the phoneme frame and then in the second.
Ask the children to make the word on their own phoneme frames or fans.
If all the children have frames or fans, ask them to check that they have the same answer as their partners. If the children are sharing, they ask their partners whether they agree.
Ask the children to hold up their frames or fans for you to see.
Repeat 4–8 with another VC word (e.g. an).
Repeat 1–8 with three-phoneme (CVC) words containing the selection of letters.
See ‘Bank of suggested words for practising reading and spelling’.
This procedure can also be ‘wrapped up’ in a playful manner by ‘helping a toy’ to write words.
Resources
Large three-phoneme frame drawn on a magnetic whiteboard
Display of letters required for words
List of CVC words (visible only to the teacher)
Hand-held phoneme frames on whiteboards, pens and wipes, one per child or pair of children
Procedure
Say a CVC word and, holding up three fingers, sound-talk it, pointing to a finger at a time for each phoneme.
Ask the children to do the same and watch to check that they are correct.
Holding up the three fingers on one hand, write the letters of the word in the phoneme frame, demonstrating how to refer to the letter display to recall a letter.
Ask the children to write the word in their phoneme frames.
Say another word and ask the children to sound-talk it to their partners using their fingers.
Ask them to sound-talk it in chorus for you to write it.
Repeat 5 and 6 but leave the last letter of the word for the children to write on their own.
Ask them to sound-talk (with fingers) and write more words you say.
Resources
List of words (sat, sit, sip, tip, tap, sap, sat), magnetic whiteboards and letters (s, a, t, p, i), one per pair of children
List of words (pin, pit, sit, sat, pat, pan, pin), magnetic whiteboards and letters (s, a, t, p, i, n), one per pair of children
List of words (pot, pod, pad, sad, mad, mat, pat, pot), magnetic whiteboards and letters (p, t, d, m, s, o, a), one per pair of children
List of words (cat, can, man, map, mop, cop, cap, cat), magnetic whiteboards and letters (c, t, n, m, p, a, o), one per pair of children
List of words (leg, peg, pet, pat, rat, ran, rag, lag, leg), magnetic whiteboards and letters (l, g, p, t, r, n, e, a), one per pair of children
List of words (run, bun, but, bit, hit, him, dim, din, sin, sun, run), magnetic whiteboards and letters (r, n, b, t, h, m, s, d, i, u), one per pair of children
Procedure
Give pairs of children a magnetic whiteboard and the appropriate letters for one game of ‘Full circle’.
Say the first word (e.g. sat) and ask the children to make it with their letters.
Write sat on the whiteboard and explain that the children are going to keep.
changing letters to make lots of words and that when they make sat again, they may call out Full circle.
Leave sat written on the whiteboard throughout the activity.
Ask the children to sound-talk sat and then sit and then to change sat into sit on their magnetic whiteboards.
Ask them to sound-talk and blend the word to check that it is correct.
Repeat with each word in the list until the first word comes round again and then say Full circle with the children.