GROUP 2: LESSON ‹e›

Teacher guidance:

Use flashcards to briefly revise the letter sounds already taught. Revise the formation of one or two letters.

What to do:

• Show flashcards of taught letter sounds. Pupils say each sound once and do the action.
• Choose 2 or 3 letters to write on the board. While this is being done the children form the letters in the air.

Teacher guidance:

Tell a farm story where Ellie taps and cracks eggs: “e, e, e … e!” Demonstrate the action: mime tapping and cracking an egg into a pan while saying /e/. Display the ‹e› piece of the wall-frieze.

What to do:

• Demonstrate the action: and say /e-e-e/… /e/!”
• Children perform the action and say the letter sound together; then a few do it independently.
• Ask: “What /e/ words did you hear in the story? Can you think of other /e/ words - elbow, elephant, engine.”

Teacher guidance:

Demonstrate the letter on the board first, then use air writing before moving to paper or boards. Emphasise the starting point is in the middle.

What to do:

• “Write /e/ on the board or in the air. Say the phrase with me: ‘Across and around.’”

Teacher guidance:

Write some words to blend on the board. Include one with final ‹ck›.

What to do:

• Auditory blend: /t-e-n/ → ten; /p-e-n/ → pen; /n-e-ck/ → neck; /r-e-d/ → red.
• Write words on the board and blend them: ten, pen, neck, sent, test. Ensure pupils are saying one sound and not two for ‹ck›; example: /d-u-ck/ and not /d-u-c-k/.
• Word bank: net, pen, pet, set, ten, neck, peck, kept, nest, pest, sent, step, tent, test, speck, spent, tennis, insect, inspect; a pet cat

Teacher guidance:

Say some words and ask which start with an /e/ sound.

What to do:

• “Which of these words have an /e/ sound at the beginning?”: dog or egg; elbow or cat; elephant or sun; frog or engine.
• “Does this word have an /e/ sound in it?”: ten, bed, sat, red, pit.
• “How many sounds in these words?” Say the word then sound it out with the children, holding up a finger for each sound, eg pen, neck, nest, tent.

Teacher guidance:

Use the ‹e› page from Pupil Book 1 or free resources. Encourage a good pencil hold and ensure the children start at the correct point every time.

What to do:

• Write over the dotted ‹e› letters, and the other letters, on the lines.
• Say four words: egg, statue, elbow, elephant. Pupils listen and write the letter for the first sound in each word.
• Blend words: ten, pet, tent, neck.

Teacher guidance:

Keep it brisk: Call out some taught letter sounds and two simple CVC words.

What to do:

• Dictate the sounds: /e/, /n/, /t/ (children write ‹e›, ‹n›, ‹t›).
• Dictate the words: ten, pen (sound out as a class and blend to check).

What to do:

/e/ song with egg-cracking action.

Ideas

• Grow cress in eggshells
• Find out what animals hatch from eggs.

Teacher guidance:

Add ‹e›; encourage daily re-reading and tracing over the letters.