Structured Literacy
Structured Literacy and The Code
At Otonga School, we use Structured Literacy in the early years, and later transition into The Code as students’ progress. Our teachers have undertaken professional learning with Dr Christine Braid (Massey University) and have been implementing this approach since 2022.
Structured Literacy focuses on explicitly teaching the essential skills children need to become confident readers and spellers.
Students begin by learning the letter-sound correspondences needed to read decodable books. They are taught to “blend” these sounds together to read words like sat, map, and it.
This structured and systematic approach using a code and sequence, builds strong foundations, ensuring every child has the tools to succeed in reading and writing.
As your child progresses, they will also begin using levelled colour wheel reading books. Alongside these, they will bring home tasks and activities carefully tailored to their individual learning needs.
For home learning, your child may bring other readers home for you to read with/to them. This is essential in helping support oral language and comprehension. Please ask questions – who, what, when, where, why and how when reading these books with your children.
There are some ‘heart’ (tricky) words that your child will be learning to memorise. Practise these daily. These will be in their home book along with other little bits of home learning and information.
To nurture a lifelong love of reading, they will also bring home self-chosen browsing books and library books on a regular basis.
Teachers will:
- Explicitly teach how words work in both reading and writing.
- Use specific Sunshine Decodables and The Code | Liz Kane Literacy Resources that support the teaching focus.
- Continue to use rich language and text to develop vocabulary and understand how books work.
Some key shared literacy activities that you can do with your child:
- Read picture books and non-fiction books based on your child’s interest. Have fun with the language especially with rhyming books e.g. Dr Seuss.
- To support fine motor skills, engage in drawing, baking, lego and puzzles.
- Play word games, such as ‘I Spy’ with a beginning sound or a word that rhymes with another word.
- Further information Sunshine Decodables and The Code | Liz Kane Literacy
