# Original texts, word cards and response aids

These passages, card lists and sketch directions were written for this draft. **Oral texts A, B, C and E are teacher-read.** A learner may listen, use a teacher-made recording, follow a transcript through AAC or a support person, point, act or respond in their own words. The print in those texts contains spelling patterns beyond the taught set and is **never** a child decoding test. A recording is not included; add a voice/recording rights record and the transcript before publishing one.

## Oral story A — *The Market Banner* (Days 11 and 14)

> At the school market, Nia noticed that visitors could not see the garden stall from the gate. She and Kai made a wide paper sign. The first sign fell in the wind. Kai suggested tying it to two chairs. Nia tested the string and moved the chairs apart. From the gate, the words were easy to see. They left space below the words for a drawing of the vegetables.

**Teacher meaning notes:** A *stall* is a place where things are offered at a market. A *banner* is a large sign. Problem: visitors could not find the garden stall and wind moved the first sign. Solution: Nia and Kai made the sign visible and secured it. Before reading, invite learners to tell the teacher what a sign can do; then return to what this particular story actually said.

**Original three-scene sketch:** (1) gate and distant stall; (2) sign falling in wind; (3) sign fixed between chairs and visitors finding stall. Use blank cards or three props; no external image is needed.

## Oral rhyme B — *Cards at the Gate* (Day 12)

> A red card in the rain.  
> A blue card by the drain.  
> A small dog by the gate.  
> A friend calls, “Wait, wait!”

**Teacher note:** `rain/drain` and `gate/wait` rhyme when said in the intended Australian English pronunciation. Say them aloud; do not ask learners to decode the printed rhyme. If a local accent changes a pair, substitute an unambiguous local oral pair and record the change.

## Oral story C — *The Pantry Trays* (Days 16 and 18)

> At the community pantry, apples and oranges were mixed in one large box. Li and Jay wanted visitors to find the fruit they needed. They put the apples in one tray and the oranges in another. Jay drew a picture for each tray. A visitor pointed to the apple picture and found the right fruit. The drawings helped people find the trays without reading the words.

**Teacher meaning notes:** A *pantry* is a place where food is kept or shared. Problem: two kinds of fruit were mixed and hard to find quickly. Solution: sort them and make picture labels. The story is fiction and makes no claim about a real community pantry. Ask learners to sort two classroom objects as a practical variation, then explain how a picture label helps.

**Original visual prompt:** Draw two empty trays, one simple round apple shape and one round orange shape with a leaf. Ask the learner to place the matching shapes in the trays. The teacher reads any written labels; this is a meaning response, not decoding.

## Child-reading cards by first-use day

Print one word per card. The teacher introduces the new correspondence before showing its words. Capital **C** and **D** are explicitly introduced for the fictional names **Cam** and **Dan**; capital **S, T, P** came from Weeks 1–2. A picture may be shown **after** an attempted blend to check meaning. School formation cues apply to each new letter.

| Day | Child-facing letter/word/sentence cards | Notes for the teacher |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 11 | **c, C, cat, can, cap, Cam sat.** | **c/C** = /k/ before **a** here. |
| 12 | **e, pet, ten, met, net, Cam met Sam.** | **e** = /ɛ/. |
| 13 | **r, ran, rat, rim, rip, Sam ran.** | **r** = /ɹ/ in the classroom's Australian English. |
| 14 | **d, D, dad, did, dip, mad, sad, Dan ran.** | **d/D** = /d/. |
| 15 | **o, pot, top, mop, cot, Tom sat.** | **o** = /ɒ/; **c** still /k/ in **co**. |
| 16 | **g, gap, tag, dig, dog, got, Dan got mad.** | **g** = /g/ in these words. |
| 17 | **l, lap, leg, lid, let, log, Pat let Sam sit.** | **l** = /l/. |
| 18 | **f, fan, fit, fin, fog, felt, Tom felt sad.** | **f** = /f/; model four phonemes in **felt**. |

No high-frequency word is used in a child-read sentence without its actual sound–print value being taught. In particular, the article **a** is absent because its usual unstressed /ə/ in sentences has not yet been introduced. Do not use *go, gate, egg, leaf, fish, rain, drain, wait* or the oral stories as child decoding cards in this block.

## Mini-text D — *Room to Sit* (Day 19)

This is the child-facing connected text for the second fortnight. It uses only **m, a, s, t, p, i, n, c, e, r, d, o, g, l, f** in the specific values taught so far, plus the taught capital forms. **felt** has four sounds and was modelled on Day 18. The text does not require a new sight word.

> Cam met Tom.  
> Tom felt sad.  
> Cam let Tom sit.  
> Tom sat.

Ask after reading: “Who met Tom? How did Tom feel? What did Cam do?” The text says Cam let Tom sit; any extra detail about a seat is a picture-supported inference, not a printed fact. A learner may independently decode CVC words while an adult reads **felt** or the longer sentence; record that distinction.

**Three-scene sketch to reveal after blending:** Cam and Tom meet; Tom looks down beside one available seat; Cam gestures toward the seat and Tom sits. Avoid using an emotion face to cue the word **sad** before decoding.

**Meaningful controlled variation:** With capital-name tiles, learners can make **Sam met Tom.** or **Pat let Sam sit.** They may orally change the ending in unrestricted words while an adult scribes it separately. An adult-scribed richer idea is creative language evidence, not independent child decoding evidence.

## Oral story E — *The Missing Brush* (Day 20 assessment)

> At the art table, June could not find the wide paintbrush. Eli looked under the paper but saw only pencils. June moved the water tray and saw the brush behind it. They rinsed it, put it in a jar, and started their painting.

Read twice with print hidden. Questions about the people, missing object and solution are in [ASSESSMENT.md](ASSESSMENT.md). This fresh story checks listening meaning. It is not a child-reading item.

## Reusable low-tech aids

**One sound per box:** For a spoken CVC word, move three counters, then place the taught letters. For **felt**, demonstrate four counters before four letters. Do not equate sound boxes with syllables. The [SVG print sheet](print-cards.svg) includes empty three- and four-box strips.

**Story strip:** Draw three blank boxes labelled *First / Then / Last* for the adult. Learners may draw, place a prop, point, act, speak or use AAC. The labels themselves are adult-read and do not belong in a decoding score.

**Evidence line:** `Date / learner code / item / exact response / independent or prompted / route used / next teaching move`. Keep identifiable records only in the school's approved local system, never in a public pack or SubjectNest prototype storage.