These three texts were written for this pack. An adult reads them aloud or shares them for meaning, purpose and writing models. Their longer sentences and spellings have not been audited as a learner's decodable text. Keep independent word and sentence reading evidence separate from listening, echo reading and comprehension after a read-aloud. Use the school-approved phonics scope and the controlled practice on the learner cards; replace a line if its graphemes have not been taught and key the replacement locally.
Story C — The turn that went missing
Yana and Kit made a tiny town on a sheet of cardboard. A paper star marked the pretend book drop. A circle marked a garden, a square marked a tool desk, and a cardboard arch marked the return shelf. None of the places was real.
Kit wanted a new student in the game to find the return shelf. Kit wrote, “Go to the shelf.” Yana moved a paper token from the star to the nearest shelf shape, but there were two shelf shapes on the model. Kit frowned at the instruction, not at Yana.
“I left out the start and the turn,” Kit said. Together they rewrote the message: “Start at the star. Move past the circle to the square. Turn towards the arch. Stop at the return shelf.” Yana put the token back at the star and followed the new words. This time they reached the arch.
“It worked on our model,” Yana said. “Let's ask someone else to try it before we call it clear for everyone.”
Teacher meaning notes: Fictional characters Yana and Kit; cardboard model setting; problem = vague route plus two possible shelves; revision names start, landmarks, turn and destination; result = one successful model trial, not universal accessibility. Ask what the original instruction omitted and why a second reader could still find a new issue. A learner may prefer the teamwork or a different moment with a source-based reason. Do not send learners on an actual school route based on this story.
Information text D — Help a reader test directions
Purpose: A route note should help a reader move a token on a fictional paper map. Before testing, ask which symbols and words the reader understands.
Prepare: Draw a start, two landmarks, a turn and an end. Give each a word label as well as a shape. Keep the model on a table; do not map a child's home or a restricted school space.
Write: Number the actions. Use verbs such as start, pass, turn and stop. Name the landmark at the turn. “Go over there” leaves too much for a reader to guess.
Test and revise: Ask a willing partner to move a paper token using only the note. Watch where they pause. Ask a neutral question, then change the note or map label. One successful trial does not prove that all readers can use it.
Teacher text notes: This is an informative procedural text with headings, a purpose, materials/preparation and ordered actions. The audience is a partner using a paper map. The text gives advice about testing directions, not a claim that a particular local map is correct. It is adult-read; headings may be navigated independently only if read at the learner's taught point.
Information text E — Why a bundle can help a count
Question: How can a class count a stack of reusable paper tags without losing track?
A useful group: Ten single tags can be placed in one labelled bundle. In a worked example, three bundles of ten and six singles show 36 tags: 30 + 6. Grouping lets a person count tens first, then ones.
Same total, new parts: Open one of those bundles and put its ten tags beside the six singles. There are now two bundles of ten and sixteen singles: 20 + 16. The total is still 36 because no tag was added or taken away.
Explain and check: A clear explanation tells which action changed the parts and why the whole stayed the same. Another person can check by counting the tags in each group. A label or drawing helps the reader follow the reason; it is not proof that every real stack was counted correctly.
Teacher text notes: This is an original explanatory text with a question, worked example, reason and check. Its arithmetic is exact; do not treat a correct oral explanation as independent decoding of the adult-read prose or as complete Year 2 mathematics evidence. Ask a learner which sentence gives the reason and which gives the example. The held-out Day 20 task uses a different total and lives in the teacher-only assessment.
Controlled practice protocol for every day
- Before showing a learner word or sentence line, check every spelling–sound link and any high-frequency word against that learner's school-taught sequence. The default lines reuse short vowels, common consonants and the opening fortnight's explicitly introduced
ai/ay,ee/ea; this is not a universal Year 2 order. Some children will need a prerequisite CVC line; others can use a locally reviewed next pattern. Never quietly label an untaught line decodable. - Say the target word normally, segment/blend left to right and confirm meaning after the word attempt. Use physical letters, large print, AAC or child-directed adult marks. Mark separately what was read from print, heard from an adult or copied. Do not insert a schwa in a consonant blend or infer a reading level from one line.
- Each learner day card has one default read line, one write target, an optional short sentence and three choice practices. If a sentence contains an untaught word, the adult reads that part; only the child's matched words are independent reading evidence. A successful read-aloud story retell remains listening evidence. Keep a different, unfamiliar line for a later recheck.
Rights: All three texts, fictional map names and word-line selection © NeuroForgeIO Pty Ltd 2026, CC BY 4.0. No external story, image or place record is bundled.