Three useful steps
- Ask the child for an interesting topic and welcome a private tiny beginning. Use existing paper/pencil or an approved keyboard; drawing, spoken/signed text and exact scribing are complete composition routes. No compulsory material handling, voice, vision or writing.
- Have today's short adult-read portion ready. Say its creator/type/purpose once in ordinary words: “This is our invented story”; “This page describes our saved drawing.” Use the exact verbal description when the picture is unavailable. Read in small portions, with an invitation before more explanation.
- For the four-minute print turn, use the paper selection recipe or local selector. Actually check code and familiar words taught, individual readiness, dialect/pronunciation and support. If unmatched, teach a prior local item or prepare an explicitly keyed alternative. Keep rich language and own composition available.
Preparation estimate: 5–8 minutes to select today's source portion and eligible print, unmeasured. Reuse one own page and the source pair; no elaborate daily evidence forms. For a group, one shared source reading plus each child's useful response works. Observe a few named components for a few children at a time; rotate across days. The two held checks can use another short sitting. Do not try to collect every component from every child in five minutes.
Ordinary resources
Story K / Text L, six ordinary broad aids, the child's own topic and the controlled pool. All are available without a printer/device by adult reading and a child's chosen record form. Source illustration J is an original digital model: a long boat at left, a tall mast and square flag, a cloud above the boat, and a broad arched bridge at right. No actual craft, material property, weather, travel or learner outcome is shown. Text L's statements about visible objects and positions are saved-graphic facts, not independent facts about a real place. Ordinary artwork is not a visual-acuity test.
The word-part examples pack/unpack/packs/packing and play/replay/plays/playing explain meaningful prefixes and suffixes. Read any unknown print for the child and record adult-read word-part reasoning separately. The selector uses explicit sound–spelling labels, including different s values, and reviews every constituent. A compound word such as raincoat combines two base words; it is not the same as a compound sentence. Optional oa/e-long/s-z patterns need actual prior local teaching; no next grapheme is prescribed. Pronunciations and familiar words are checked locally, never inferred from age.
Access and support
AAC (augmentative and alternative communication), sign, exact description, child-selected symbols, neutral scribing and keyboard are available. Use descriptions for source positions without requiring mental imagery. A welcomed fixed broad tactile analogue can represent named positions; it is a model, not an actual visual encounter. No compulsory touching, simultaneous adult touching, sound, body range, sensory experiment, public sharing or peer audience. Pause or change form when wanted. Existing assistive tools may be used with the help named.
Name actual contributions briefly: child chose words; adult read source / wrote exact dictated words / supplied spelling / drew from child direction. Independent reading, spelling and handwriting are sampled separately only when attempted. Copied print is copying; a proposed page is not made; an actual child-directed drawing is an artefact, not an independently written paragraph. Useful oral text is not dismissed as a plan.
Fresh and privacy
Hold E/F source facts, supplied geometry, new print words and worked answers apart from ordinary teaching. The teacher can privately check eligibility beforehand. Source comprehension and open composition can still be sampled when independent print is not yet taught. An independently matched reading component does not make an unmatched dictation component eligible. No fixed completion time, sentence quota, prescribed emotion, actual audience or drawing detail is required. Capture a first response before keyed coaching; use later teaching afterward.
Home/extras are self-contained invitations with no school timing, supply or return obligation. Use fictional names in new examples; do not collect addresses, accounts, identifying stories, audio or photos. School consent/privacy practice applies to optional real sharing. No First Nations practice, human artist importance, unverified translation or community authority is supplied. Local actual source additions require provenance, permission, access and meaning checked by the responsible adult.