Learning is reinforced through activity books that are
differentiated for differing abilities.
In Stages 1 - 2 the rhyme patterns move very slowly to enable children with orthographic processing difficulties to develop awareness of orthographic patterns. Poor orthographic awareness is a cause of long-term spelling difficulties resulting in some children spelling words how they sound without the recognition that they have chosen the wrong letters e.g. "skool" for "school", "cote" for "coat", 'sed' for 'said '. It is important that teachers recognise the importance of developing orthographic knowledge for children at risk of long-term spelling difficulties.
From Stage 2 onwards it is important that teachers focus on developing morphemic knowledge (word meanings, suffixes, prefixes) for the rhyme patterns to extend the majority of the class.
High frequency words also provide differentiation. Adding curriculum words as instructed in the manual ensures that words that are taught will be required by children when writing independently.
The activities assist children in the unitisation of sounds, an essential strategy which reduces the burden on working memory.
Daily spellings are presented with differentiated follow-up activities designed to facilitate the integration of phonic, orthographic and morphemic strategies.
The programme can be used alongside a phoneme to grapheme strategy for reading.