Structured Literacy

ŌHAU School kaiako are experienced in teaching foundation reading and writing through a Structured Literacy approach. We use the Little Learners Love Literacy® (LLLL) decodable texts and resources in our junior classrooms. This is a research-based, explicit, and systematic way of teaching the important components of early literacy skills. The LLLL book stages support and build on the sounds we teach in the order we teach them. Children predominantly focus on the Alphabetic Code in the first two years of school and are learning to hear, decode (read), encode (write), and blend these sounds at letter, word, and sentence level. This structured approach also includes phonological awareness (ability to recognise and manipulate the spoken parts of words, including syllables, onset-rime, and sounds), phonemic awareness (identifying and manipulating individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words), spelling, and letter formation. At around Stage 6 ākonga begin to read other text types during their reading lessons too.

Children love to follow the familiar characters on new adventures through the series of books. The Little Learners decodable books are delightful stories children can read using their phonics knowledge: the letters and sounds that they have been explicitly taught using the Little Learners Love Literacy® sequence. These decodable books include ‘Heart Words’ which are high-frequency words that children can not decode yet and need to learn by heart to read them. These words will become decodable in the later stages of the books when children have more knowledge of the alphabetic code. A few Heart Words will not become decodable as they use irregular or uncommon spelling patterns.

The Structured Literacy approach shifts to a spelling focus for ākonga in our senior classrooms. Kaiako explicitly teach a sequenced, systematic spelling programme using Liz Kane’s ‘The Code’ as the resource. These lessons include different spelling patterns that make the same sound, morphology (how words are formed and the meaning of their parts), and syllable patterns. Students are learning to hear, decode (read), and encode (write) these complex sounds at letter, word, and sentence level. This component of their rich ‘reading to learn’ literacy programme utilises assessments for placing learners on particular lists so that they can learn the patterns they need to enhance their reading and writing skills.