Level 3 Codebreakers Week 5 Session 4 Level 3

Terminology:
grapheme, letter, digraph, sound/phoneme, segment, sound-talk, blend, tricky word

Learning Objectives Resources • ‘ur’ Level 3 Codebreakers Decodable

• To read and write words containing the
‘ur’ grapheme
• To read tricky word ‘they’
Revisit and Review
• Codebreakers Level 3 Log Book
• ‘ur’ Level 3 Codebreakers Mnemonic
Flashcards (as well as those
taught so far)
• Level 3 Codebreakers Sound
Mat (1 each)
• Level 3 Codebreakers Grapheme
Formation Rhyme Posters
• Level 3 Codebreakers Grapheme
Formation Mat
• Level 3 Codebreakers Tricky Word
(3 minutes) Flashcards
Word Cards
These can be found in the Level 3 Supporting
Resources Pack
• whiteboard and pen (1 each)
• timer
• different coloured pens or highlighters
• interesting writing tools, e.g. UV pens,
chalk pens to write on windows, a tablet
and stylus
• magnetic letters (optional)

(1 minute) ‘Break the code and say the sound.’ Hold up the grapheme side of the already taught Level 3 Codebreakers
Mnemonic Flashcards, one at a time, and encourage the children to say
the sound that each grapheme can make. Work through these rapidly.

Further support? Prompt the children by making the action for the sound
or showing them the mnemonic side of the card.

(1 minute) ‘Now, I am going to say a sound and you will write the
grapheme down on your whiteboard as quickly as you can. You can
use the sound mat/action/mnemonic to help you.’
Without letting the children see them, say the sounds on the flashcards
at a quick pace. Make sure you say the sound (phoneme) and not the
letter names. Ensure the children can see your mouth clearly so they can
make the link between the sounds they are hearing and the mouth shape/
tongue positioning.

Further support? Ask the child to point to the sounds on their Level 3
Codebreakers Sound Mat instead of writing them down.

(1 minute) ‘We are going to read some tricky words that we already Show the children a mix of the taught Level 3 Codebreakers Tricky Word
know the tricky parts for. These can’t be sounded out so we learn Flashcards. Hold up a card, identify the tricky part and say the word with
them. We’ll look for the tricky part and then read them together.’ the children. Repeat for the other words, going through the cards at a
quick pace. Prioritise any word cards that the children find difficult.

‘Now, it’s your turn.’ Hold up the word cards for the children to say by themselves. Keep it
quick and pacey. If the children haven’t read all of the words in the time,
leave them to come back to at another time.

Praise the children for their efforts and achievements.

Teach (6 minutes)

(1 minute) ‘To help us with our codebreaking, we are going to practise Show the mnemonic side of the ‘ur’ Level 3 Codebreakers Mnemonic
the sound ‘ur’ today. ‘Ur’ is a digraph - this means two letters that make Flashcard and say the /ur/ sound.
one sound. The letters that represent this sound are called ‘u’ and ‘r’
(pronounce as if you are saying the alphabet) and they look like this.’

‘We can use our mnemonic to help us remember this new grapheme.’

‘Let’s say the sound together: ur, ur, ur.’ Say the sound together three times.

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‘Write the grapheme in your log book.’ Encourage the children to write the grapheme in the ‘Today’s Code’ box
in their log book. Display the flashcard in a place where the children can
see it for the rest of the session.

If children need support with letter formation, model the letter formation
of the letters ‘u’ and ‘r’ using the Level 3 Codebreakers Grapheme
Formation Rhyme Posters.

‘Let’s find the grapheme in the back of our log book.’ Children to find the grapheme on the sound mat on the back page of
their log book.

(1 minute) ‘Now, we are going to segment and blend some words that Listen for children saying the individual sounds ‘f-ur’.
contain this new grapheme. Use your codebreaking skills to sound-
talk the word ‘fur’.’ Ensure the children are saying all of the sounds in the words and saying
the pure sounds.

‘Sound-talk the word ‘burn’.’ Listen for the individual sounds ‘b-ur-n’.

‘Sound-talk the word ‘hurt’.’ Listen for the individual sounds ‘h-ur-t’.

Further support? Model segmenting and sound-talking the word for the
child to hear.

(30 seconds) ‘This time, I am going to sound-talk the words and I want Pause for children to say the word ‘fur’.
you to use your codebreaking skills to blend them back together. Say
the word, ‘f-ur’.’

‘b-ur-n’ Pause for children to say the word ‘burn’.

‘h-ur-t’ Pause for children to say the word ‘hurt’.

Further support? Use bouncy and stretchy sounds to help the children
with blending the sounds back into the whole word.

(1 minute) ‘Let’s use our codebreaking skills to read some words Show the ‘ur’ Level 3 Codebreakers Decodable Word Cards.
which contain this new grapheme. I’ll go first.’

‘b-ur-p’ (pointing to the matching sound buttons as you say each sound) Hold up/display the card showing the word ‘burp’. Point to each sound
button and say the sounds.

‘Your turn.’ Indicate to the children for them to say the sounds as you point to the
sound buttons.

Repeat for the words ‘surf’ (s-ur-f) and ‘turnip’ (t-ur-n-i-p), using the
relevant word cards.

Further support? Remind children of the graphemes by using actions

and/or referring to the Level 3 Codebreakers Mnemonic Flashcards.

(1 minute) ‘Now, we will tap it on our watches as we say the sounds Tap for each phoneme in the word, e.g. ‘burp’ has 3 taps, ‘b’ - tap, ‘ur’ - tap,
in the words.’ ‘p’ - tap.

‘Surf’ also has 3 taps and ‘turnip’ has 5 taps.

‘We are going to count each phoneme as we sound-talk the word. We Sound-talk ‘burp’ (i.e. b-ur-p) and as you say each phoneme, count it on
can use this codebreaking strategy to help us in the classroom when a finger.
we aren’t sure how to spell a word.’
Repeat for ‘surf’.

Repeat for ‘turnip’.

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(1 minute) ‘Now, we are going use our codebreaker skills to practise
reading the new tricky word we learnt this week - ‘they’. Let’s say it in
a sentence.’
‘Which part of the word is tricky and doesn’t follow our normal phonics
code? Why is this part tricky?’
‘Write the word in your log book and colour code the tricky bit.’
(30 seconds) ‘Let’s put on our spy glasses and practise reading the
word ‘they’ again. I will show you the cards and you say the words. If
you see today’s tricky word, you can whisper it into your watch.’
Practise (5 minutes)
‘We are going to practise our new digraph and play ‘Pass the
Password’.’
‘Quietly pass along the word you hear and then write it on your
whiteboard.’
Apply (6 minutes)
‘You are going to use today’s codebreaking skills to write some words
in your log books. Let’s do the first word together, ‘curl’.’
‘urn’
‘hurt’
‘Crack today’s code by writing this secret message in your log book:
Burn the turnip.’
‘Let’s use today’s message to crack the secret code together.’
‘Today, you need the 2nd, 3rd and 4th letters. Write the letters in the
circles in your log book to get today’s code word.’
‘Well done, you’ve worked hard today! Colour the battery in your log
book to show how confident you are in your learning.’
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Show the children the ‘they’ card from the Level 3 Codebreakers Tricky
Word Flashcards. Children to use the tricky word in a spoken sentence.
Ask the children to identify which letters or graphemes aren’t as expected.
In this case, the ‘ey’ making an /ai/ sound.
Children may give different answers and it is important that they identify
what is difficult to them.
Children to write the word in their log book, using a different colour to
write the tricky part, e.g. they.
Mime making reading glasses with fingers (the activity can be done
without the glasses action). Mix the new tricky word card in with three of
the cards from the Revisit and Review section. Hold up the word cards,
one at a time, for the children to read and say. Bring the new tricky word to
the top of the pile several times so the children can practise recognising
and reading it.
Set the timer for this part of the session and keep to time.
Children sit in a circle or line. Quietly sound-talk one of the ‘ur’ Level
3 Codebreakers Decodable Word Cards to the first child. Ask them to
blend it together and whisper the word to the next child and so on. Once
the children have heard the word, they can write it on their whiteboards.
If all the children have written the correct word, they score a point. Award
extra points for correct spelling. Repeat for other words, as time allows.
Start with a different child each time. Can they beat their score from
today next time?
Further support? Encourage the children to sound-talk the word clearly
and refer to their log books to remind them of today’s code.
For children who would benefit from more multisensory games, you
could swap this game for one of the games listed here.
Model segmenting the words into phonemes (e.g. c-ur-l) and counting
the phonemes. Encourage the children to write the letters as you do. Say
the words one at a time and support the children with writing the words
down if necessary.
Further support? Remind them to use the mnemonic to help recall what
the new grapheme looks like and to check the ‘Today’s Code’ box in
their log book.
Make the words using magnetic letters.
Support the children with writing the sentence in their log book. Dictate
the sentence for the children to write. Repeat the sentence lots of times
and encourage them to count the number of words in the sentence (3).
Ask the children to give their spellings of the words in the sentence. Act
as a scribe to write the sentence on the whiteboard or some paper. Make
sure this shared sentence is accurate so that the children are able to
successfully crack the code.
Children to write the letters ‘u’, ‘r’ and ‘n’ in the circles at the bottom of the
page in their log books to find the secret code word (urn).
Celebrate the children’s efforts. Encourage them to think about how
much progress they’ve made today.
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 Level 3 Codebreakers Week 5 Session 4
Learning Objectives:
To read and write words containing the ‘ur’ grapheme

To read tricky word ‘they’

Assessment of today’s session:

Name

To read words containing ‘ur’.

To spell words containing ‘ur’.

To read tricky word ‘they’.

To spell ‘ur’ words in a sentence.

Observations from the session:

Use this space to record any additional observations, progress and achievements as well as areas to work on further or gaps in the children’s knowledge.

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