Articles & Videos
How does Sound Waves support differentiated instruction?
Categories
Subscribe to our newsletters
Receive teaching resources and tips, exclusive special offers, useful product information and more!
Back to Research & Case Studies articles & videos
How does Sound Waves support differentiated instruction?
Sound Waves 13/8/26
The aim of differentiation is to improve the knowledge and skills of every student regardless of their starting point.
Research shows that effective differentiation strategies adapt to the needs of students through content, process, product and learning environment.1.
Here are some of the ways Sound Waves resources can help you tailor your differentiation plan to support and extend your students.
Why are explicit teaching lessons important?
Sound Waves lessons are designed to be explicitly taught. Lessons include a clear learning intention, teacher explanation and modelling, opportunities to check for student understanding, and independent student practice. It is well established that explicit instruction is the most effective and efficient method for all students, particularly those requiring support.2. The consistent, whole-class, explicit instruction found in Sound Waves can also minimise the number of children who require intervention in the long term.
Where does remediation fit into the Sound Waves weekly routine?
In a typical week, you will explicitly teach Sound Waves lessons from Monday to Thursday, which gives you time for consolidation and remediation every Friday.
How can Focus Words and Extension Words be used?
Each set of Focus Words has been carefully curated to:
- feature the focus phoneme and common graphemes.
- typically progress from simple phoneme–grapheme relationships to those that are more complex and from single-syllable to multisyllabic words.
- include words that relate to the Focus Concepts in that unit.
You and your students will work with all of the Focus Words during your explicit teaching lessons and the associated Student Book activities.
When segmenting the Focus Words, either as an extra activity in Years 1–2 or as part of Lesson 1 and then independent practice in Years 3–6, you can direct some students to focus on fewer or more words depending on their individual abilities.
You can also direct advanced students to work with the more challenging Extension Words that have been selected for every unit.
How can Sound Waves Decodable Readers support and extend students?
Sound Waves Decodable Readers are available for Foundation and Year 1 students and were created with differentiation front of mind! The readers are available in three levels of difficulty, which ensures you can provide a positive and successful reading experience for your whole class. For every focus grapheme covered in the sequence there is a Support, Core or Extended book to choose from.
Support books are suited to students who need to build confidence with their reading and would benefit from starting with simpler, shorter texts.
Core books are ideal for the majority of students who can comfortably apply their new phoneme–grapheme knowledge to reading.
Extended books are suited to more advanced students who need more complex texts to maintain their motivation and engagement.
Are there Challenges in the Student Books?
In Years 3–6, most units in the Student Book contain a weekly Challenge activity. These extension activities require students to solve problems and apply their knowledge of previously learnt concepts to complete tasks such as word ladders, word searches and word chains. Tell your fast finishers to move on to the Challenge while the rest of the class continues to work through the lesson activities.
Are there dedicated Extension Tasks for each unit?
A printable Extension Task is included in every unit in Years 3–6* at Sound Waves Online. You can find them in the Games & Extra Activities section for each unit. These tasks require students to use and engage with the Focus and Extension Words for each unit in a variety of challenging ways. This includes completing crosswords, using codes to solve riddles and using their knowledge of morphemes to make new words.
*Extension Tasks are already available in Years 5–6, and will soon be available for Years 3–4 too! They will be released as part of the updated Sound Waves Word Study program for use in 2027.
Assessment
Sound Waves provides meaningful assessment resources that allow you to easily monitor student progress and respond to difficulties before any gaps in knowledge or skills compound.
Reading assessments: Foundation and Year 1 include Single Word Reading Assessments for both Regular Words and Special Words to help you assess each student’s ability to read words in their first few years of school. There are also follow-up suggestions to assist with targeted remediation where required.
Spelling assessments: Foundation includes a Phonemic Awareness Assessment and termly Spelling Assessments. Years 1–6 include Spelling Diagnostic Tests to help you identify students’ overall strengths and weaknesses. The Spelling Diagnostic Test includes a Remediation Resources pack to assist with targeted remediation where required.
Focus Concept assessments: Years 1–6 include twice termly Content Reviews to help you assess students’ long-term retention of previously learnt Focus Concepts.
How can interactive tools be tailored to suit student needs?
Have students log in to the student site to access interactive tools for each unit.
Students who require support will enjoy the simple Match Up and Unjumbler tools. They can also work with a selection of Focus Words when using the Read, Sort, Discuss or the Segmenting Tool.
Students who are ready to be extended can apply the Extension Word setting when using the Read, Sort, Discuss or the Segmenting Tool.
What printable resources are available for hands-on learners?
Board games, puzzles, cut and paste activities, Focus Word and Extension Word segmenting sheets, art templates and many more printable resources are available at Sound Waves Online.
Choose from the suite of printable resources to meet the needs of your class. For example, the Match Up: Focus Word Beginnings and Endings activities are ideal for students who need practice with Focus Words, but who are more engaged by hands-on activities.
How can games be used in different ways for differentiation?
Educational games are a great tool for differentiation because they engage all students. They are also versatile enough to be used in whole-class, small-group or one-on-one scenarios.
As games have such a valuable and flexible purpose in learning, Sound Waves offers a wealth of games to play throughout the week.
Small Group & Whole Class Games are included in the Games & Extra Activities section of every unit at Sound Waves Online. Many games include variations to challenge your extension students.
Playing Cards are available in Foundation Sound Icon and Standard Sound Box versions. These card games are a fun way to help reinforce phoneme–grapheme knowledge. Each pack includes instructions for a variety of games.
Why are charts and posters great additions to the classroom?
Both charts and posters act as a permanent reference, which makes them particularly useful for students who need extra support when spelling.
Students can refer to the Teaching Charts or their own Student Chart to help make grapheme choices when spelling unknown words.
Students can also refer to the prefix, suffix and root posters, which are available to download from Sound Waves Online to display in your classroom.
With all these resources and tools at your fingertips, you’ll be able to cater to the needs of your students in varied and effective ways. The result? Effective, engaging and inclusive lessons!
References
- Department of Education and Training, State of Victoria, Excellence in differentiation to increase student engagement and learning outcomes, viewed 30 July 2026, https://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/school/teachers/teachingresources/practice/professionalpracticenote16.pdf↩
- Kirschner, P, Sweller, J & Clark, R 2006, ‘Why minimal guidance during instruction does not work: An analysis of the failure of constructivist, discovery, problem-based, experiential, and inquiry-based teaching’, Educational Psychologist, vol. 41, no. 2, pp 75–86, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/27699659_Why_Minimal_Guidance_During_Instruction_Does_Not_Work_An_Analysis_of_the_Failure_of_Constructivist_Discovery_Problem-Based_Experiential_and_Inquiry-Based_Teaching↩