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Sound Waves lessons in action

Sound Waves Literacy 1/8/25

Whether you’re introducing Sound Waves Literacy to your classroom for the first time or simply looking to improve outcomes and get the most out of your resources, we’ve got you covered. These video demonstrations are designed to show you how Sound Waves lessons can be delivered in your classroom.

A typical Sound Waves week

Before we dive into the video demonstrations, let’s unpack a typical* Sound Waves week:

• Lesson 1 introduces the focus phoneme, grapheme and Focus Words.
• Lessons 2–4 teach focus concepts covering morphology, etymology and important vocabulary concepts.
• Friday is free for revision and remediation if required.

The weekly routine for Foundation and Year 1 also includes dedicated modelled reading lessons using the Sound Waves Decodable Readers.

*Note: The weekly structure in Foundation follows a different format, which is comprised of two phoneme–grapheme relationships and two focus concept lessons each week.

Phoneme–Grapheme Relationship lesson

In these lessons, you use the online teaching resources to introduce students to a focus phoneme, grapheme/s and Focus Words, before students complete the corresponding Student Book activities to consolidate their learning.

Here’s an example of a Phoneme–Grapheme Relationship lesson from Year 2, Unit 9 :

Focus Concept Lesson

In these lessons, you use the online teaching resources to teach your students specific focus concepts related to spelling patterns, morphology (prefixes, suffixes, and Greek and Latin roots), etymology and vocabulary. After each lesson, your students complete the corresponding Student Book activities to consolidate their learning.

Here’s an example of a Focus Concept lesson from Year 2, Unit 9 :

Early years reading lesson

These lessons are specific to Foundation and Year 1 and follow on directly from the Phoneme–Grapheme Relationship lesson. You use the corresponding projectable Decodable Reader to conduct a modelled read. After the modelled read, students engage in independent reading practice throughout the rest of the week using the class sets of Sound Waves Decodable Readers.

Here’s an example of a modelled read from a Year 1 Sound Waves Decodable Reader with the focus graphemes ir, ur, er:

Looking for more tips on using Sound Waves Literacy Online?

While the above demonstration videos offer great insight into running your Sound Waves lessons, there’s so much more to explore! Watch our online virtual tour to discover all the powerful features and tools available in the online teaching resources—and truly make the most of everything the program has to offer.

Take the next step and book a professional learning workshop for your school. In this workshop, you can dive deeper into the program’s resources and features, ask questions of our expert Education Consultants, and share best practices for using the resources to improve student outcomes.

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