ELSA Overview – Phase 1 to Phase 5 Phase 1*
Phase 2
Phase 3**
Foundation • Oral blending • Segmenting and blending with 23 new GPCs • 12 new harder to read and spell (HRS) words
Foundation • Oral blending • Segmenting and blending with 29 new GPCs • 32 new HRS words • Revision of Phase 2
Phase 4**
Phase 5 including alternatives and lesser-known GPCs
Beyond Phase 5
Foundation • Oral blending • No new GPCs • No new HRS words • Word structures – cvcc, ccvc, ccvcc, cccvc, cccvcc • Suffixes • Revision of Phase 2 and Phase 3
Foundation • Introduction to Phase 5 for reading • 20 new GPCs • 16 new HRS words Year 1 • Revision of previously taught Phase 5 GPCs • 51 new GPCs • 13 new HRS words • Alternative spellings for previously taught sounds • Oral blending • Revision of Phase 2, Phase 3 and Phase 4
Year 1 & Year 2 • With ELSA, phonics teaching does not stop at the end of Year 1, but continues as students move through the school, with links being made between their GPC knowledge and spelling • Revision of all previously taught GPCs for reading and spelling • Wider reading, spelling and writing curriculum
Early Years Seven aspects: • Environmental sounds • Instrumental sounds • Body percussion • Rhythm and rhyme • Alliteration • Voice sounds • Oral blending
*Phase 1 of Letters and Sounds (2007) can be used in Early Years settings before starting ELSA in Foundation and can still be used throughout the school day in Foundation. However, direct phonics teaching – the teaching of sounds, graphemes, word reading and vocabulary – must start from the very beginning of Foundation. **Phase 3 of ELSA covers more than just the Phase 3 graphemes – we introduce some challenge from Phase 4 (in the form of adjacent consonants) alongside the Phase 3 teaching to extend students’ sounding out and blending skills.
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