The Blue Series Box 5, Picture cards and reading Lists

Box five is the 'mystery box'.  It contains folds of paper with a word written on them that the child is encourage to try and read to themselves.  My MCI tutor said that these should be exciting words that make the child laugh like 'stink' or themes of words such as animals or plants.  By this stage there will be a huge variety of words that you can use as the child will have experienced all of boxes one to four already.  The other option is to have blank pieces of paper and to write a word on to it as you sit with the child.  When I did this with Eve during the pink series, I was surprised by her taking over and writing words for me to decipher!

Picture cards are an A4 sheet with... yes you guessed it.... pictures on them!!!! On the back is fixed an envelope with the words inside it and the child matches them to the correct picture after reading them.  Some new ideas to introduce here could be compound words and the 'schwa vowel'.

Compound words - these are a combination of two words to make one.  Both parts of the word should be phonetically decodable and contain blends that the child can recognise.
windmill
handbag
lipstick
zigzag
cobweb
dustbin
nutmeg
milkman
pumpkin
wigwam
rabbit
lollipop

Schwa vowel  - these are vowels that because of the peculiarities of the English language, all sound like 'u' regardless of what they actually are.  There is no hard and fast grammatical rule for the child to learn, s/he just needs experience in recognising them!
lemon
pedal
signal
petal
camel
metal
sandal
medal
infant
button
panda

reading lists - These can be made up of ten words each. They usually have a picture at the top with the first word on the list corresponding to that picture, but they can just be lists of words.  They can be used to reinforce patterns at first, for example words all beginning with 'cl' or all ending in 'st'.  As the child becomes more experienced, the words can be jumbled up more.  Take words from all of the lists for boxes one to five to make up the reading lists (the ones in blue won't have been used before as there isn't a picture to go with them).

Blue Series Box 4

OK, this is where the blue series seems to explode as my folders reccommend that blue box four contains triple blends, double consonants and consonant digraphs.  In a nursery you could have any number of 'box fours' on the shelf but at home that isn't practical so I am mulling over solutions to this to have on my daughter's literacy shelf! Box four has pictures and words to read and match to them, taking the child a further step towards the abstract.

From the top then, I will tackle consonant digraphs first, followed by double consonants and rounded up with triple blends!

nk 
bank blank blink
clank
dank dunk drank drink
flank
lank
plank plink plonk plunk (love these words!!!!
sink sank skunk
tank trunk
wink

ng
bang
cling
dung
fang
gang gong
hang
king
long lung
pong prong
rang rung
sang song swing
twang

ch
chop chug chum chimp chink chip (these can be introduced first)
check chick chuff chill(added once child has been introduced to 'ck', 'ff' 'll')

sh
dish ash ship shop fish shin shaft shank shed shelf shift brush
shell (added once child introduced to 'll')


th
think thumb thing froth them this that moth thin thank
thick (added once introduced to 'ck')

Double consonants
ck - lock sock frock sack brick truck kick pack duck block rock track flock flick pluck stuck trick
ll - bell bull dell doll dill dull mill sill till well will yell drill frill grill krill smell swell skull spell
ss - bass mass moss pass brass bless bliss cress grass floss dress kiss
ff - cliff sniff stiff bluff cuff buff fluff muff off puff scuff sniff scoff stuff stiff
zz - buzz frizz fizz jazz fuzz

Triple Blends
spr - spring sprig sprint
tch - itch ditch hatch match latch stitch switch catch pitch notch batch
str - strap strip string stretch
spl - splash splosh splat split
scr - scrub scratch scrap

Blue Series Box 3 - Initial and Final Blends

7To my knowledge, the idea of a 'pink, blue and green series' came about in America.  Maria Montessori developed the Movable alphabet and the sandpaper letters.  Some Montessorians use a different scheme of materials to support children to read and write, and there are many many programmes of phonetic learning available the world over.  What is important is that you choose a method and stick to it as they all introduce the different concepts in a slightly different order.  I looked very closely at the 'letters and sounds' programme advocated by the Department for Education here in the UK, but whilst the pre-literacy section is really great, the rest appeared very complicated and I decided that the pink, blue and green series, together with the grammar materials was suitable so here I am!

Box three has objects and words in..... it is the first time that the child will read the words rather than build them her/himself. I have highlighted those that could be represented with an object or picture.  To be honest there will be pictures in this box as I don't think that I can represent enough with objects!  You can of course include any of the words from the box one and two lists in here to mix things up! Words with double blends are:
bland blend blimp blunt
clamp crisp
draft drift
flint frisk frond frost
glint glitz grand
plant plump print
scant swift slump spend stamp stump
twang twist

Blue Series Box 2 - Final Blends

Here is the list of the final blend words that I will rotate through blue box two.  As before, the ones highlighted in orange will be in the box, and the ones in blue can be used in word lists, sentence strips and books. I rotate according to my daughter, usually leaving in one or two familiar ones as I put in some new ones.  I have six objects or pictures in each box. Box two traditionally has just pictures in.  As the child builds the words with the movable alphabet (MA) s/he can see a pattern emerge (you may need to point it out!).  Box one will have the pattern of two pink letters, one blue, one pink. Box two will have the pattern of one pink letter, one blue letter then two pink.  For example crab will be crab and nest will be nest. This helps the child to build up a mental image of the word patterns and build confidence.  The end-goal of all phonetic programmes is for the child to sight read and instinctively 'know' what the word is, as most adults do.  By gradually building difficulty the child builds a structure of written language from which they will eventually read fluently.

band belt bent bend best bump bust
camp cask cast cusp colt cost
daft damp dent dust
fact fast film fist fond
gasp golf gulf gust
hand hasp hemp hilt hint hump hunt husk
jump jest jolt just
kelp
lamp land left lift limp long lost lump
mask mast melt meld mend milk mint minx mist
nest next
pant past pink pond
raft ramp rest rust rump
sand sift silk soft
test tilt tuft tusk
vast vest vent volt
weft west wept wind wilt wisp
zest zinc

Blue series Box 1 - Initial Blends

You may be wondering why I have decided to make the blue series myself as there are quite a few versions available either free or to purchase.  The reasons are twofold; firstly because nearly every one that I've looked at has non-phonetic words in such as st-ar-t, with the sound 'ar' which the children won't be familiar with yet, and secondly because words hold different meanings for different people, and many American versions available contain unsuitable words.

Traditionally 'box one' of the literacy series contains only objects for the child to handle and then word build with the movable alphabet (MA) but it isn't always possible to have a miniature for everything so I will include a mix where needed.  In the following list I have highlighted words in orange that I can find an object or picture for.  The other words I will include on word lists and in reading books later on.

blob brim
clan clam clap clip clog club crib crab crag crux clef
drab drag drop drip drum
flag flex flip flop flan flap flat flax frog 
Glen glum grip grid Gran grab grin grim grit grub
plop plug plum plus pram
scab skid skin skip slab slam slap sled slip smog snap snip step swig stag swim stop slug spin
trot trip trap twig twin trim tram

I will order some miniatures from Montessori Enterprises, whom I have ordered from in the past and are an excellent and reliable company.

Blue Series - Montessori Literacy

I should start by briefly rounding up the pink series for those readers unfamiliar with Montessori.  The pink series is the first step in reading and writing for a child following the literacy curriculum. After the child is familiar with the sandpaper letters and knows perhaps 15-18 letters of the alphabet then s/he can begin working with the movable alphabet (MA) and the pink boxes.  The boxes step up gently to gradually introduce the child to using the MA to build words then to read them, first using visual clues and then just reading letters.  After that come reading lists, phrases, sentences and then books.  Throughout the pink series, all of the words have the same pattern of consonant-vowel-consonant or CVC, such as c-a-t, d-o-g, t-a-p, and so on.  They are all phonetically decodable, meaning that all of the letters used retain their phonetic sound that the child recognises. Once the child has progressed as far as reading phrases and sentences you can consider introducing the blue series.

The blue series is still phonetically decodable but introduces new concepts.  These are:

• Double blends whether initial such as crab cr-a-b or final blends such as ramp r-a-mp.
• Triple blends such as sprig spr-i-g
• Double consonants such as ll, ss.
• Consonant digraphs (ng, ch, sh, th, nk) - these are different to double blends because the sounds of the consonants change when in a digraph.
• Consonant trigraphs such as 'tch'
• Schwa vowel - these are where the vowel sound changes on the end of a word - examples are lemon (pronounced lem-un), infant (pronounced inf-un-t), camel (pronounced cam-ul).

I am training with MCI London and am organising my blue series according to their suggestion:

• Box one - initial double blends.
• Box two - Final blends.
• Box three - assortment of initial blends, final blends and both together (e.g. st-a-mp).
• Box four - introduce triple blends, double consonants and consonant digraphs.
• Box five - themes and exciting words to read like 'stink'!!
• picture cards - reinforce particular blends such as all 'ng' words, reinforce 'schwa' vowel, introduce compound words like 'wigwam' and 'dustbin'.
• Blue lists - reinforce particular blends but bring compound words and schwa vowels in amongst other concepts already introduced.

During the blue series, you should continue to introduce sight words from the 100 most frequent words used in the English language.  I downloaded mine from twinkl, I use cursive with my girls, they have sassoon versions too.  MCI also suggests that you make and use a spelling book with the children where they can  write words that they wish to remember.  My daughter isn't yet at the writing stage in that way so I will hang fire on that one as I want her to discover it for herself when she is ready.

Later will post lists of the words that are suitable to use for each section and describe how I am organising the materials on a practical level.