Can you help me with the longer words in the Reception, Spring 2 lessons, like lemon, rabbit and bucket?

Great question, which we see quite a lot at this time of year. Firstly, don’t be afraid of these words, containing the pesky (but oh-so-common) schwa!

Use this ‘tweak it’ approach to help the children read the words:

Say: We are going to read a word with a schwa in it. The schwa is an ‘uh’ sound.

Show the word (for example, carrot).

Cover the second part of the word (so the card shows ‘carr’).

If appropriate, ask the children to identify the digraph/trigraph in the word.

Sound-talk and then blend the first part of the word using the point-and-sweep actions (c-a-rr carr).

Reveal the second part of the word (‘ot’) and repeat the step above (o-t ot).

Show the whole word. Sweep beneath as the children blend to read the whole word with pure sounds (c-a-rr-o-t).

Say: We need to tweak it.

Sweep beneath the word as you read it (c-a-rr-uh-t).

Say the word in context. (A carrot is a yummy, orange vegetable.)

Have some fun with these words! In our experience, children love to change their voices as they ‘tweak it’!"