InitiaLit
What is it?
InitiaLit is a literacy program that has been developed by MultiLit for students first, second and third year of formal schooling. The program, beginning with InitiaLit-F (Transition), teaches students how to read and spell through research-based teaching. The lessons are sequential and explicitly teaches that words are made up of sounds and sounds are represented by letters. These are taught in codes, containing 4 to 5 sounds in one set/level. Students learn to decode words, by breaking apart the word into its phonemes, then blend it together to read. When spelling, they represent the phoneme with the grapheme to form the word.
InitiaLit-F first develops students phonological awareness to be able to hear and manipulate sounds in words, before learning the direct relationship between sounds and letters. This year focuses on building single-phoneme knowledge and some digraph sounds. Students learn a selection of Tricky words, words unable to be decoded, to assist students build reading fluency. In conjunction with the lessons, are storybook sessions. These have a focus picture book and focus vocabulary. Students develop comprehension skills through retell and responding to questions, as well as defining and using focus vocabulary words in context.
InitiaLit-1 (Year 1), follows the same sequence as InitiaLit-F, however, it extends students diagraph and trigraph knowledge. Students learn to hear and read short and long vowel sounds. They begin to learn spelling rules, for example when to use ‘ck’, and further their Tricky word knowledge. They also learn grammar features such as adjectives and suffixes. Students expand on storybook sessions through a range of texts types, including picture books and poems, to develop comprehension skills and responses to texts.
InitiaLit-2 (Year 2) consolidates InitiaLit-F and InitiaLit-1. Lessons are made up of comprehension and fluency, spelling, grammar and vocabulary. Students will no longer be exposed to new Tricky Words, rather they learn to spell Tricky Words for writing and practise them to help develop their fluency in reading. Storybook sessions continue to be implemented to develop oral language skills and focus vocabulary words. They extend their comprehension into the themes of the stories used and how it relates to their own worlds.
Reading Levels, Tricky Words and Benchmarks
InitiaLit is separated into the below reading levels/sets. Sets 1 - 10 are the Transition levels/sets.
| Set | Code | Set | Code | ||||||||||
| 1 | m, s, t, a, p, i, f, r | 9 | cvcc, ccvc words | ||||||||||
| 2 | o, c, d, h | 10 | Foundation review | ||||||||||
| 3 | e, n, g, l | 11 | ai/ay, ee/ea, oa/ow, igh/y, ew/ue | ||||||||||
| 4 | k, u, j, b | 12 | ar, or/ore, er/ir/ur, ear/eer, air/are | ||||||||||
| 5 | w, ck, ll, ff, ss | 13 | a_e, i_e, e_e, o_e, u_e | ||||||||||
| 6 | sh, qu, ee, z/zz | 14 | ou/ow, au/aw, oi/oy | ||||||||||
| 7 | ch, v, x, y | 15 | Vowel digraph review | ||||||||||
| 8 | wh, th, oo, ng, ay | 16 | Year 1 review |
Tricky words are organised into the below sets. Please note, the beginning sets in Year 1 review some of the Transition Tricky words. Sets 1 - 10 are the Transition sets.
| Set | Words | Set | Words | Set | Words | |||||||||||||||
| 1 | I, the, my, a, is | 10 | what, where, want, come, some | 19 | two, three, four, why, house, because | |||||||||||||||
| 2 | was, you, to, they, that | 11 | down, out, for, or | 20 | before, after, these, work, baby, children | |||||||||||||||
| 3 | said, are, he, she, me, we, be | 12 | should, would, could | 21 | fast, last, I’m, about, ask, our | |||||||||||||||
| 4 | were, has, look, one | 13 | said, are, her, was, you, very | 22 | kind, find, thought, only, great, their | |||||||||||||||
| 5 | his, her, them, there | 14 | put, have, were, then, there, they | 23 | can’t, don’t, didn’t, shouldn’t, shouldn’t, couldn’t | |||||||||||||||
| 6 | have, of, here, with | 15 | here, what, want, some, where, should, would, could | 24 | always, animal, open, other, another, water | |||||||||||||||
| 7 | all, call, tall, ball, little | 16 | saw, friend, school, your, again, home | 25 | walk, talk, know, laugh, people, every | |||||||||||||||
| 8 | go, so, no, this, then | 17 | who, many, any, love, over, says | |||||||||||||||||
| 9 | put, as, do, like, very | 18 | mother, brother, father, sister, cousin, family | |||||||||||||||||
Benchmarks
Transition:
At the end of Semester 1, students are expected to be at Set 3 and Tricky words Set 3.
At the end of Semester 2, students are expected to be at Set 9 and Tricky words Set 12.
Year 1:
At the end of Semester 1, students are expected to be at Set 11 and Tricky words Set 20.
At the end of Semester 2, students are expected to be at Set 16 and Tricky words Set 25.
How Do We Test InitiaLit?
At the beginning of the academic year, all students complete a screener assessment informing the classroom teacher of retained/current phonics knowledge if the student. The teacher uses this assessment when differentiating for students at the beginning of the year.
Throughout the year, Transitions engage with a short, 5–10-minute assessment after each code, known as Progress Monitoring. This informs the teacher if they can read and spell the individual sounds taught, read them in words, spell them in words and tricky word knowledge. In addition, students all receive tricky word testing. These test measures inform the teacher what readers students receive and Tricky word lists in their homework folders.
In Year 1, students engage in termly testing, known as Cumulative Review. This assesses the term’s literacy content and focuses on students’ ability to read a passage, comprehend the passage and spell words using taught graphemes. Students continue to be tested on Tricky word knowledge, continuing from where they ended in Transition. If students finish their Tricky word lists, they progress to spelling of Tricky words. These test measures inform the teacher what readers students receive and Tricky word lists in their homework folders.
Literacy Pro Program
Students initially complete the online Lexile test which determines their Lexile Reading Measure. The score they achieve indicates the level of reading which when matched to a book of the same or similar level, the students would competently be able to read and comprehend. Students are guided towards texts that will challenge but not frustrate them. The Lexile test is repeated in weeks 1 and 6 of each term which enables both teachers and students to track the student’s reading progress.
After completing the Lexile Test, Literacy Pro generates a list of suggested books to read based on their reading level and interests. Students can choose to read a book from this list or select a different book from the Lexile section of our School Library within their Lexile range.
Assessment and Quizzes
Once students have finished reading their book they take an online multiple choice comprehension quiz on Literacy Pro consisting of 10 questions about the book they have just read. Students must score at least 7/10 on the quiz in order to pass the book and are then rewarded with points, providing them with greater motivation to continue to read independently. It is expected that students will read at least one book every 2 weeks or 5 a term and quizzes are to be completed after each book is read. Quizzes can be completed either at school or at home but Lexile tests must be completed at school, as it is crucial that the Lexile Reading Measure reflects the student’s independent reading ability. Our school has a special Literacy Pro Page to which only Larrakeyah Primary students can log into and parents are encouraged to monitor their child’s progress. Please note that all quizzes won't be attached to novels, quizzes will have a 'Q' on the front.
