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How Fitzroy Readers Supports the Victorian Phonics Plus Scope and Sequence for Foundation
The Victorian Department of Education’s Phonics Plus Scope and Sequence provides a structured approach to teaching early reading and spelling. Fitzroy Sounds & Alphabet Book, Fitzroy Readers, Big Books, and Word Skills 1-10 & 1x-10x, and the Teacher’s Guide are targeted resources that support Foundation literacy instruction.
Below, we explore how these resources address the ten learning areas set out in the Phonics Plus Scope and Sequence for Foundation.
Grapheme-phoneme correspondences for reading and spelling
Students need explicit instruction in the relationship between letters (graphemes) and their corresponding sounds (phonemes). Fitzroy Sounds introduces the 26 letters and their basic sounds, supported by audio files and songs. The Fitzroy Alphabet Book reinforces these connections through dedicated letter pages and exercises. Fitzroy Readers and Word Skills 1-10 & 1x-10xthen provide opportunities to practise regular sound-letter relationships in words, progressing from simple three-letter words to longer words.
Spelling patterns
As students develop their phonics knowledge, they begin learning common spelling patterns. Fitzroy Readers 1-10 & 1x-10x introduce patterns including qu, double consonants such as ff and ll, and ck. These are reinforced through targeted Word Skillsworksheets, giving students structured opportunities to practise and consolidate their knowledge of spelling patterns.
Phonemic awareness
Phonemic awareness involves recognising and working with the individual sounds in spoken words. The Fitzroy Teacher’s Guide includes Good Ears, Split Ears and Number Ears – simple oral games that develop these skills from the very beginning of Foundation. Children learn to blend sounds to recognise words, separate words into their individual sounds, and identify how many sounds a word contains.
Letter knowledge
Recognising letters and understanding their sounds go hand in hand with learning to write them. Fitzroy Sounds includes printable letter-writing sheets showing stroke order for lower- and upper-case letters. The Fitzroy Alphabet Book and Word Skills 1-10 worksheets provide further opportunities to practise letter recognition and reinforce letter-sound relationships.
High-frequency words
Foundation students encounter common irregular words as their reading develops. Fitzroy Readers refer to high-frequency irregular words as special words and introduce them progressively, with word lists included in each Reader. Word Skills reinforce these special words through dedicated worksheets, giving students repeated opportunities to practise high-frequency words, consolidate their knowledge and expand the bank of words they recognise confidently.
Morphemes
Morphemes are the smallest meaningful units of language, including word endings such as plurals with -s. Word Skills 1x–10x includes a worksheet practising plurals with -s, providing a starting point for exploring how word endings can change meaning.
Phonological awareness
Phonological awareness involves recognising sound patterns in spoken language. Every letter page in the Fitzroy Alphabet Book includes two sentences rich in examples of the focus letter-sound, such as “We picked a prickly pineapple” or “The king kept a kitchen kettle”. Read aloud by the teacher, with the focus sound emphasised, these sentences use alliteration to encourage children to listen for the target sound. The Word Skills also include activities for sound identification and rhyme.
Decodable texts
Students benefit from reading texts that allow them to apply the letter-sound relationships they have already learned.Fitzroy Readers 1-10 and 1x-10x are ideal decodables for Foundation students. These Readers combine their developing skills: blending letter-sounds to decode words, and early high-frequency words, in entertaining stories that help students apply their learning in context.
Fluency
Fluency develops through accurate reading and repeated practice. Fitzroy Readers support teacher-led choral reading, partner reading and individual reading aloud, helping students practise decoding, build accuracy and develop confidence. The Fitzroy Readersare also available as Big Books, featuring A3 full-colour pages and enlarged text for shared reading and discussion of storylines, illustrations, spelling patterns and high-frequency words.
Handwriting
Explicit handwriting instruction supports students to form letters correctly and develop the fine motor skills needed for writing. Fitzroy Soundsprovides letter-writing sheets with stroke order, while the Fitzroy Alphabet Book includes activities for fine motor development, lower- and upper-case letter formation, and tall, short and hanging letters. Word Skillsalso includes practice in spacing between words.
Together, these resources provide teachers with practical ways to support the development of early literacy skills across the ten learning areas of the Phonics Plus Scope and Sequence for Foundation.
Fitzroy Readers and the Phonics Plus Scope and Sequence: Alignment Documents
Explore our alignment documents for Foundation, Year 1 and Year 2 to see which Fitzroy Readers resources and worksheets support the Victorian Phonics Plus Scope and Sequence at each year level:
Fitzroy and Phonics Plus – Foundation
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The Fitzroy Program builds from systematic phonics into spelling, grammar, punctuation, comprehension, vocabulary, oral language and writing.
This blog looks at how the Fitzroy Readers and Word Skills work together to develop these skills progressively, from learning the basic letter-sounds through to increasingly complex English and writing skills.
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This blog looks at simple ways to develop these skills and introduce pre-writing activities without turning the preschool years into handwriting lessons.
