About EdShed

Primarily developed with Grade R in mind, this Stage focuses on developing vital pre-reading, speaking and listening skills. It is divided into nine repeating and overlapping 'Elements'. Each element has four weeks of planning available for it. Term 1 content is consolidated in Term 3 and Term 2 content is consolidated in Term 4. The repetition of the nine 'Elements' ensures that a solid phonemic foundation is established.

Stage 1 begins by introducing the 26 letters of the alphabet (including capital letters) and linking them to a sound (phoneme). It also introduces simple digraphs - where two letters represent one sound - and the concept of choosing the best grapheme (letter[s]) to represent the phoneme (sound) in certain words.

It progresses on to more complex digraphs and trigraphs (three letters representing one sound) so that by the end of the Stage, children will have covered at least one grapheme for every phoneme (except for /zh/).

Stage 1 also covers simple word families and consonant blends in line with CAPS guidance.

Stage 2 begins with a recap of word families and consonant digraphs, in line with CAPS documentation. There are also several other CAPS based focus weeks on three letter consonant blends, word families and onset and rime. Stage 2 focuses on introducing alternative graphemes for known phonemes, for example, 'oe' for /oa/ when students have already covered 'oa' for /oa/ in Stage 1.

Term 4 begins by introducing the final phoneme, /zh/, and the various ways it can be represented. It then moves on to recapping split digraphs (which are taught in Term 2) and other known graphemes for long vowel sounds. Stage 2 ends by looking at '-ly' and -ies' suffixes.

The main focus of Stage 3 is looking at less common grapheme variations for known phonemes and comparing them to those already taught in previous Stages. This is grouped by phoneme to make it easier to follow. Stage 3 is where phonemic knowledge begins to become spelling skills. Time is built in for educators to 'Review and Assess' children's phonemic knowledge. It also contains other important CAPS objectives, such as recapping rhyming, blending and segmenting, alphabetical order, vowels and consonants and the concept of 'same spelling different sound'. In Term 4, the focus turns to spelling strategies and 'unstressed vowels', 'synonyms and antonyms' and prefixes and suffixes are taught.

Stage 4 begins by recapping Common Exception Words (CEWs), including abbreviations and words with apostrophes for contraction.

In line with CAPS objectives, Stage 4 mainly focuses on teaching spelling patterns, using previously taught consonant blends to aid the children's understanding.

As Stage 4 continues, children are introduced to various prefixes and suffixes, learning how they affect each base word. The end of each term has a 'Review and Assess' week designed to allow educators' time to gauge the children's understanding of the words and patterns learned that term.

Stage 5 begins with a recap of spelling patterns learned in Stage 4. Again, in line with CAPS documentation, this stage then teaches homophones, prefixes, suffixes and recaps some alternative graphemes for known phonemes, for example, 'aw' for /or/ and 'ch' for /sh/.

Stage 5 has a 'Review and Assess' week each term and also has four weeks of revision lessons designed to assist and assess the children's retrieval of taught patterns.

Stage 6 begins with a recap of spelling patterns learned in Stage 5. Stage 6 teaches more complex words and provides opportunities for the children to showcase their knowledge through independent activities. Homophones and words with 'silent' letters are also taught at Stage 6.

There is also a greater focus on grammar in Stage 6, with lessons on using adverbs of time and manner. The end of each term has a 'Review and Assess' week designed to allow educators time to gauge the children's understanding of the words and patterns learned that term.