Fred’s Stuck Truck Reading guide

Phonics focus

Lessons 21–23: initial s-blends, l-blends and r-blends

Practise initial s-, l- and r-blends in these words: step, stop, spin, snap, skip; clap, clip, flag, flip, glad, plan, plum, blot; crab, drip, frog, grin, trap, trim, brag, crop. Review the consonant sounds needed for each word before reading. Use the programme lessons to introduce new sounds; the story is original.

Bold red vowels and bold blue consonants show the focus sounds. Help children with other letters and patterns in the word when needed. A highlighted letter does not mean the whole word is independently decodable.

Adult supported words

An adult reads the title with the child. Review the story vocabulary and provide help wherever needed: Fred, and, Grace, play, on, the, sand, fills, his, truck, gets, stuck, gives, it, a, tug, will, not, go, digs, by, tries, push, is, still, Let’s, try, plank, says, They, slip, under, wheels, rolls, up, grins, Now, we, can, again. Words containing later spellings, names and common words may be read together by an adult and child.

Before reading

Say the focus sounds. Blend three practice words. Look at the cover, name the setting and predict what might happen.

During reading

Read each sentence aloud together. Point to the highlighted letters, blend the focus words and reread naturally. Use Talk Together to discuss the character, problem, actions and ending.

Narrative structure

Fred’s toy truck gets stuck in beach sand. Tugging, digging and pushing do not free it. Grace suggests a plank, and the children make a ramp so their game can continue.

After reading

Invite the child to retell what happened first, what went wrong, what the character tried and how the story ended. Reread the book to build confidence.

Say each consonant sound in a blend, then blend the whole word: /s/ /t/ /o/ /p/. The two blue consonants still represent two sounds. Truck and stuck contain ck, which is taught later; adults help with that spelling. Grace, play, tries and try also need adult support. Do not teach the a in Grace or play as short a.