The Lighthouse Message Reading guide

Phonics focus

Lessons 97–98: multisyllabic vowel-team words; base words and related forms

Practise longer vowel-team words and related word families in these words: seaside, lighthouse, raincoat, notebook, shower, yellow, sunshine; draw/drew/drawing/draws; paint/painted/painting; rain/rainy/raincoat. Read practice words in their meaningful parts and compare related forms. Use the programme lessons to introduce new sounds; the story is original.

Bold red vowel letters and bold blue consonant letters show the selected focus spellings. Read selected prefixes, suffixes, changed letters and review spellings in context. Vowel y is red. Apostrophes and punctuation remain dark. Discuss how meaningful word parts change meaning and spelling. Colour is a visual aid, and every letter in a spelling does not represent a separate sound. Read the guide note for each pattern. 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. Preview Helen, George, follow, puzzle, trail, stands, beyond, harbour, carries, keeps, first, clue, pocket, surprises, wait, under, shelter, until, stops, takes, wet, paper, become, difficult, read, my, shows, gate, Your, saved, game, helps, map, walk, along, safe, path, garden, finds, Beside, boat, Under, picture, next, picnic, basket, wooden, find, beneath, Dad’s, friend, waves, from, beside, Welcome, explorers, share, adds, tells, whole, adventure, now. Help with unfamiliar parts of focus words too. These are supported shared-reading narratives; not every word is independently decodable.

Before reading

Read three practice words and name the selected spelling. 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

A rain-soaked clue threatens Helen and George’s seaside puzzle walk. A saved drawing helps them reach a lighthouse garden and a surprise picnic.

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.

Read longer words in familiar chunks: sea/side, light/house, rain/coat, note/book, sun/shine. Draw/drew is an irregular word family: its spelling and vowel sound change. Paint remains visible in painted and painting; rain is related to rainy and raincoat. Select taught vowel teams and the chosen base/ending parts only. Highlight colours do not mean each letter has a separate sound. Dad supervises on fenced paths away from the water.