The Lost Coin Reading guide

Phonics focus

Lesson 78: oi in the middle and oy at the end

Practise oi and oy in these words: oi: coin, points, point; oy: Roy, Joy, toy. Blend practice words using the focus spelling and compare short and long vowel examples where appropriate. 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 each selected vowel spelling as one unit. Vowel y in oy is red; consonant r in ar, or, er, ir and ur and consonant w in ow are blue. 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 play, pirates, beach, have, boat, gold, build, sand, island, near, puts, beside, gull, calls, overhead, When, look, down, gone, treasure, says, bucket, Roy’s, empty, shoe, No, Where, did, go, notices, round, mark, leads, side, their, Perhaps, rolled, follow, pile, shells, lifts, one, shell, tucked, underneath, into, hiding, place, brings, small, tin, put, safely, Now, chest, draws, map, time, know, where. Help with unfamiliar spellings within focus words too. This is supported shared reading; highlighting does not mean 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 toy pirate coin disappears while Roy and Joy watch a gull. After several silly searches, a track in the sand reveals where it rolled, and the discovery improves their pirate game.

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 oi and oy as the same vowel sound in coin and toy. Oi often occurs inside a word, while oy often occurs at the end. The selected names Roy and Joy support the pattern. Use a large toy coin rather than a small real coin; an adult supervises well above the waves. Shells used in the sand game are empty.