The Lost Tent Peg Reading guide

Phonics focus

Lessons 24–25: final nd and nt; final mp and st

Practise final nd, nt, mp and st in these words: hand, sand, bend, sent, mint, pond, hunt, tent; lamp, jump, camp, damp, best, mist, lost. 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: Tom, and, Holly, make, a, tent, They, want, to, camp, in, the, woods, One, peg, is, lost, sags, at, side, We, need, that, says, hunt, by, lifts, bag, not, there, spots, lump, under, leaf, He, holds, puts, ground, sit, their, grin. 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

Tom and Holly make a woodland play tent, but one peg is missing. They search beside the tent and under a bag. Tom spots a lump beneath a leaf, finds the peg, and they finish their camp together.

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.

Keep the final two sounds audible: /t/ /e/ /n/ /t/, not ten. Blend from left to right, without an extra vowel after the final consonant. The ou in ground and the vowel in want need adult support. In New Zealand English, fast may have a long vowel, so it is not used as a short-a model.