The Missing Farm Map Reading guide

Phonics focus

Lessons 71–72: ar and or in one-syllable words

Practise ar and or in these words: ar: Mark, farm, start, cart, part, scarf, barn; or: corner, torn, fork, corn. 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 Rose, have, map, Gran, planned, treasure, game, says, spread, low, bench, little, goat, trots, past, grabs, Stop, calls, drops, piece, gate, shuts, picks, too, muddy, read, How, find, now, asks, Let’s, look, what, still, then, path, walk, red, hangs, right, hand, post, spots, matching, door, way, follow, into, Under, box, basket, muffins, sit, share, gives, hay, its, pen, wanted, play, Next, time. 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 goat tears a treasure map. Mark and Rose use the remaining pictures and matching scarves to find Gran’s picnic surprise, then joke about making a hay map for the goat.

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 ar and or in the selected words. Corner and matching longer words extend the one-syllable focus; help with the other syllables. Read scarf as ar in the local accent. Gran supervises near animals; the goat stays behind a closed gate after dropping the map, and children do not chase or feed it paper.