The Rainy Play Day Reading guide

Phonics focus

Lessons 61–62: ai and ay for long a

Practise ai and ay in these words: ai: rain, trail, wait, train, painted; ay: May, play, stay, tray, lay, way. 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 is red; consonant letters within spellings such as igh, ow and ew 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 Ben, garden, make, flat, stones, says, steps, over, tiny, gap, falls, wet, slippery, leave, go, under, porch, still, asks, looks, toy, animals, new, here, brings, long, sheet, paper, floor, draws, puts, join, game, stops, pond, their, ride, Outside, softly, found. Help with other unfamiliar words and with unselected spellings inside focus words. 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

Rain makes a garden stepping-stone game unsafe. May and Ben move to the porch and turn paper, toy animals and a train into a new trail 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.

Ai commonly appears within words; ay often occurs at the end. Read both as long a in these selected words. In vowel spellings such as ay, selected y is red because it forms part of the vowel spelling. Rainy in the title also has later vowel y; read the title together. Adults check surfaces and move play to a dry sheltered porch.