Language
Domain 4 covers the spoken-language foundation, the path to writing before reading, and the grammar and analysis materials. The exam tests sequence, the difference between indirect and direct preparation, and why encoding precedes decoding.
Spoken language first
- Enrichment: classified and three-part cards, objects in a basket, stories, poems, songs, and real conversation.
- Phonological awareness: I Spy isolates initial, then final, then medial sounds in spoken words, with no letters at first.
- Precise naming precedes all symbol work.
The writing path
- Indirect: practical life grip work, metal insets, sandpaper letters (tactile, cursive, low, left-to-right), sound games.
- Direct: sand tray, chalkboard, then the moveable alphabet. The child writes - builds words - before reading.
- Do not demand correct spelling while the child composes; phonetic invented spelling is expected and recorded, not corrected mid-word.
The reading path
Phonetic object and picture boxes, then the pink series (three-letter phonetic words), blue (blends and clusters), green (phonograms). Sight words follow.
Grammar and analysis
Function of words: article, noun, adjective, verb, preposition, adverb, pronoun, conjunction, interjection. Symbols include the large black triangle for the noun, small light-blue triangle for the article, red circle for the verb, green crescent for the preposition, gold keyhole for the interjection. Sentence analysis with charts comes after.
Worked example
A child knows fourteen letter sounds, builds 'sun' with the moveable alphabet, then hands it back asking what it says. Reasoning: this is the expected order - writing precedes reading. Read it aloud with her rather than insisting she decode it. If she knew no sounds, the alphabet should not have been presented; return to sandpaper letters and I Spy.
Traps that cost marks
- Teaching letter names and alphabet songs instead of sounds.
- Worksheets, tracing booklets, or apps replacing the moveable alphabet.
- Pushing reading before the child composes words.
- Correcting invented spelling, which stops the composing.
- Starting I Spy with letters rather than sounds.