a * a a-e ai ay air a e e ea ee ey y

ear eer er ar or ure a e i o er ir or ur

i y i i-e igh y o o oa o-e ow oi oy

oo u oo ew ue ure or a au aw oor ow u o

* * * * *

* **

* * * * *

******

ant

lure

hair square car banana bed bread

ear deer

tin pyramid frog swan coin toy

book bull cow house bus glovemoon screw glue

baby tape snail tray me beach tree key pony

fern shirt worm fur

nose boat note snowtiger kite light fly

fork ball sauce saw door

teacher collar measure zebra garden fossil lion circusdoctor

are ea

u

ou

a

ar

*z zz ze s se

f ff ph *c k ck ch q * bb * *

j g ge dge * *n kn

pp *

aA

bB

cC

dD

eE

fF

gG

hH

iI

jJ

kK

lL

mM

nN

oO

pP

qQ

rR

sS

tT

uU

vV

wW

xX

yY

zZ

r rr wr *

m mm mb * *

* tch *d dd g gg

l * ng n

*

*

tt **sh ti ch *

y *

s *s ss se c ce *

w wh u *v ve *th *th *

h *

bird rabbit cat kitten duck school queen chair watch dog ladder fish coffee dolphin gate egg

hand jam giant cage bridge leg bell mouse hammer lamb net dinner knee king ink

panda hippo rain cherry wrist sun dress horse city ice treasure chefshark station tap letter

thumb feather yawnvoice sleeve water wheel quilt zip fizz sneeze laser cheese

chb

nn

tp

ll

THRASS® PICTURECHARTIT IS AN ILLEGAL ACT TO PHOTOCOPY OR RE-CREATE THIS CHART©1998 DENYSE RITCHIE & ALAN DAVIES ISBN 978 1 876424 01 5

2012 - THE THRASS INSTITUTE (Australasia & Canada)www.thrass.com.au • enquiries@thrass.com.au

*z zz ze s se

f ff ph *c k ck ch q * bb * *

j g ge dge * *n kn

pp *

a A

b B

c C

d D

e E

f F

g G

h H

iI

j J

k K

l L

m M

n N

o O

p P

qQ

r R

s S

tT

u U

v V

w W

x X

y Y

z Z

r rr wr *

m mm mb * *

* tch *d dd g gg

l * ng n

*

*

tt **sh ti ch *

y *

s *s ss se c ce *

w wh u *v ve *th *th *

h *

bird rabbit cat kitten duck school queen chair watch dog ladder fish coffee dolphin gate egg

hand jam giant cage bridge leg bell mouse hammer lamb net dinner knee king ink

panda hippo rain cherry wrist sun dress horse city ice treasure chefshark station tap letter

thumb yawnvoice sleeve water wheel quilt zip fizz sneeze laser cheese

chb

nn

tp

ll

feather

THRASS® PICTURECHARTIT IS AN ILLEGAL ACT TO PHOTOCOPY OR RE-CREATE THIS CHART©1998 DENYSE RITCHIE & ALAN DAVIES ISBN 978 1 876424 01 52012 - THE THRASS INSTITUTE (Australasia & Canada) www.thrass.com.au • enquiries@thrass.com.au

i y

tin pyramid

* i i-e igh y *

tiger kite light fly

oi oy *

coin toy

o *

frog swan

a o oa o-e ow *

nose boat note snow

ear eer *

ear deer

er ir or ur *

fern shirt worm fur

er ar or ure a e i o u *

collar measure zebra garden fossil lion circusdoctorteacher

Code: T-102

oo u *

book bull

oo ew ue *

moon screw glue

u o *

bus glove

ow *

cow house

ouor a au aw oor *

fork ball sauce saw door

ure *

lure

a *

ant

air *

hair square

are a *

car banana

ar e *

bed bread

ea e ea ee ey y *

me beach tree key pony

a a-e ai ay *

baby tape snail tray

USING AND DISPLAYING YOUR THRASS PICTURECHART

This chart was designed as an explicit teaching chart as well as being a valuable reference. For those who know how to use it, the chart is a powerful and empowering tool. THRASS training course dates can be found on our website.

Our training will show how to use the chart effectively as a 'TEACHING' tool, not just a reference. The chart should always be placed as close to learners as possible so as to allow for easy reference and 'explicit' teaching. The chart should be accessible 'all day', 'every day' of the teaching year.

It is also important that all learners can see all of the boxes on the chart. For young learners we recommend a sitting area in front of the chart for 'explicit' teaching. Most importantly your chart should be positioned as in the picture below with the consonant sections above the vowel section.

The Full-Colour Chart and The Yellow ChartThe full-colour chart found on the rear of the yellow chart is for use with early learners in more informal learning environments such as pre-schools and play groups, where it is used for oral language skills as well as learning the basic geography of the chart, in preparation for more formal learning. Ironically in the context of learning to read and spell, the use of colour is actually a distraction to the eye. Colour distracts from identifying print, words and graphemes - the main focus of using the chart, which in turn makes the reading and spelling process more difficult. Alternatively, the abstract black and white pictures on the yellow chart create a prompt only and do not distract the eyes from the words and graphemes, so use this chart once you start formal work.

THE THRASS INSTITUTE Australasia & Canada

THE THRASS INSTITUTE Australasia & Canada

me beach

IT IS AN ILLEGAL ACT TO PHOTOCOPY OR RE-CREATE THIS CHART©1998 DENYSE RITCHIE & ALAN DAVIES ISBN 978 1 876424 02 2 • Code T-103

THE THRASS INSTITuTE (Australasia & Canada) 2012www.thrass.com.au • www.thrass.ca

pyramid

y

lure

ure *

me beach

IT IS AN ILLEGAL ACT TO PHOTOCOPY OR RE-CREATE THIS CHART©1998 DENYSE RITCHIE & ALAN DAVIES ISBN 978 1 876424 02 2 • Code T-103

THE THRASS INSTITuTE (Australasia & Canada) 2012www.thrass.com.au • www.thrass.ca

pyramid

y

lure

ure *

HOW TO USE THE CHART

THE NEUTRAL VOWEL BOX (SCHWA)This is the largest box on the chart and the most important for English speakers. The sound that this box represents is known commonly as the neutral vowel or the ‘schwa’. It is often not taught at all or is taught poorly, yet it is the most important speech sound we make and has the largest number of spelling choices by far. Without a complete knowledge of this sound and its multiple spelling choices, a learner’s spelling and reading potential are severely compromised.

The chart should always be displayed as above and permanently placed at a height and distance from learners so as to facilitate ‘explicit’ teaching.

If you use the above terminology correctly it is very easy to talk accurately about speech sounds and spelling choices.

‘THRASSING OUT’ WORDS USING THE CHARTUse the chart to read and spell words, including so-called ‘sight words’. Take for example the word was, which is often referred to as a ‘sight word’. This is how to teach it using the chart. It is done by using analogy.Brackets ( ) indicate a speech sound. Apostrophes ‘ ‘ indicate letter names.

The letter ‘w’ makes the speech sound ( w ) like in water.The letter ‘a’ makes the speech sound ( o ) like in swan.The letter ‘s’ makes the speech sound ( z ) like in laser.

Each phoneme box shows one or more spelling choices for a specific speech sound of English. For example, the graph ‘n’ in net and the digraphs ‘n’ ’n’ in dinner and ‘k’ ’n’ in knee, can all represent the same speech sound, ( n ). Not all spelling choices (including some common ones) are on the chart, as it was designed primarily as an explicit teaching chart, not just as a reference chart.

Apart from ‘word level’ work such as ‘THRASSING OUT’ words, the chart can be used for much of a teacher’s oral and written language development, including grammar activities such as introducing nouns, pronouns, adjectives and verbs.

GCA (GRAPHEME CATCH-ALL)The asterisk in each box denotes that there are or may be, more spelling choices possible for this particular speech sound.

BASIC TERMINOLOGYPhoneme: A speech sound.Grapheme: A spelling choice. Either a graph, digraph, trigraph or quadgraph.

Graph: A one-letter spelling choice e.g. (‘a’ as in cat)Digraph: A two-letter spelling choice e.g. (‘c’ ’h’ as in school)Trigraph: A three-letter spelling choice e.g. (‘a’ ‘r’ ‘e’ as in square)Quadgraph: A four-letter spelling choice e.g. (‘e’ ‘i’ ‘g’ ‘h’ in eight)

WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN THERE ISN’T A SPELLING CHOICE ON THE CHART?For example, the word said (another so-called sight word). Obviously there is no correct spelling choice available in the ( e ) phoneme box, that we can use to represent the ( e ) sound in this word. Therefore write the letters ‘a’ ‘i’ (the correct spelling choice), next to the asterisk in the ( e ) phoneme box.

A spelling choice that isn’t on the chart, is referred to as a GCA (Grapheme Catch-All). The same GCA (‘a’ ‘i’) could be used to ‘THRASS OUT’ other words such as again, where the digraph ‘a’ ‘i’ represents the phoneme ( e ).

The teaching, learning and application of GCAs is integral to THRASS. The PICTURECHART is the explicit teaching tool that plays a pivotal role in this. Automatic knowledge of the chart is vital to THRASS teaching.

Note: To avoid confusion for readers unfamiliar with the IPA, the most common phonic representation of a speech sound is used instead of IPA symbols.