| LiteracyBigSteps builds on LiteracyLittleSteps and focuses on the essential skills for reading and spelling mastery. Students learn to use a variety of strategies to read such as blending sounds, learning sight words, improving fluency, speed and comprehension. LiteracyBigSteps is a series of carefully structured phases that teaches a child to read English. The series is unique to Literacy Circle, and customised to the needs of individual students. Entry point into the series is determined by individual diagnostic assessment. A FREE DOWNLOADABLE STORY IS NOW AVAILABLE. All decodable text has its origins in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). With the English Language having 44 (45) sounds and only 26 letters in the alphabet, several systems have evolved to identify these sounds by simplifying the IPA. These systems required the student to learn an additional phonetic alphabet to identify the sounds. Some of these are expressed in numbers, letters and others with symbols. That is, the student has to know that number ‘21’ or a ‘symbol’ refers to a particular sound, say the diphthong sound ‘er’. These symbols or numbers are known as diacritical marks. The result is that a word like “photograph” could have up to nine numbers, symbols or diacritics attached. The result is ‘symbolic confusion’ to the reader, making an already difficult task, even harder. LiteracyCircle’s decodable text minimises the use of ‘phonetic clues’ to make the sound ‘self evident’ within the text and thus avoiding symbolic confusion. The LiteracyBigSteps programme incorporates the following content - - teaches the main digraphs for blending and segmenting i.e. ‘ch’, ‘sh’, ‘th’, ‘ng’
- utilises a simple technique with colour coding to develop decoding skills
- students learn phonics in sound clusters (phonemically) that are colour coded for easier reading. The sounds are supported by age related stories that reinforce the use of the sounds. Sounds are also supported by illustrations that give important visual clues.
- develops sight vocabulary
- explicitly teaches sequentially blending each sound in the word as the primary strategy for reading unknown words
- includes word patterns to assist with spelling and encoding
- teaches comprehension of text through various comprehension styles
- enhances listening skills
- enhances handwriting
- develops oral presentation skills.
LiteracyBigSteps is a that is taught in the Australian LiteracyCircle centres, LiteracyCircle tutors, teaching resources and students materials for pre-schools or components can be purchased individually through the online shop . | 
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