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Playing with Letters
Home of TICK - Structured Phonics Programme for NZ Students

WELCOME TO TICK

TICK is a structured synthetic phonics programme tailored for the New Zealand accent. With a legacy of 15+ years, we are dedicated to providing an effective literacy curriculum.

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Our programme comprises five comprehensive stages, meticulously covering all English language sounds, including unique Kiwi variations, while carefully and logically introducing graphemes. Our foremost aim has been to make this programme accessible to everyone, whether you are a parent, tutor, or teacher. To achieve this, we have provided a wealth of ready-to-use resources, including detailed instructions, assessments, student reading materials, and spelling word lists.

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One of TICK's unique features is strategically placed 'Pauses' within each stage. These 'Pauses' offer essential breaks, aiding children in building confidence and fluency before progressing to the next level of knowledge. Another crucial aspect is our emphasis on preloading. Often, children are expected to apply new grapheme knowledge immediately after learning, causing unnecessary cognitive load. Our preloading approach ensures new grapheme knowledge is taught separately, leading to significant progress in children's learning.

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Each of the TICK lessons has been thoughtfully designed to seamlessly introduce new content and review previously taught concepts.

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We recommend that you read more about the content of our stages - Stage 1 for the absolute beginner or Stage 2 as the perfect launching pad for your remedial student.

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We sincerely hope you find our programme as enjoyable and valuable as we do.

Essential Components of TICK

Student Cards 

These cards are the heart of the programme and include words to be read, focusing on specific graphemes while reviewing previously learnt knowledge. The cards also feature known heart words and three decodable sentences for practice.

Decodable words and sentences - part of the TICK Structured Phonics Programme
Teaching Cards

Our Teaching Cards provide educators with the tools they need for effective instruction. They contain valuable teaching information, spelling words (including essential words), focus heart word(s), sentences for dictation, and corresponding worksheet references.

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Teaching cards containing valuable teaching information for the TICK Structured Synthetic Phonics Programme for New Zealanders

Additional Components

Alongside the essential components, TICK offers a range of additional cards, games and resources that enhance our students' learning experiences.

Resources

Freely available complementary resources including Phoneme, Syllable Cards, and Code Charts.

Free resources suitable for use with any Structured Literacy programme

Games

TICK also offers a wide range of entertaining and educational games.

Fun and educational games suitable for use within a Structured Literacy programme
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TICK - Structured Synthetic Phonics Programme for New Zealand Students
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We're on a mission to improve children's literacy outcomes in Aotearoa/New Zealand and beyond one child at a time. We specialise in remedial and extension work for primary-aged children. 

Copyright © 2024 Synthetic Phonics NZ

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