MERLIN & ENZO · KS1 FOUNDATIONS · STARTER PRACTICE
A picture. Its sounds. A word.
Start with familiar objects and already-taught English letter sounds. Practise cat, hat, sun, dog, pig and bed before widening the word bank. Backgrounds do not change the learning sequence.
Grown-up setup · language and readiness
Recognising the object and practising a chosen word are different tasks. Accept a valid alternative name—such as chicken for a hen—then explain which word this round is practising. Pictures stay identical through the stages. Switching illustration/photo preserves the current round.
Recorded child-facing sounds are unavailable while listening review is pending. A fluent adult may lead the trial. Do not pronounce letter names or add “uh” to consonants. This phase uses British English. Other language mappings are retained as unpublished planning drafts.
Stages change at the next round. Readiness is an adult judgement across examples, not inferred from a correct tap or speed. Progress lasts only in this open page, separately by word. No saved learner profile.
MERLIN
ENZOBlend from left to right.
The grown-up checks the spoken answer. No microphone or speech grading.
KS1 first · what this pilot covers
This is a small Year 1 word-reading practice activity, not a complete KS1 course or an official word list. Starter words are cat, hat, sun, dog, pig and bed; a grown-up confirms the child knows each word and its taught sounds.
- Now: familiar object naming, taught single-letter sounds, blending and reading these starter words.
- Next within KS1: more taught sound correspondences and digraphs, spelling, and reading connected text matched to the phonics programme.
- Also needed for KS1 coverage: comprehension and discussion, vocabulary, handwriting, sentence writing, punctuation, and Year 2 consolidation. These are not yet implemented here.
Log/wood/stick, cab/taxi, hen/chicken and cap/hat naming contrasts are removed from this starter bank. They may be introduced deliberately in later vocabulary work, rather than used as guessing tests.
What still needs review?
- Native/fluent teacher checks every word, isolated phoneme, accent and blend.
- English sound-bank expansion is pending. French and Spanish are parked for a later phase. Existing English cat clips remain adult audit drafts only.
- Check these graphemes against the child’s actual phonics programme; this small practice bank is not a complete reading programme.
- Picture recognition, contrast, distractors, motor and real-device accessibility need classroom review.
Adult audio audit · existing English cat drafts
Local Kokoro recordings; not ElevenLabs or approved child playback. Listening here does not mark them approved.
Sources: DfE Reading Framework.
AI-written trial with draft language mappings. No adverts, third-party players, microphone, analytics or saved scores.