I saw on another thread that another poster is using unit 7 with her year 1 son.
More thoughts on this:
It is perfectly reasonable to be teaching Year One children about the different /ul/ endings such as '-le', '-al', '-il' and '-el' so I wouldn't NOT introduce these at the stage it seems appropriate.
I would also teach any of these endings incidentally when the situation arose. For example, the children might be writing about a 'castle' or need the word 'sandcastle' or they could be writing about 'animals'. The teacher might say, "Let's say the sounds for the word 'castle' together. How many beats (or syllables) can we hear in the word? 'cass - ul' - yes, two beats (syllables). Let's segment the first beat (syllable) /k/ /a/ /s/ [three sound-dashes]; now what sounds can we hear in the last syllable /ul/.
Now, there are several different ways that we can spell a word when we hear the /ul/ sound at the end of a word. You might think it would be with an /u/ and then an /l/ (that is letter 'u' and then letter 'l') but we usually spell words with the /ul/ sound with the following spellings (or graphemes):
-le -al -il -el
The word 'castle' is spelt with this one:
-le
A few other common words spelt like this are 'little', 'puddle' and 'middle'."
The teacher might also decide it is worth drawing up a quick chart on the board and ask for other words with an /ul/ sound on the end. The learners might come up with 'animal', 'hospital', 'tickle' - or whatever. The teacher can write the words under the correct grapheme heading.
Alternately, the teacher can reach for his/her tub of GROUPING THE SPELLING ALTERNATIVES POSTERS (I am finding these truly invaluable).
She/he can then find the Unit 7 poster for the /ul/ sound and bull-dog-clip it or blue-tac it somewhere prominent.
I use the GROUPING THE SPELLING ALTERNATIVE POSTERS throughout the Units all the time. It reinforces the concept of spelling alternatives and it ties in with a copy of THE ALPHABETIC CODE CHARTs.
What I am trying to illustrate here is the 'layered' approach to teaching phonics for both reading and spelling which includes both a formally planned, systematic approach to teaching phonics - and an incidental 'do it as appropriate' approach.
I also think what happens is that teachers do need to make decisions about 'revising' past lessons particulary for spelling purposes.
The first time round that the teacher teaches the letter/s-sound correspondences is for both reading and spelling - but it is, in a sense, an 'introduction' to the alphabetic code knowledge and the blending and segmenting skills.
If the learners are very young, it is likely that handwriting is very new or insecure.
Later, the teacher (often the 'next' teacher) will need to return to the letter/s-sound correspondences already introduced not so much for reading (unless the programme is being used for weak readers) - but for the spelling and handwriting aspects of teaching and learning.
What I am finding (as I use the programme myself in my teaching job), is that I am using some strands for introduction, and then returning to various strands - particularly the SOUNDS BOOK ACTIVITY SHEETS, the I CAN READ texts and the SAY THE SOUNDS POSTERS and the WORD LISTS for revision.
I often return to, or use more of, the READ THE WORDS, MAKE UP A STORY strand (available in Units 1 to 6) as a revision and extension resource. This time round, the learners are asked not only to 'make up a story' but to write it down. I am finding that my Year 2s are really loving this activity and they are doing it for homework voluntarily.
Finally, we play memory games of 'recalling' as many words as possible of a specific spelling alternative. For example, "How many 'soft g' words can you recall?"
Having received ALL the Sounds Book Activity Sheets with the additional lists, having conducted a 'grapheme hunt' of the I CAN READ texts and put the 'soft g' words into columns on their blank column sheet for spelling alternatives, having read the I CAN READ text, and all the word lists and written a silly 'soft g' story, you would be astounded as to how well they can remember all the 'soft g' words.
I believe this range of activities is the best that any teacher can provide and instigate to help with future spelling and, also, to make learners particularly 'observant to detail' when they read the literature.