What it is. Spacing has to survive longer strings of words, not just two.
Why our test works. Spacing that is fine in a two-word phrase drifts across a four-word one, because the hand is tiring and the child is thinking about meaning. Comparing the spaces to EACH OTHER — rather than to a finger — is the version of the check that works when the hand is moving.
Leans on. Lesson 3.
Watch for. Look at the END of each line, where fatigue shows first.
Keep spacing even in longer words and phrases. The worked example is the one you build on the board: Teacher writes a four-word phrase, marks where each space belongs, and rewrites it evenly. The class reads the teaching page printed at the top of the sheet — our own writing, so a child who was absent can still get the lesson.
You open by saying where this sits — what it follows and what it is part of — in one sentence, and then you give them the reason it matters, in your own words, for about ten seconds.
Then you do one yourself, building it on the board and leaving it up: Teacher writes a four-word phrase, marks where each space belongs, and rewrites it evenly. The board copy is what they look back at when they stall, so it stays there for the whole lesson.
The We-do is the main whiteboard moment of the lesson — short answers, boards up on your signal, every child visible at once. Class writes a four-word phrase and checks every space is the same width. If the answer is a whole sentence rather than a word, take it on the printed sheet instead, because a sentence written on a whiteboard is written once and destroyed.
They read the teaching page — printed at the top of today's sheet — with you, either read-aloud or FASE, never round robin. Stop at the worked example and let them look at it.
Exit directions in full, standing still, before anyone moves. Then they work alone: Write three four-word phrases with even spaces.
You close on the exit direction — Show me your most even space. — taken from every child before anyone stands, and then the line you want them to still have tomorrow: Even spaces, even in long phrases.
Look at the END of each line, where fatigue shows first.