First Grade - ELA
1: Environment
Unit 1: Habitats and Homes
Lesson 1
My Environment
Students are asked to sound out and add missing letters for room labels (e.g., __athroom, __itchen) in Activity 2, and to copy or write labels in Option 2. The handwriting practice (Activity 4) has students trace and write the word "bath," so students write the letter sequence th. The lesson vocabulary and text repeatedly use words containing consonant digraphs (e.g., "shelter," "bath," "kitchen") while students follow sounds with a finger as words are pronounced.
2: Similarities and Differences
Unit 2: Senses
Lesson 5
Touch
The handwriting activity has students write the words "touch" and "taste," and the student pages include the word and image "fish," which contain the consonant digraphs and . Students also encounter other words and labels in the activity pages (e.g., "coffee," "pillow") that include consonant letter combinations. Students practice writing and reading these specific words in the context of sensory vocabulary.
Unit 3: We're the Same, We're Different
Lesson 3
Different Personalities
Students are asked to sound out vocabulary words including words that contain consonant digraphs such as "shy" and to circle first and last letters and say their sounds. The handwriting activity has students practice the letter Q and the word "quiet," including multiple tracing opportunities that expose students to the "qu" letter sequence. The student pages also include the printed cue "shhhhh" and the word "shy," providing incidental exposure to the /ʃ/ spelling-sound correspondence.
6: Reading
Unit 1: Semester 1
Lesson 4
Letter Sounds Review IV
Students are taught that q is taught as qu and that qu makes the beginning /kw/ sound, with example words (quilt, queen, question, quacking). Students flip letter cards and say the sounds for z, y, x, and q/qu and point to letters as the teacher says words that begin or end with those sounds. Students practice writing q on handwriting pages and read words containing qu when asked to read and spell words aloud.
Lesson 5
Adding s, More Word Families, Ending with ck
Students are taught the ck consonant digraph: they are told the /k/ sound is spelled with c and k together at the end of a word after a short vowel, and they practice sounding and spelling examples (duck, sack, deck). Students read, cut, sort, and glue words into ack, eck, ick, ock, and uck word-family columns and complete word-chain and word-building activities that require producing and decoding ck-final words. Students read and spell ck words in the reader (Ducks Are Fun) and in pluralization and dictation exercises that include ck words.
Lesson 6
Open Syllables and Digraph th
The lesson defines a digraph and explicitly introduces the consonant digraph th (Activity 4.1), telling students that th makes two sounds and giving example words such as "this" and "thing." Students sort pictures into t, h, and th columns (Activity 4.1) and build and read multiple th words using letter cards (Activity 4.2: this, thin, with, math, them, path). Students also write and read dictated words and sentences that include th (Activity 4.3 and dictation), reinforcing the spelling-sound mapping in beginning, middle, and final positions.
Lesson 7
Consonant Digraphs ch, sh, wh, ph
Students read, spell, and sort words containing the digraphs ch, sh, wh, and ph across multiple activities (Activity 1.2 lists and contrasts ch vs. sh words; Activity 2.1 explains wh as /w/ with a silent h and ph as making /f/ and shows example words). Students practice discrimination and identification (stand/sit for /ch/ vs /sh/, underline wh in which/what, point to cards in picture sorting) and complete written tasks that require inserting or writing the correct digraphs (Fill in the Blanks, Writing Words, Consonant Digraph Sorting).
Lesson 8
Blends with s
Students are asked to identify and discuss digraphs in Activity 1.2 (that, wish, chip, shot) and to highlight specific digraphs (th, ch) in the Weekly Message (Activity 1.1). The Skills list explicitly includes "Know the spelling-sound correspondences for common consonant digraphs," and Activity 4.2 directs students to use word-building cards for digraphs when spelling word chains. Grouped word-building and dictation activities include words with sh, ch, and th (e.g., chip, chest, check, chick, shack), giving students opportunities to say and spell those digraphs.
Lesson 9
Blends with l
Students are asked to highlight digraphs (th and wh) in the Weekly Message (Activity 1.1). Word-building activities include digraph cards such as sh, th, ck, and wh that students use to spell and write words across Day 2 and Day 3 (e.g., plush, click, flush). The Word Chains activity instructs students to use word-building cards for digraphs and to say each letter sound as they change words, and several dictation/writing tasks require spelling words that contain digraphs.
Lesson 10
Blends with r
Students are asked to highlight digraphs in the Weekly Message (e.g., th in "with/that/there" and ck in "truck") and to point out cr, fr, tr blends. Word-building activities include letter cards with digraphs (sh, th, ck, ph) and ask students to spell words that contain those digraphs (e.g., brush, broth, ship, shack, shock). The Alphabet Soup and word lists include many words with sh, th, and ck, and students are asked to say words slowly, blend sounds, and write words that include those digraphs.
Lesson 11
Ending Blends
Activity 3.3 explicitly asks the child to point to sight words that contain digraphs and lists example words that include digraphs (the, that, she, with, they, this). The Skills list explicitly includes "Know the spelling-sound correspondences for common consonant digraphs," indicating digraphs are an intended focus. The sight-word activity requires the student to recognize words that have digraphs among known sight words.
Lesson 12
Double ll, ss, ff, zz (FLOSS)
Students are asked to identify and highlight digraphs (ch, th, fl) in the Weekly Message and to read aloud words that contain digraphs. Students spell and read multiple words with ch and sh (e.g., chess, shell, chill, chest) during word-building and Alphabet Soup activities. The skills list explicitly states that students should "Know the spelling-sound correspondences for common consonant digraphs," and activities require students to read and spell words containing those digraphs.
Lesson 13
Glued Sounds ng and nk
Students are explicitly taught the glued consonant digraphs ng and nk: the lesson has activities where students read, spell, and sound out words such as hang, king, song, lung and tank, rink, honk, junk while the teacher writes ng and nk and explains these are glued digraphs. Students manipulate onsets to make new words (replace k with r to make ring; replace t with s to make sank), sort spoken words by their ng or nk endings, and complete fill-in-the-blank exercises requiring them to write the missing digraph. Students also cut, sort, and glue word-family word cards (ang/ing/ong/ung and ank/ink/onk/unk) and practice reading and writing those words.
Lesson 14
Three-Letter Beginning Blends
Students practice and say the sounds for sh and th within activities (Activity 3.1) where they spell "shed" and then use the shr card to make and read "shred," and are told that in the thr trigraph the th is pronounced like the beginning of "thing." The skills list explicitly includes "Know the spelling-sound correspondences for common consonant digraphs." Students also hear and point to sh and th when sorting and building words (word building, word sort, and word writing activities include words with shr and thr).
Lesson 15
More Ending Blends
Students are asked to say the sounds for word-building cards that include consonant digraphs such as ng (Activity 1.2: bang, long, swing, ding, bring, thing) and to point to the card that shows the ending sound for each word. Students spell and read words that contain the sh digraph (Activity 2.2: shift) and are asked to identify ending sounds including ng and sh during review (Activity 4.2). The Alphabet Soup and other word-building activities include qu and examples where students build and read words containing those letter combinations.
Lesson 16
R-Controlled Vowels (ar)
Students repeatedly spell and read words that contain consonant digraphs (ch, sh, and wh) using lowercase letter cards and word-building cards (e.g., shark, sharp, chart, charm, wharf). Activities prompt students to use digraph cards explicitly (Activity 5.1: "use word building cards for digraphs and blends") and to say each letter sound as they spell words. Fill-in-the-blank and word-sort pages require students to identify and supply digraphs (e.g., cha___, sha___) and to categorize words with digraphs during sorting.
Lesson 17
Semester Review
The Skills list explicitly states that students should "Know the spelling-sound correspondences for common consonant digraphs," and the Introduction names the target digraphs (ch, sh, th, wh, ph). Activity 1.2 directs students to spell and then read words using letter and word-building cards that include digraph cards (ch, sh, etc.). Activity 3.1 has students sort cards into a blends/digraphs/trigraphs pile and play word-building games that require adding digraph cards to form and read words; Activity 2.3 asks students to write and identify words that contain digraphs (e.g., "thick").
Unit 2: Semester 2
Lesson 1
Long Vowels a and i with Silent e
Students work with words that contain common consonant digraphs: word-building Group #2 includes the digraph card "sh" (used to spell shake) and activity images/words include ship, shake, whale/white. The lesson's skills list explicitly names "Know the spelling-sound correspondences for common consonant digraphs." Students read, sort, and build words (e.g., shake, ship, whale) that include these digraphs during multiple activities.
Lesson 2
Long Vowels o, u, and e with Silent e
Students are asked to spell and read words that contain consonant digraphs (examples: phone, shop, shock, shop, chug, chose, shop, shrug) during multiple word-building activities (Activities 2.3, 3.1, 4.1). The lesson explicitly prompts the caregiver to "remind your child that there is a digraph (ph) that makes the /f/ sound," providing at least one direct spelling–sound correspondence for a digraph. Students also encounter digraphs in sight words (then, them, these) and are asked to read and spell those words.
Lesson 4
More R-Controlled Vowels (er, ir, or, ur)
Students are asked to use lowercase letter cards and word-building cards that include consonant digraphs (ch, sh, th) to spell and read words (Day 4 Group 1: ir, ch, th, sh; Activity 2.2 and Day 4 word-building include words such as chirp, church, shirt, birch, birth). The Skills list explicitly names "Know the spelling-sound correspondences for common consonant digraphs," and multiple activities require students to read aloud words containing these digraphs after spelling them. Students also complete word-building and reading tasks that require recognizing and producing the sounds of those digraphs.
Lesson 6
Long e Spellings ee, ey, ea
Students use lowercase letter cards and word-building cards that include consonant digraphs (for example, Group #1 lists "th" and Group #2 lists "ch") and are asked to spell words such as three, teeth, reach, and beach using those cards. The Alphabet Soup activity presents letter combinations including digraphs (e.g., "st," "th," "sl") and asks students to create and write words (bee, see, three, street, teeth, etc.). In word-building and reading activities students read and spell words that contain consonant digraphs while manipulating digraph cards to form words.
Lesson 7
Long i Spellings y, igh, ie
Students read and spell words that contain common consonant digraphs across activities (e.g., spell and read shy in Activity 2.2; chime appears in the word lists for the long i with silent e sorting; thigh and night/fight/fright include th and gh combinations in Activity 3.2). Students encounter these digraph-containing words during word building, sorting, and the spelling test, and they are asked to sound out and read the words aloud in multiple activities.
Lesson 8
Long o Spellings ow, oa, oe
Students are given letter-card groupings that include consonant digraphs (th, sh, ch) and are asked to spell words aloud using those cards (e.g., throw, show, coach) and then read each word after spelling it. Activity 2.2 explicitly instructs students to combine digraph cards with vowel spellings (ow, oa, oe) during word building, requiring them to use the digraphs as single spelling units. The skills list also explicitly lists "Know the spelling-sound correspondences for common consonant digraphs" as a targeted skill.
Lesson 10
Other Long Vowel Patterns
Students read and spell multiple words that contain consonant digraphs (e.g., shelf, fish, shift, shot, wish, moth, ghost) across activities such as Alphabet Soup, word building, and the spelling test. The lesson explicitly points out the silent h in ghost and gives students opportunities to read and write sentences containing words with digraphs (e.g., The child is kind; The colt is blind includes the word "the"). A skills list also names "Know the spelling-sound correspondences for common consonant digraphs" as an objective.
Lesson 12
Other Vowel Sounds oi, oy
Students are prompted to combine letters s and h to form and spell words like "show," explicitly modeling the consonant digraph sh. Students are taught about the "ng" glued sound and read multiple words containing ng (rang, king, ring, song, gong, swing), and they spell words that include nk/ng (e.g., oink) during word-building and spelling activities. Students also use letter cards to make blends and digraphs as part of the word-building exercises.
Lesson 13
Other Vowel Sounds ou, ow
Students use lowercase letter cards that include the digraph 'sh' and are asked to spell words such as 'shout' (Activity 3.1: Word Building). Students also read and write words that contain 'sh' during spelling and word-building activities (e.g., 'shout' appears in word lists and the spelling test groups).
Lesson 14
Other Vowel Sounds aw, au
The lesson's Skills list explicitly includes "Know the spelling-sound correspondences for common consonant digraphs." Students encounter and produce words that contain consonant digraphs in activities (examples in word lists and Alphabet Soup include chat, shawl, cash, crash, and fowl). Students also spell and build words with letter cards and create words from the Alphabet Soup letters, which can lead them to form words containing digraphs (for example, chat).
Lesson 16
Silent Starts: kn, wr, gn
Students read and pronounce words that begin with kn, gn, and wr (e.g., know, knit, gnome, gnat, write, wrap) and are prompted to notice that the first letter is silent (Activity 1.2, Day 2, Day 3). Students build and spell words using kn, gn, and wr word-building cards (Activity 2.2, Activity 3.2, Day 5 word scramble) and complete a spelling test containing multiple kn/gn/wr words (Activity 4.3). Students sort words by their silent beginning letters into gn, kn, and wr columns and group words by vowel sounds while reading them aloud (Activity 4.1).
Lesson 17
Year-End Review
The lesson explicitly lists consonant digraphs (ch, sh, th, wh, ph) in the skills/introduction and includes the skill statement "Know the spelling-sound correspondences for common consonant digraphs." Activity 1.2 prompts students to read a word list and asks them to identify which words include consonant digraphs (e.g., shell, chart, champ, thing, that, wreath), and it tells the adult to remind the child that a digraph makes one sound (for example, sh). The Sight Word Search and other pages include words with wh (where) and other digraph examples for students to find and read.