First Grade - ELA
1: Environment
Unit 1: Habitats and Homes
Lesson 1
My Environment
Students are prompted to "sound out the labels" on the Exploring My Home sheet and to use their finger to follow the sounds of each word as an adult pronounces them. The Skills list includes showing an understanding that letters represent the sequence of sounds in a spoken word and attempting to read dictated text. The handwriting Bb page has students trace and read single-syllable words such as "bed" and "bath," reinforcing letter-sound correspondences.
Lesson 2
What Is a Map?
Students are asked to "sound out" words while labeling items on the map (Options 1 and 2) and to have an adult "walk him through the letters, sounding them out with him as he writes them." Activity 4 has students practice writing and copying single-syllable words (map, mom, home, house). The scrambled-word worksheet and label-fill tasks require students to decode and complete single-word labels, which invites phoneme-by-phoneme reading.
Lesson 7
Tools in My Environment
The lesson instructs students to "sound out the words and identify letter sounds as you write them" and to "read the names of the tools... using her finger to point at the letters as you sound them out," which has students decode words aloud. Activity 4 has students practice the words "it" and "inch," providing practice with writing and exposure to single-syllable words. The measuring activity asks students to attempt to record beginning letters and sound out tool names as they write them, engaging students in phoneme-level work while labeling tools.
Lesson 9
Animal Designs
Students are asked to name animals and habitats aloud in multiple activities (e.g., "Ask your child to name the animal and the habitat" and the captions like "A fish swims in the ocean"). Students are prompted to say sentences identifying misplaced animals in the Stuffed Animal Sort ("A __________ can't live in the ____________. A __________ lives in the ________________"). The Skills list asks students to "Begin to write words" and "Write beginning consonants of words," which involves attending to initial sounds.
Unit 2: Weather
Lesson 6
Winter
Students are asked to use winter vocabulary (COLD, SNOW, FREEZE) in speech and writing and to attempt to read their dictated story aloud, with the prompt that an adult can "help him sound out words as needed." Activity 2 instructs students to circle the beginning letter of each number word to "help him sound out the words." Activity 4 has students practice the words wind and winter while tracing and writing the letter W.
Unit 3: Community
Lesson 3
Jobs in the Community
Students are asked to read or help read the names of community helpers and to "name and sound out each letter" (Activity 1, Option 1). Students are prompted to "circle the beginning letter of each word and attempt to sound out the word" (Activity 2, Option 1) and to say simple sentences aloud about how each worker helps (Activity 5). The skills list also includes "Recognize beginning consonant sounds" and "Read or attempt to read own story," which indicate practice with letter-sound relationships and decoding attempts.
2: Similarities and Differences
Unit 2: Senses
Lesson 6
Experimenting With Our Senses
The skills list asks students to "Recognize beginning consonant sounds of words" and to "Recognize and write letters," which engages phonemic awareness. In Activity 2 students attempt to read the name of each spice, copy the names or at least the first letter, and later check and read the cards aloud. Activity 3 asks the child to tell and then read a recorded story aloud, providing opportunities for oral word production.
Unit 3: We're the Same, We're Different
Lesson 1
You're Special
Students are encouraged to attempt to read each question aloud and to "sound out the words for his answers," which asks them to break words into sounds and represent them with phonetic spelling. The Skills section explicitly lists "Represent spoken language with phonetic spelling (LA)," and Activity 1 asks students to write the letters they hear (e.g., writing 'yellow' as they hear it). These directions require students to segment and map phonemes to letters when producing written responses.
Lesson 3
Different Personalities
Students are asked to "attempt to sound out the words" in Activity 1 and to "tell you the sounds the letters make" by circling first and last letters when they cannot read a word. Activity 4 provides repeated exposure to the letter Q and the word "quiet," including tracing and writing practice that links letter shapes to a spoken word. The activities involve oral/phonics-related tasks such as sounding out and identifying letter sounds.
Lesson 9
Different Modes of Transportation
Students complete word-label activities that show initial sounds/blends for transportation words (e.g., blanks for __ar, __lane, __rain, __oat, __orse, __axi). In Option 2 students write entire labels for pictures of car, plane, train, boat, bicycle, horse and taxi. Students also read aloud or attempt to read their recorded story about a transportation trip and copy/write sentences naming modes of transportation.
3: Patterns
Unit 1: Identifying and Creating Visual Patterns
Lesson 6
Shapes and Patterns
The lesson asks students to "circle the beginning letter of each word in the pattern" and then "sound out each word" on the Reading Patterns (Option 1) sheets, and Option 2 asks students to read words that describe the pattern before creating them. Students are also asked to practice writing specific words (shape, color, size) on handwriting paper, providing some decoding and phonics-focused tasks.
Unit 2: Patterns in Sounds, Words, and Actions
Lesson 1
Word Patterns
Students are asked to listen to and say sets of rhyming words aloud (for example, the teacher says "take, bake, rake" and asks what the child hears). Multiple activities require students to say pairs of words aloud, circle the repeating word parts, and add another word that follows the same pattern (Activity 1 and Bear Hugs activities). The skills list explicitly states that students will "Recognize that spoken language has identifiable speech sounds" and student pages use single-syllable words (hat, bat, hen, pen, frog, dog) that exemplify sound patterns.
Lesson 2
Making Word Patterns
Students read, sort, and paste single-syllable words into word families (e.g., run, fun, sun, bun) and practice reading those grouped words aloud. Students are asked to try different beginning letters (using an alphabet sheet) to complete patterns and create new words (Option 2), and to identify rhyming words in books and write sentences containing rhyming words. The lesson also lists skills including recognizing that the sequence of letters represents the sequence of sounds in a word and creating/identifying word patterns.
Lesson 7
Making Sound and Action Patterns
Students cut out and handle cards labeled with single-syllable sound words (smack, stomp, slap, clap, tap) and place them to form repeating sound patterns. Students are asked to perform or listen to the sound patterns aloud, repeating each segment twice. Students use and orally produce these single-syllable words while creating and performing musical and action patterns.
Unit 3: Patterns in Your World
Lesson 2
Patterns of Growth
Activity 2 asks students to "sound out the word" for plant parts and to record the first letter of each word, which has students work with individual sounds. Activity 6 has students write the single-syllable words plant, grow, and part (words that include consonant blends) while the adult models each word. The lesson repeatedly prompts children to identify initial sounds and to vocalize or write words related to plant parts and growth.
6: Reading
Unit 1: Semester 1
Lesson 1
Letter Sounds Review I
Students are asked to select letter cards, lay them out to spell words, say each phoneme, and then blend them to produce single-syllable words (Activity 3.2 shows building and sounding out /s/ /a/ /t/ → sat). Students place single consonant letters in front of rime cards and read the resulting words aloud in the at and ap word-family activities (Activities 4.2 and 5.1: sat, mat, fat, pat; cap, map, tap, sap). The lesson's skills list explicitly names orally producing single-syllable words by blending sounds, and Activity 5.3 prompts students to sound out words independently while reading a simple reader.
Lesson 2
Letter Sounds Review II
Students are asked to blend sounds to build words in Activity 3.2 where the teacher models saying /b/ /i/ /g/ and then saying "big," and students repeat this process with words such as rib, dig, fit, pig, man, and bad. Activity 4.2 directs students to add one letter at a time to word-family cards (it, in, ig, ip) and read each word they make, which requires oral blending of single-syllable phonemes. The Skills list explicitly states that students will "Orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds, including consonant blends," and multiple activities ask students to say words slowly, sound out beginning, middle, and end, and point to letters as they read.
Lesson 3
Letter Sounds Review III
Students use letter cards to build three-letter words in Activity 3.2 and are asked to "say them slowly, clearly pronouncing each sound" as they create and read the words. Students are prompted in Activities 5.1 and 2.2 to say words slowly to hear beginning, middle, and ending sounds, and to read the words aloud after blending the sounds. The Skills list explicitly names orally producing single-syllable words by blending sounds (including consonant blends), and challenge word sets (e.g., slug, slob; mast, mist) require students to produce consonant blends when saying and spelling words.
Lesson 4
Letter Sounds Review IV
Students use letter cards to build and read three-letter words (Activity 3.2), and they are encouraged to say words slowly, clearly pronouncing each sound as they create and read them. The skills list explicitly includes "Orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds, including consonant blends." Students also read single-syllable words aloud in the reader and Writing Words activity (Activity 5.1–5.2), and challenge words such as "frog" and "brig" and words like "sled"/"shed" provide practice with consonant blends.
Lesson 5
Adding s, More Word Families, Ending with ck
The Skills list explicitly includes "Orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds, including consonant blends." Activity 4.1 directs students to spell and "sound [words] out slowly" (e.g., duck, sack, deck) and to say short vowel sounds, which requires blending phonemes to form the whole word. Activity 4.2 has students read, cut, sort, and be helped to "sound out the words slowly" and to "listen closely to the middle sound in each word." Activity 5.1 (Word Chains) and Day 2/3 word-building tasks ask students to spell/build words while saying each letter sound and to read the resulting words aloud, practicing blending and producing single-syllable words including items with consonant blends (e.g., black, flag, plan).
Lesson 6
Open Syllables and Digraph th
The lesson asks students to use lowercase letter cards to build and read single-syllable words (Activity 2.2, Activity 4.2), including spelling words with the th digraph (this, thin, with, math, them, path). Students are prompted to say each word as they write it (Activity 3.2) and to listen for beginning, middle, and ending sounds as words are dictated and read (Activity 4.3, Activity 5.3). The skills list explicitly includes "Orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds, including consonant blends."
Lesson 7
Consonant Digraphs ch, sh, wh, ph
Students are asked to say and read single-syllable words containing digraphs (e.g., chop, shop, chip, ship, fish) and to listen for and pronounce beginning, middle, and ending sounds. Students build words with digraph cards and lowercase letter cards (e.g., spell "shop," "ship," "dish," "fish") which requires blending the digraph with other phonemes to form single-syllable words. Students hear words spoken slowly and are prompted to hear individual sounds ("Say them slowly so that he can hear their beginning, middle, and ending sounds") and then read or produce the whole word. Students also practice orally identifying target sounds (stand up for /ch/, sit down for /sh/) and point to cards when they hear a spoken word, supporting oral production and phoneme blending.
Lesson 8
Blends with s
Students are asked to produce and blend letter sounds directly (Activity 1.2: show s and t cards, say each sound, push cards together and blend to say st; Activity 1.2: say words like store, stop and listen for the st blend). Students practice orally producing and sorting words by their initial s blends (Activity 2.1: name pictures, cut and place them in columns by beginning blends; Activity 2.1: say words in each column). Students blend phonemes when building and changing words (Activity 4.2 Word Chains: say a word, spell it with cards saying each sound, then change one sound to make a new word; Activity 3.3 and Activity 5.1: say each word slowly to hear all sounds and fill in missing blends).
Lesson 9
Blends with l
The lesson asks students to build and spell words using letter and word-building cards for l blends (e.g., Spell glob, glam, plug, clip, blob, plum) and to say each letter sound as they spell. Multiple activities require students to name pictures, sort cut-out pictures into columns by their initial blends, and say the words in each column (Activity 1.2 and the Student Activity Pages). The Word Chains and Fill-in-the-Blanks activities explicitly prompt students to say the sound of each blend and orally produce or complete single-syllable words (e.g., saying 'flock' then changing one card to make 'flick').
Lesson 10
Blends with r
The Skills list explicitly includes "Orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds, including consonant blends" and "Segment spoken single-syllable words into their complete sequence of individual sounds." Activity 2.2 directs students to say each word slowly so they can hear all the sounds and to say the sounds as they write the word. Word-building activities (Day 2 and Day 3), the Alphabet Soup task, and the picture-sorting by beginning blends require students to create, say, and read words that begin with consonant blends.
Lesson 11
Ending Blends
Students are asked to say individual letter sounds and then pronounce them together as blends (e.g., Activity 2.1 directs students to say /n/ and /d/ separately and then together as /nd/; Activity 3.1 has students make the sounds for l and f, then pronounce lf, and do the same for n and t). Students spell words using lowercase letter cards and blend word-building cards and read each word aloud as they form it (Activities 2.2, 3.1, 4.1). In word-chain and word-building activities students are encouraged to say each letter sound as they spell and to read or say the resulting single-syllable words (Activity 5.1 and multiple dictation tasks).
Lesson 12
Double ll, ss, ff, zz (FLOSS)
The lesson's Skills list explicitly includes "Orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds, including consonant blends." Multiple activities have students hear words and then spell or build them with letter/word-building cards (Activity 1.2, Activity 3.1, Activity 4.1), and students are asked to read the words they create aloud (Alphabet Soup, reader Huff and Puff). Activity 2.1 has students clap to identify one-syllable words, reinforcing single-syllable identification prior to applying the FLOSS rule.
Lesson 13
Glued Sounds ng and nk
Students are asked to sound out words by breaking them into parts (for example, Activity 2.1: point to "hang" and sound it out as /h/ and /ang/). Students spell and say words using lowercase letter cards and word‑building cards (e.g., tank, rink, honk, junk), read newly formed words after replacing onsets (e.g., replace k with r to read "ring"), and practice reading lists of single‑syllable words that end in ng or nk. Activities also require students to say the sounds of digraphs when filling in blanks and to point to the ending they hear when words are spoken (Activity 5.1).
Lesson 14
Three-Letter Beginning Blends
Students are asked to say and blend three-letter beginning blends (scr, str, spr, spl, squ, shr, thr) aloud (Activity 1.2 models /s/ + /k/ + /r/). Students spell and then read single-syllable words that contain those blends (e.g., scrap, scrub, strap, spring, sprint, splash, shrim p, thrill) across multiple activities (Activities 1.2, 2.2, 3.1, 4.2). Students practice orally identifying beginning sounds, sounding out words, and reading words after blending (pointing to blends, clapping syllables, fill-in-the-blanks and word-sort tasks require saying blend sounds and reading the completed words).
Lesson 15
More Ending Blends
Students are asked to say the sounds that ending-blend cards make (Activity 1.2, Day 2/Activity 2.1) and to point to blend cards when the teacher says words that end with those blends. Students build words with lowercase letter cards and blend them to read new words (e.g., spell "pat," replace t with ct and read "pact"; Activity 2.1 and 2.2). Students create and read words from letter/blend pools (Alphabet Soup, Activity 4.4) and read aloud words sorted by ending blends (Activity 3.2), practicing oral production of single-syllable words that include consonant blends.
Lesson 16
R-Controlled Vowels (ar)
Students are asked to spell and read single-syllable ar words (bar, far, car, tar, jar, par) using lowercase letter cards and word-building cards (Activity 1.2). Activities ask students to say the sound of each blend and to point to ending blend cards while hearing words (Activity 2.3, Activity 3.2), and students complete fill-in-the-blank pages by adding consonant blends to form single-syllable words. The skills list and multiple activities (word building, word chains, word sorts, and dictated sentences) explicitly require students to say letter sounds and blend them to produce and read single-syllable words, including consonant blends (rm, rn, rp, rt, rd, rf, rk, rl, sh, ch).
Lesson 17
Semester Review
The Skills list explicitly states that students should "Orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds, including consonant blends." In Activity 1.2 (Word Building) students spell words with letter and word-building cards that include consonant blends (ck, fl, bl, br, st, str, etc.) and then read the spelled words aloud. Activity 3.1 has students build words by adding vowels/consonants and read the resulting words, and Activity 1.1 asks students to sound out unknown words and read the weekly message aloud.
Unit 2: Semester 2
Lesson 1
Long Vowels a and i with Silent e
The lesson's Skills list explicitly includes "Orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds, including consonant blends," naming the target skill. Activity 2.3 (Word Building) requires students to use lowercase letter cards to create and read words the teacher calls out, and Group #2 provides consonant blends (pl, fr, sn) and target words (plane, frame, snake). Activities 2.2 and 3.2 have students spell base words (e.g., tap, slid) with letter cards and then read the transformed words with silent e (tape, slide), requiring students to assemble letters and produce the resulting spoken word.
Lesson 2
Long Vowels o, u, and e with Silent e
The lesson's Skills list explicitly includes "Orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds, including consonant blends." Multiple activities require students to use lowercase letter cards to spell and then sound out words (e.g., spell "rob" then add e to read "robe," spell "cub" then "cube"). Teachers ask students to sound out and read words as they build them and to demonstrate vowel sounds before spelling (e.g., short/long u), which requires blending phonemes into single-syllable words. Word-building and spelling activities include words with consonant clusters and blends (e.g., stop, shock, shrug, drove) that students are asked to spell and read aloud.
Lesson 3
Hard and Soft c and g
The lesson's Skills list explicitly includes "Orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds, including consonant blends." Activity 2.2 (Word Building) asks students to "sound out the word" and to spell words using lowercase letter cards, including words with initial blends such as clap and words with blends in other positions (price, space). Activity 4.2 (Word Scramble) has students manipulate letter groups to form specified words and Activity 1.1 and other reading tasks prompt students to sound out and read single-syllable words aloud.
Lesson 4
More R-Controlled Vowels (er, ir, or, ur)
The Skills list explicitly includes "Orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds, including consonant blends." Multiple activities ask the student to spell words with lowercase letter cards as the teacher calls them out and then read each spelled word aloud (Activity 1.2, Activity 2.2, Activity 4.1). Word-building groups include many single-syllable targets with consonant blends (e.g., crash, drums, snort, drift, skirt, storm, short) and students are prompted to sound out or read these words after building them.
Lesson 5
Long a Spellings ai, ay
The lesson's skills list explicitly includes "Orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds, including consonant blends." Multiple activities ask students to spell words with lowercase letter cards and then read each word aloud (Activity 2.2, Activity 3.2, Activity 4.1, Spelling Test). The lesson directs students to "sound out" words, to point to and say the sounds shown in boxes, and to make the sound of vowel teams (e.g., having the child make the ai sound), and it includes target words with consonant blends and clusters (spray, stray, brain, braid, tray) for practice.
Lesson 6
Long e Spellings ee, ey, ea
The Skills list explicitly includes "Orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds, including consonant blends." In Activity 2.2 (Word Building) students use lowercase letter cards and blend cards (e.g., th, gr, sw) to spell items such as tree, free, three, green, and teeth. In Activity 3.1 (Alphabet Soup) students assemble letters, blends, and digraphs to create words and are then asked to read the words they created; several target words are single-syllable and contain consonant blends.
Lesson 7
Long i Spellings y, igh, ie
The lesson's Skills list explicitly includes "Orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds, including consonant blends." Multiple activities ask students to sound out words and read them after spelling (Activity 1.1, 2.2, 3.2, 4.1). Students use lowercase letter cards to spell and then read words containing consonant blends (e.g., cry, fry, sly, fight, fright, bright) and are prompted to sound out words slowly so they can hear each sound.
Lesson 8
Long o Spellings ow, oa, oe
The lesson's Skills list explicitly includes "Orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds, including consonant blends." Activity 2.2 asks students to use lowercase letter cards (including ow, oa, oe and consonant cards such as th, sh, r, b, s, l, f, n) to spell words as the teacher calls them and then read each word after they spell it. Activity 3.2 has students unscramble letter groups to make long-o single-syllable words (e.g., coat, snow, toe, slow, grow), requiring them to combine sounds/letters into whole words. Activity 1.2 and other reading tasks require students to pick up, sound out, and read single-syllable words aloud, reinforcing oral production of those blended sounds.
Lesson 9
Long u Spellings ue, ew, ou
The Skills list explicitly includes "Orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds, including consonant blends," and also lists segmenting single-syllable words into individual sounds. Multiple activities ask students to use lowercase letter cards and word-building cards to spell words as the teacher says them (Activity 2.1, 3.1) and then read the words aloud. Activities also ask students to "sound out" words, listen for individual sounds (e.g., saying "tube" and "cube" slowly), complete a word scramble from letters, and read spelled words during the spelling test and reader.
Lesson 10
Other Long Vowel Patterns
The Skills list explicitly includes "Orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds, including consonant blends" and "Segment spoken single-syllable words into their complete sequence of individual sounds." Multiple activities require students to build words from letter cards and read them aloud (e.g., Activity 1.2: place m + ild to read "mild," Activity 3.1: use letter cards + olt to spell and read "colt," Activity 4.1: place k + ind to read "kind"). The Alphabet Soup and spelling test activities have students create, read, and say many single-syllable words with consonant blends (find, grind, blind, bolt, fold, etc.).
Lesson 11
Long Vowel Sounds Review
Students are explicitly asked in the Skills list to "orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds, including consonant blends." Students are asked to "sound out words" and to read words aloud in Activity 1.1, Activity 1.3, and multiple Reader Review activities, which requires blending phonemes to produce single-syllable words. In Activity 3.3 (Word Scramble) and the Guess My Word activity, students must form and then say single-syllable long-vowel words (e.g., coat, slow, play, spray, skate) that include consonant blends. Word-sorting and word-building tasks require students to combine letter sounds into single-syllable words during reading and spelling practice.
Lesson 12
Other Vowel Sounds oi, oy
The lesson asks students to listen as the teacher models and stretches the oi/oy sounds (Activity 2.1) and to ‘‘sound out'' unknown words when reading the Weekly Message (Activity 1.1). Students use lowercase letter cards and word-building cards to create and read words (Activity 1.2, Activity 3.2), and are encouraged to combine letters into blends and digraphs (example: s + h + ow → "show"). The skills list explicitly includes ‘‘Orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds, including consonant blends.''
Lesson 13
Other Vowel Sounds ou, ow
The Skills list explicitly includes "Orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds, including consonant blends." Multiple activities require students to sound out and read words aloud (Activity 1.1, Activity 2.2) and to say each word slowly before writing it (Activity 1.2). Word-building and word-scramble activities (Activity 3.1, 3.2, Day 4 word building) have students use letter cards to spell words (e.g., cloud, scout, proud, spout) and then read each word after assembling the letters.
Lesson 14
Other Vowel Sounds aw, au
The skills list explicitly includes "Orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds, including consonant blends." Students are asked repeatedly to "sound out" and "read each word aloud" (Activity 1.2, 2.2) and to use lowercase letter cards to spell and read words called out by the teacher (Activity 3.1, 4.1). Activities like Alphabet Soup (3.2, 4.2) and the Spelling Test require students to build words from individual letters and then read those words (examples include single-syllable words with consonant blends such as claw, draw, straw, and crawl).
Lesson 15
These Make More Than One Sound: oo and ea
The lesson's Skills list explicitly includes "Orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds, including consonant blends" and "Segment spoken single-syllable words into their complete sequence of individual sounds," indicating an objective for phoneme blending. In multiple activities students are asked to "sound out" words, "repeat the words aloud slowly and carefully," and read words aloud during sorting (oo and ea word sorts) and word-building tasks with letter cards (e.g., spell and read wood, troop, spoon, smooth, stood). The Life Application and word-building activities prompt students to assemble letter cards and read or pronounce invented and real single-syllable words with varying vowel and consonant sequences.
Lesson 16
Silent Starts: kn, wr, gn
The Skills list explicitly includes "Orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds, including consonant blends." Multiple activities ask students to sound out and read single-syllable words aloud (Activity 1.1, 2.1, 3.1). Word-building and word-scramble activities (Activity 2.2, 3.2, 5.1) require students to assemble letter cards and then read the resulting single-syllable words aloud. Several activities require students to read words after spelling or unscrambling them and to practice reading and sorting single-syllable words with silent initial letters.
Lesson 17
Year-End Review
The skills list explicitly states that students will "Orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds, including consonant blends." Activity 1.2 has students read a word list aloud, prompts the teacher to remind students that blends let you hear each letter (example: st), and asks students to identify which words include consonant blends. Activities 3.1 and 5.1 (Alphabet Soup) ask students to build words from letters/letter pairs (examples provided: brown, drink, draw, crawl) and then read the words aloud, which requires students to blend phonemes to form single-syllable words.