First Grade - ELA
1: Environment
Unit 1: Habitats and Homes
Lesson 2
What Is a Map?
Students are asked to "sound out" letters and words while labeling items on map worksheets (Option 1 and Option 2) and to spell words the way they sound. Handwriting practice asks students to write and trace words such as map, mom, home, and house, providing opportunities to produce vowel sounds in single-syllable words. Scrambled-word labeling and fill-in-the-blank activities require students to decode and write single-syllable words (e.g., bed, sink, oven, chair).
2: Similarities and Differences
Unit 3: We're the Same, We're Different
Lesson 1
You're Special
Students are asked to "sound out" words for their answers and to write the letters they hear, which practices hearing and representing vowel sounds. The skills list includes "Represent spoken language with phonetic spelling," and Activity 1 asks students to attempt reading questions aloud and phonetically spell their answers. Activity 4 has handwriting practice for the letter Uu and tracing the word "unique," providing some exposure to the U vowel letter.
3: Patterns
Unit 2: Patterns in Sounds, Words, and Actions
Lesson 1
Word Patterns
The introduction asks the child to listen to and compare take, bake, rake and explains these words share the -ake pattern. Activity word lists and pages require students to identify and circle repeating word parts in single-syllable words such as hat/bat/cat, hen/pen, and frog/dog and to match or add rhyming words. The skills list states students will "recognize that spoken language has identifiable speech sounds," and activities have students say pairs aloud and record rhyming words from nursery rhymes.
6: Reading
Unit 1: Semester 1
Lesson 1
Letter Sounds Review I
The Skills list explicitly includes "Associate the long and short sounds with the common spellings for the five major vowels," indicating attention to long/short vowel concepts. Activity 1.2 directs students to practice the "short sound" of a (as in "apple") and asks them to identify short-a words from a video (apple, ant, ambulance). Multiple activities have students build and read CVC words (sat, mat, pat, cap, tap, sap) that use the short /a/ vowel, and students are asked to isolate and pronounce the medial vowel sound in three-letter CVC words.
Lesson 2
Letter Sounds Review II
The lesson explicitly instructs students to work with the short i sound (Activity 1.2), including watching a "Short Vowel Letter i" video and answering "What sound does short i make?" Students practice isolating medial vowel sounds in CVC words and blending/segmenting single-syllable words (Skills list and multiple activities: Building Words, Word Families, Writing Words). The skills list also states that students will "Associate the long and short sounds with the common spellings for the five major vowels," indicating awareness of long/short vowel concepts.
Lesson 3
Letter Sounds Review III
The lesson explicitly has students listen to and produce the short vowel sounds /o/ and /u/ (Activity 2.1) and practices sorting and labeling spoken single-syllable words by their short vowel sound (Activity 2.2 "Short o and Short u" picture sort). Students also build and read short-o and short-u word families (Activities 3.3 and 4.2) and repeatedly say the vowel sounds while writing or reading words (Writing Words, Building Words). The skills list further states that students will "Associate the long and short sounds with the common spellings for the five major vowels."
Lesson 5
Adding s, More Word Families, Ending with ck
Activity 4.1 asks students to say the short vowel sounds (/a/ as in "bat," /e/ as in "met," /i/ as in "sit," /o/ as in "cot," /u/ as in "mud"). The Skills list explicitly includes that students will "isolate and pronounce the initial, medial vowel, and final sounds in three letter (CVC) words" and "associate the long and short sounds with the common spellings for the five major vowels." Multiple activities have students build, read, and sort CVC word families (am, an, ab, ag, ack, eck, ick, ock, uck) and practice medial vowel sounds through word-family sorting, word chains, and word-building tasks.
Lesson 6
Open Syllables and Digraph th
The lesson defines open syllables as ending in a vowel whose vowel "says its name" (long vowel) and closed syllables as ending in a consonant with a short vowel. Students sort and read columns of paired words (he/hen, so/sob, no/not, hi/hit) and are asked to identify whether each is open or closed and to read the words aloud. Students physically manipulate letter cards to change closed words to open words (wet → we, met → me, bed → be, sob → so, got → go) and then read the resulting words, explicitly linking the change to the vowel saying its name versus having a short sound.
Lesson 7
Consonant Digraphs ch, sh, wh, ph
The Day 3 activity 'Open Syllables with Digraphs' has students read and compare pairs such as go/got and she/ship and identify which is an open syllable (vowel says its name) versus a closed syllable (vowel has a short sound). The skills list explicitly includes "Associate the long and short sounds with the common spellings for the five major vowels" and activities ask students to read I, hi, my, by, shy, why and note the vowel-name sounds. Students are asked to read the words and identify the open vs. closed syllable words, reinforcing the long vs. short vowel distinction in spoken single-syllable words.
Lesson 8
Blends with s
Students are asked to highlight two words that have the short e sound (get, sled) and to say words slowly to hear all sounds, which explicitly targets vowel sound identification. Students are taught that open syllables like "by" and "me" make the vowel say its name, directly teaching long-vowel identification. The skills list tells students to "associate the long and short sounds with the common spellings for the five major vowels" and to isolate and pronounce initial, medial vowel, and final sounds in CVC words. Activity 4.1 gives spoken clues that require students to identify and write words based on specific short vowel sounds (e.g., short /a/, short /e/).
Lesson 9
Blends with l
Students are asked in Activity 1.1 to highlight two words that have the short a sound (e.g., last, slam, that, and), which requires them to listen for and identify a short vowel in single-syllable words. The Skills list explicitly includes that students "Associate the long and short sounds with the common spellings for the five major vowels" and "Isolate and pronounce the initial, medial vowel, and final sounds in three letter (CVC) words," which indicates practice with vowel sounds and medial vowels in single-syllable words. Multiple word-building and dictation activities (writing and spelling CVC and blend words while listening closely to sounds) require students to segment and pronounce vowel sounds in spoken single-syllable words.
Lesson 10
Blends with r
The lesson's Skills list explicitly states that students will "Associate the long and short sounds with the common spellings for the five major vowels" and that they will "Isolate and pronounce the initial, medial vowel, and final sounds in three letter (CVC) words." Activity 1.3 directly asks the child which sight word has an open syllable (by), which implicitly prompts recognition of a long vowel in a single-syllable word. Several word-building and writing activities require students to say words slowly and segment sounds (e.g., Writing Words: say each word slowly so that she can hear all the sounds), which could support hearing vowel contrasts.
Lesson 11
Ending Blends
The Skills section explicitly states that students will "Associate the long and short sounds with the common spellings for the five major vowels" and "Isolate and pronounce the initial, medial vowel, and final sounds in three letter (CVC) words." Students read and spell many single-syllable CVC words (e.g., sand, pond, lamp, elf, mint) during word-building and dictation activities. Activity instructions have students say individual letter sounds and blend them (for example saying /n/ and /d/ separately then together for -nd), which requires attending to vowel and consonant sounds in single-syllable words.
Lesson 12
Double ll, ss, ff, zz (FLOSS)
Students are asked to decide whether words "have only one short vowel" as part of the three-question FLOSS checklist and to answer yes/no for example words (cat, moss, huff, tell, pig). The skills list explicitly includes "Associate the long and short sounds with the common spellings for the five major vowels," "Isolate and pronounce the initial, medial vowel, and final sounds in three letter (CVC) words," and "Segment spoken single-syllable words into their complete sequence of individual sounds." Activities have students clap syllables to hear one-beat (single-syllable) words and isolate medial vowel sounds during word-building and spelling exercises (e.g., spelling CVC FLOSS words and underlining double consonants after reading words aloud).
Lesson 15
More Ending Blends
The lesson's skills list explicitly states students will "Associate the long and short sounds with the common spellings for the five major vowels" and that they will "Isolate and pronounce the initial, medial vowel, and final sounds in three letter (CVC) words." Students also practice reading and spelling many single-syllable CVC and CCVCC words (pat, pact, let/left, milk, melt, etc.), and they repeatedly isolate and pronounce vowel sounds as part of word building and dictation activities.
Lesson 16
R-Controlled Vowels (ar)
Students spell and read the CVC word "cat" and are told that the letter a makes the short /a/ sound in "cat." Students spell and read the R-controlled word "car" and are prompted to hear how r changes the vowel (they listen for the rhyme with "far" and "star") and then read multiple ar words (bar, far, car, tar, jar, par). The skills list also states that students should "associate the long and short sounds with the common spellings for the five major vowels," and activities ask students to isolate and pronounce medial vowel sounds in CVC words.
Lesson 17
Semester Review
The lesson's Skills list explicitly states that students will "associate the long and short sounds with the common spellings for the five major vowels" and will "isolate and pronounce the initial, medial vowel, and final sounds in three letter (CVC) words," which directly relates to vowel-length awareness. Several activities require students to choose vowels and complete or read words (Activity 3.1 word-building game) and to write and read single-syllable words (Activity 2.3 writing words and various word-building items), providing opportunities to hear and produce vowel sounds. The Word Collection review and word-building tasks have students read and manipulate single-syllable words and word families, which can surface long and short vowel patterns in spoken words.
Unit 2: Semester 2
Lesson 1
Long Vowels a and i with Silent e
The skills list and weekly focus explicitly state that students will "Distinguish long from short vowel sounds in spoken single-syllable words." Activities require oral responses: in Activity 2.1 the teacher says a list of words and students raise their hand when they hear the long a sound, and in Activity 3.1 students stand for words with the long i sound. Multiple tasks ask students to point to vowel letter cards for the long vowel heard, sort pictures into short vs long vowel columns, and respond to minimal pairs (e.g., mat/mate, bit/bite) to hear the difference.
Lesson 2
Long Vowels o, u, and e with Silent e
Students are asked to sort and label words and pictures by short versus long vowel sounds for e (Activity 1.2), o (Activity 2.1), and u (Activity 3.1), including writing words in separate columns and placing pictures into /e/ vs /ē/, /o/ vs /ō/, and /u/ vs /ū/ columns. Students orally produce and listen for vowel sounds when asked questions such as "Do these words have the short or long e sound?" and when they spell and read word pairs that change vowel sound by adding silent e (e.g., rob/robe, hop/hope, cub/cube). Students practice blending and segmenting single-syllable words, spell words with letter cards while identifying whether each has a short or long vowel, and complete reading and listening activities (word building, reader reading, and rhyming) focused on single-syllable vowel contrasts.
Lesson 3
Hard and Soft c and g
Students complete a "Long Vowel Sounds Review" in which they name pictured words and place each picture into columns headed by long-vowel symbols (ā, ē, ī, ō, ū). The activity lists and groups single-syllable picture examples (cane, cake, kite, bone, two, etc.) and instructs students to cut, sort, and glue pictures based on their long vowel sounds. The Skills section explicitly states the target skill: "Distinguish long from short vowel sounds in spoken single-syllable words."
Lesson 4
More R-Controlled Vowels (er, ir, or, ur)
The lesson's Skills list explicitly includes "Distinguish long from short vowel sounds in spoken single-syllable words" and includes "Know final -e and common vowel team conventions for representing long vowel sounds." In Activity 1.2 students change chat to chart and discuss how the vowel sound changes when r is added, and they examine the word "large," underlining ar and the silent e while discussing the silent e's role versus making a vowel say its name. The introduction and Day 3 note that students already know long vowel sounds and ask them to apply that knowledge when reading and decoding r-controlled and final-e words.
Lesson 5
Long a Spellings ai, ay
The lesson explicitly defines long vowel sounds and states that ai and ay make the long a sound. Students are asked orally and in print to identify whether words (e.g., lake, made, cape, page; may, way; him, has) have long or short vowel sounds and to make the long a sound (Activity 1.2, 1.3, 2.1, 3.1). Multiple activities require students to read, spell, sort, and underline words with ai/ay and to point to long a words in the weekly message and reader (Activities 2.2, 3.1, 3.3, Day 5 wrap-up). The skills list also explicitly includes "Distinguish long from short vowel sounds in spoken single-syllable words."
Lesson 6
Long e Spellings ee, ey, ea
Students sort word cards into "Short e" and "Long e" pages while the adult reads words aloud and asks which has the short or long e sound (Activity 1.2). Students are asked to listen to words read aloud and place them on the correct page, then read the words themselves; the Skills list also explicitly includes "Distinguish long from short vowel sounds in spoken single-syllable words." Additional spoken reading and identification occur in Day 2 (reading/highlighting long e spellings and reading words aloud) and the Wrapping Up activity (pointing to words with the long e sound).
Lesson 7
Long i Spellings y, igh, ie
The Skills list explicitly includes "Distinguish long from short vowel sounds in spoken single-syllable words." In Activity 2.1, students pick up sight-word cards that have long vowel sounds (and leave out "could" and "than"), then group the cards by long-vowel sound (e.g., /ī/: my, like, by). Multiple activities require students to read, say, and sort single-syllable words by their long i spellings (y, igh, ie, i_e) and to point out long i words in the Weekly Message.
Lesson 8
Long o Spellings ow, oa, oe
Students hear and read paired examples (e.g., teacher reads "dock" and "rope") and are asked which has the short vs. long o, then place words on Short o and Long o pages (Activity 1.2). Students repeatedly read, sort, and glue single-syllable words into short-o and long-o groups (Activities 1.2, 4.2) and take a spelling test and dictation that require producing and identifying long o versus short o words (Day 4 Spelling Test, Day 5 Sentence Dictation). Students also orally identify the long o in sight words and the weekly message, and they listen and respond to questions about long o words (Activity 1.3, Wrapping Up).
Lesson 9
Long u Spellings ue, ew, ou
The Skills list explicitly includes "Distinguish long from short vowel sounds in spoken single-syllable words." In Activity 1.2, students read tub/cut/cub (short u) and then tube/cute/cube (long u), answer "What vowel sound does each word have?", explain what changed, and listen for the two long-u pronunciations. The lesson has an oral listening task where students clap when they hear a word with the long u sound in a spoken list, and Day 4 and Day 5 include spoken/read-aloud sorting, rereading, and dictation tasks that require identifying long vs short u sounds.
Lesson 10
Other Long Vowel Patterns
The lesson explicitly lists the skill "Distinguish long from short vowel sounds in spoken single-syllable words" and directs students to point to and identify long vowel words in the Weekly Message while the adult rereads it (Activity 1.1). In Activities 1.2, 2.1, 3.1, and 4.1 students build, read, and spell pairs of single-syllable words (e.g., wind vs. mild; cold/sold/gold; colt/bolt/jolt; find/kind/mind) while the teacher highlights that some spellings yield long vowels. Word sorting, reading aloud, sentence dictation, and the spelling test require students to read and distinguish words that have expected short vowels versus the irregular long-vowel pronunciations (ild, ind, ost, old, olt).
Lesson 11
Long Vowel Sounds Review
The Skills list explicitly includes "Distinguish long from short vowel sounds in spoken single-syllable words." In Activity 1.1, students listen to the teacher read the Weekly Message and point to words that have long vowel sounds, practicing oral identification. Multiple Reader Review activities (Days 2–5) ask students to listen/read and find long vowel words aloud and write them, and Activity 4.1 asks students to tell which letters make the long e sound when they find a word. Word-sorting and word-scramble activities (Activities 1.2, 2.2, 3.3, 5.2) have students produce and sort single-syllable words by their long vowel sounds.
Lesson 12
Other Vowel Sounds oi, oy
The Skills list explicitly includes "Distinguish long from short vowel sounds in spoken single-syllable words." In Activity 1.2 (Short and Long o Review), students draw letters, build words aloud, and sort each spelled word into "short o" or "long o" columns. Activity 1.1 and Activity 3.1 ask students to listen and point to or identify words with long vowel sounds in the Weekly Message and in a sight-word search, providing auditory discrimination practice.
Lesson 13
Other Vowel Sounds ou, ow
In Activity 1.2 (Writing o Words) students identify pictures, say each single-syllable word slowly, and write the word while being reminded to think about the difference between short and long o sounds. Day 2 word-sorting and Activity 2.2 ask students to sort and place words into columns (e.g., OW = ō vs OW vs OU) and to read each word aloud, explicitly contrasting the long o spelling/ sound with other o sounds. The Skills list and multiple activities instruct students to attend to long vs short o sounds and to use that awareness when decoding and spelling single-syllable words.
Lesson 14
Other Vowel Sounds aw, au
The Skills list explicitly includes "Distinguish long from short vowel sounds in spoken single-syllable words." Students are asked to say and sort words that share the short o sound (Activity 2.1, Activity 2.2) and to read aloud words with aw/au after watching videos that demonstrate those sounds. Students are also prompted to read and explain the sight word "made" using the silent-e rule (long a) and to point to letters making the vowel sound in words (Wrapping Up).
Lesson 15
These Make More Than One Sound: oo and ea
The Skills list explicitly includes "Distinguish long from short vowel sounds in spoken single-syllable words." In Activity 1.2, students name pictures, cut them out, and sort oo words into two groups (book/hook/foot vs. spoon/boot/etc.), are asked "Which group has the long u sound?" and are prompted to point to groups as the teacher says words aloud. In Activity 3.1 and 3.2, students sort ea pictures and words into groups for long e, short e, and long a, answer which group has the long/short sounds, and repeat words aloud to hear the differences.
Lesson 16
Silent Starts: kn, wr, gn
The Skills list explicitly includes "Distinguish long from short vowel sounds in spoken single-syllable words." In Activity 4.1 students read words aloud, group them by vowel sounds, and are given explicit groupings that separate short (e.g., wrap, wren, knit, knob) and long vowel examples (e.g., knee, knife, gnome). Activity 3.1 asks students to identify the vowel sound in "write" and points to the silent e to reinforce the long i sound, and Activity 1.1 prompts discussion of vowel sounds and how they are made.
Lesson 17
Year-End Review
The Skills list explicitly names "Distinguish long from short vowel sounds in spoken single-syllable words." Activity 2.1 has students sort words into long vowel columns (ā, ē, ī, ō, ū) and read them aloud. Activity 1.3 asks students to identify that the sight words "only" and "over" begin with the long o sound, and Activity 1.2 asks students to compare the two ea pronunciations (wreath: long e; bread: short e). Several Alphabet Soup activities prompt students to read and create words with different vowel sounds, including spoken practice.