Kindergarten · Reading and writing · Unit

First Words to Read

5 lessonsabout 3 weeks

The unit ends with three more days: a review day, the unit check, and a day to act on what the check showed.

Unit 3 of 4 in the Kindergarten Reading and Writing Scope and Sequence

What's included in this unit

5 lessons in teaching order, each with its objective and a teacher note
23 practice pages to print, with an easier and a harder page where available
2 classroom tools for the projector
5 activities and pages that children do on a screen
5 check-up pages to collect
A worksheet maker for every lesson, for the day you need one more page

The whole unit in one file

Print every page of the unit at once, with the teacher guide first. The guide has one page per lesson: the objective, what to hand out, and the teacher note.

Teacher guide only (PDF)

The unit file, the teacher guide, and saved pages are included with the Teacher plan.

Your PDF is built in your browser, so it always has the newest version of every page.

Lessons

Lesson 1

Match words to pictures

Children read a short word and match it to the picture it names.

StandardCommon Core RF.K.3

2 class days

Day 1Teach: Picture Word Wall · Practice on paper (Core page)
Day 2Practice and check: Practice on paper (Easier page, Harder page) · Practice on screen · Check-up page

Warm up and teach

Open Picture Word Wall on the projector.

Practice on paper

Match Word to Picture
Core page
Picture Cards and Word Cards: Matching Pairs
Core page Easier page Harder page

Lesson 2

Sight words

Children read a common word at a glance, find it among words that look like it, and write it in a sentence.

StandardCommon Core RF.K.3.c

2 class days

Day 1Teach: Heart Words · Practice on paper (Core page)
Day 2Practice and check: Practice on paper (Easier page, Harder page) · Practice on screen · Check-up page

Warm up and teach

Open Heart Words on the projector.

Practice on paper

Sight Word in Sentences
Core page Easier page Harder page
Find the Sight Word
Core page Easier page Harder page

Practice on screen

Read Common Sight Words — Hear It, Tap It

Check-up page

One more page of Sight Word in Sentences to collect at the end of the lesson.

Make more

Make more pages like this with the Sight Words maker.

Teacher note

Common mistakes: Children mix up words that look alike (was and saw, on and no, the and they). With a word that has one irregular part, they sound out that part as it is spelled, say "sayd" for said or "wass" for was, and do not notice that it is not a word they know.
Words to use: Say: "Sound out the parts that play by the rules. One part you have to know by heart." Point to that part: "In 'said,' s and d say their sounds; the a-i says /e/, and that is the heart part." For a word with no tricky part: "This one plays by the rules all the way: /o/ /n/, on." Have children read the word, spell it aloud, and read it again: "said, s-a-i-d, said."
What to watch for: Check the look-alike boxes on the coloring page: they show which words a child confuses. Have the child read the finished sentences aloud; writing the word in is not the same as reading it.

Lesson 3

One and many

Children tell the word for one from the word for more than one and write the plural with s.

StandardCommon Core L.K.1.c

2 class days

Day 1Teach: Practice on paper (Core page)
Day 2Practice and check: Practice on paper (Easier page, Harder page) · Practice on screen · Check-up page

Practice on paper

One and Many: First Words
Core page Easier page Harder page
Singular and Plural
Core page Easier page Harder page

Practice on screen

Daisy's Plate Stack — More Than One

Check-up page

One more page of One and Many: First Words to collect at the end of the lesson.

Make more

Make more pages like this with the Singular, Plural & Articles maker.

Lesson 4

A or an?

Children say a picture word aloud and choose a or an to go in front of it.

Later gradeCommon Core L.1.1.h

2 class days

Day 1Teach: Practice on paper (Core page)
Day 2Practice and check: Practice on paper (Easier page) · Practice on screen · Check-up page

Practice on paper

A or An?
Core page Easier page
Circle the Right Word: Four Pictures
Core page Easier page

Practice on screen

A or An? (a page that checks the answers)

Check-up page

One more page of A or An? to collect at the end of the lesson.

Make more

Make more pages like this with the Singular, Plural & Articles maker.

Lesson 5

sh and ch

Children say a picture's name and decide whether it begins with the sound of sh or the sound of ch.

StandardCommon Core RF.K.2.d
Later gradeCommon Core RF.1.3.a

2 class days

Day 1Teach: Practice on paper (Core page)
Day 2Practice and check: Practice on paper (Easier page, Harder page) · Practice on screen · Check-up page

Practice on paper

Digraph Sort for Kindergarten: sh or ch
Core page Easier page Harder page

Practice on screen

Digraph Sort for Kindergarten: sh or ch (a page that checks the answers)

Check-up page

One more page of Digraph Sort for Kindergarten: sh or ch to collect at the end of the lesson.

Make more

Make more pages like this with the Phonics & Sounds maker.

Teacher note

Common mistakes: Children hear /sh/ and /ch/ as the same sound, or say one for the other: "shair" for chair, "chip" for ship. This is most common in children whose home language has only one of the two sounds, such as Spanish. Others name the picture with a different word (boat for ship) and then cannot find its sound.
Words to use: Say: "Two letters, one sound. sh says /sh/, the quiet sound. ch says /ch/, like a sneeze." Stretch the first sound: "shhhh-ip." You can hold /sh/; you cannot hold /ch/. Ask: "Can you hold the sound?"
What to watch for: Name every picture together before anyone draws a line, so that all children sort the same words. Have each child say the word before drawing the line. A child who sorts by looking and not by saying will not hear the difference; say the pairs together and feel the mouth: ship, chip; shoe, chew.

Unit check: before and after

Two short paper checks made from this unit's own worksheets. Give Check A before you teach the unit and Check B after it, and you can see what changed. Each part belongs to one lesson.

Part 1: Lesson 1, Match words to pictures (2 tasks)
Part 2: Lesson 2, Sight words (2 tasks)
Part 3: Lesson 3, One and many (1 task)
Part 4: Lesson 4, A or an? (2 tasks)

Not in the check: Lesson 5. Worksheets that cannot be split into single tasks are left out.

Check A (PDF) · 2 pages Check B (PDF) · 2 pages

Printing a check counts as a download, like any worksheet.

Answer key A Answer key B Teacher pages: points, class record, and what to do next

The answer keys and the teacher pages come with the paid Teacher plan.

This is a classroom check of this unit's lessons. It is not a standardized test, and its points are not a grade.

Unit checks