Grade 1 · Reading and writing · Unit

Sounds, Spelling, and Syllables

6 lessonsabout 4 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 1 of 3 in the Grade 1 Reading and Language Scope and Sequence

What's included in this unit

6 lessons in teaching order, each with its objective and a teacher note
35 practice pages to print, with an easier and a harder page where available
5 classroom tools for the projector
6 activities and pages that children do on a screen
6 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

Rhyming words

Children say picture words aloud, find the ones that rhyme, and write the rhyming words.

ReviewsCommon Core RF.K.2.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

Lesson 2

Word families

Children read the words of a word family, find the one that names a picture, and write its beginning before the ending.

StandardCommon Core RF.1.3.b

3 class days

Day 1Teach: Blending Board · Practice on paper (Core page)
Day 2Practice and check: Practice on paper (Easier page, Harder page) · Practice on screen · Check-up page
Day 3Reteach and extend: Act on the check-up pages: reteach the children who are not there yet, with the tool and a new page from the maker; the others take a harder page.

Warm up and teach

Open Blending Board on the projector.

Practice on paper

Word Families: Read and Circle
Core page Easier page Harder page
Word Families: Read and Write
Core page Easier page Harder page

Practice on screen

Read the Word, Tap the Picture — Decoding CVC Words

Check-up page

One more page of Word Families: Read and Circle to collect at the end of the lesson.

Make more

Make more pages like this with the Syllables maker.

Lesson 3

Sound boxes

Children say a word slowly, write one sound in each box, and blend the sounds in the boxes back into a word.

StandardCommon Core RF.1.2.b
StandardCommon Core RF.1.2.d

3 class days

Day 1Teach: Sound Boxes · Practice on paper (Core page)
Day 2Practice and check: Practice on paper (Easier page, Harder page) · Practice on screen · Check-up page
Day 3Reteach and extend: Act on the check-up pages: reteach the children who are not there yet, with the tool and a new page from the maker; the others take a harder page.

Warm up and teach

Open Sound Boxes on the projector.

Practice on paper

Sound Strip: How Many Sounds?
Core page Easier page Harder page
Blend the Sounds
Core page Easier page

Practice on screen

Coco's Sound Boxes — First, Middle & Last Sounds

Check-up page

One more page of Sound Strip: How Many Sounds? to collect at the end of the lesson.

Make more

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

Lesson 4

sh, ch, and th

Children hear which letter team a picture word has, sh, ch, or th, and write the missing team in the word.

StandardCommon Core RF.1.3.a

3 class days

Day 1Teach: Dictation Desk · Practice on paper (Core page)
Day 2Practice and check: Practice on paper (Easier page, Harder page) · Practice on screen · Check-up page
Day 3Reteach and extend: Act on the check-up pages: reteach the children who are not there yet, with the tool and a new page from the maker; the others take a harder page.

Warm up and teach

Open Dictation Desk on the projector.

Practice on paper

Digraphs sh, ch and th: Which Letter Team Do You Hear?
Core page Easier page Harder page
Missing Digraphs: Write sh, ch or th
Core page Easier page Harder page

Practice on screen

Build Blend and Digraph Words

Check-up page

One more page of Digraphs sh, ch and th: Which Letter Team Do You Hear? to collect at the end of the lesson.

Make more

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

Lesson 5

Spell the picture word

Children say a picture word, listen for its sounds, and write the word, first with the first letter given and then on their own.

StandardCommon Core L.1.2.e
StandardCommon Core L.1.2.d

3 class days

Day 1Teach: Letter Tiles · Practice on paper (Core page)
Day 2Practice and check: Practice on paper (Easier page, Harder page) · Practice on screen · Check-up page
Day 3Reteach and extend: Act on the check-up pages: reteach the children who are not there yet, with the tool and a new page from the maker; the others take a harder page.

Warm up and teach

Open Letter Tiles on the projector.

Practice on paper

Write the Word: The First Letter Is Given
Core page Easier page Harder page
Write the Word on Plain Lines
Core page Easier page Harder page

Practice on screen

Word Doctor's Clinic — Heal the Sick Sound

Check-up page

One more page of Write the Word: The First Letter Is Given to collect at the end of the lesson.

Make more

Make more pages like this with the Word Tracing & Writing maker.

Lesson 6

Syllables

Children clap the parts of a word, mark each syllable, and write a word with a dash between its syllables.

3 class days

Day 1Teach: Syllable Splitter · Practice on paper (Core page)
Day 2Practice and check: Practice on paper (Easier page, Harder page) · Practice on screen · Check-up page
Day 3Reteach and extend: Act on the check-up pages: reteach the children who are not there yet, with the tool and a new page from the maker; the others take a harder page.

Warm up and teach

Open Syllable Splitter on the projector.

Practice on paper

Syllable Division
Core page Easier page Harder page
Write the Word in Syllables
Core page Easier page Harder page

Practice on screen

Domino's Two-Part Words — Read Two-Syllable Words

Check-up page

One more page of Syllable Division to collect at the end of the lesson.

Make more

Make more pages like this with the Syllables maker.

Teacher note

Common mistakes: Children clap once for each sound or each letter, or they stretch a one-syllable word into two claps ("ca-at"). In writing they put the dash anywhere, often after the first letter.
Words to use: Say: "Put your hand under your chin. Say the word. Every time your chin drops is a syllable: rab-bit, two." Then: "Every syllable has one vowel sound. Two consonants between the vowels? Split between them: rab-bit, pen-cil." Say words in a robot voice: "pen-cil."
What to watch for: Use the chin check with children who clap too many, and have children who clap too few hum the word; the chin hardly moves on sounds like ee (ba-by, bun-ny). On the dash page, check that each part has a vowel letter, and count y as a vowel at the end of a word (pup-py, can-dy); a part with no vowel cannot be a syllable.

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 2, Word families (3 tasks)
Part 2: Lesson 3, Sound boxes (2 tasks)
Part 3: Lesson 5, Spell the picture word (2 tasks)

Not in the check: Lesson 1, Lesson 4, Lesson 6. 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