Overview
Lesson Plans to help you customize your own program!
Using our Lesson Plans as a starting point, you can tailor-make your own phonics program. Here are a few suggestions to get you started:
- Learning how-to-read is a lot like exercise -- regular classes, spread out over time, is the best way to go.
- Reading lessons don't have to be long. For example, read for ten or fifteen minutes, and then work on activity sheets and handwriting.
- Do one lesson a day -- or two lessons, one in the morning, one in the afternoon.
- Don't rush. Parents and teachers spend an average of two weeks with each of our phonics books
Screen shots
Alphabet practice
It isn't enough to just "know" the alphabet -- ideally, a child knows it so well that he/she has instant recognition of the shapes and sounds. To help this along, we recommend practicing the alphabet EVERY DAY.
1. Print out the “Alphabet Review” pages for the book. (For Beginner Phonics Book 1, the focus is on nine letters : c, a, t, s, m, r, h, n, d.)
2. You can put the “letter pages” up on the wall, or use them like flash cards.
3. At the start of each reading lesson, spend a couple of minutes reviewing the alphabet letters recommended by the Lesson Plan -- for example, tap the sheet for Letter "a" and say "'ah for apple." Then have your children/students repeat that after you.
4. Then tap one of the pictures below the alphabet letter and read the caption (words) out loud. For example, one day you may choose, “angry ant,” and another day you may choose, “animal alphabet.” Then have your children/students repeat the words after you.
Word Wall (or flash cards)
You don't HAVE to do a "Word Wall" (or flash cards), but it does help, especially in larger classrooms where children aren't able to receive a lot of individual attention.
By practicing the words every day, in addition to the actual reading lesson, children get more "exposure" to the words, and this helps to increase retention and memory-recall speed.
- To practice the words, tap a word and sound it out. For example, "kuh, ah, tuh, says CAT." Then have your children/students repeat this after you.
- The words can be up on the wall, or you can hold them in your hands.
Note: The Lesson Plans give suggestions on which words to practice on which days.
LARGE Words (for larger classrooms):
MEDIUM words (for smaller classrooms):
SMALL words (for individual or small-group use):
Lesson Plans for Beginner Phonics Book 1
