Weeks 1 and 2: Throughout the first two weeks, reading lessons will emphasize learning the names and sounds of all the consonants and vowels in the alphabet.
Identify words with the long -a, long -e, long -i, and long -o sound, and distinguish them from words that contain short -a, short -e, short -i, short -o, and short -u sound.
Sound out words containing vowel pairs. A vowel pair consists of two vowels together. Sometimes the first vowel is pronounced long while the second is silent, or sometimes the second vowel modifies the pronunciation of the first. For example, “boat” is pronounced with a long -o, and “snail” is pronounced with a long -a, but “house” is pronounced differently from “you” or “though.” To help students remember this pattern, they may be taught the phrase “When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking.” Students should be able to use vowel pairs properly.
Weeks 3 and 4: The third and fourth weeks will focus on understanding phonics concepts such as consonant combinations that make a distinct consonant sound, such as “bl,” “st,” “ch,”, “tr,” “tw,” and “fr,” among others. These weeks will emphasize the use of worksheets to practice identifying words that contain these consonant blends.
Use consonant combinations to complete the spelling of common grade-level vocabulary words, with clues provided by pictures and a consonant combination bank to draw from. For example, the word [blank]-[blank]-o-o-l, followed by a picture of a stool, should be completed with the consonant combination “st.” Students should be able to complete worksheets on their own, without assistance.
Weeks 5 and 6: The fifth and sixth weeks will place emphasis on following along, reading, illustrating, and summarizing the plots of simple stories with pictures.
Weeks 7 and 8: The seventh and eighth weeks will focus on strengthening students' ability to write short stories composed of five or more sentences on their own.
With the help of their parents, students will create a book report using a story book format five to seven pages in length. The students will retell the story in their own words and include illustrations of key scenes for each page in the book report. Students may add their own interpretation of the story if they wish.
The ninth and final week of the course will consolidate the skills and abilities developed throughout the previous eight weeks into a comprehensive review.
Identify the vowel sounds (long and short) in single-syllable words
Identify consonant combinations in words with one or two syllables;
Identify the correct pronunciation of words containing vowel pairs;
Understand key details and plot elements of a story as it is read aloud;
Use contextual clues to identify the emotions, feelings, and sensations involved in the reading of a scene;
Summarize the key elements of a story in a four-to-five word paragraph;
Explain, using grade-level appropriate vocabulary words and terms, their own interpretation of a story or event.
Goals for the Curriculum
Throughout the 9-week course, students build reading comprehension skills according to standards for three major areas: literature, informational text, and foundational skills. The standards for reading literature should focus on verbal communication between students and their teacher in order to build up the students' understanding of literature. Throughout the entirity of the course, this will involve having the teacher read aloud to students from a story book and ask the students questions about the story to test their comprehension. Students should be able to answer questions about key details about the story and use emphatic language to describe the story's setting, characters, and plot. Students will further demonstrate their structural awareness by illustrating or retelling the central message or moral of a story. In weeks 4 through 6, students will learn to distinguish between different types of text, including those that tell a story and those that provide information. Students will become acquainted with biographical and informational textual forms. Using a variety of comprehension strategies, including the use of pictures and illustrations and question-and-answer sessions, students should develop their ability to describe connections between ideas and events in a text.
The goals of this curriculum as detailed in the skeleton outline are to bring each student to a working comprehension of concepts of print, including decoding and word-recognition skills. Students should be able to read at an appropriate rate and understand a range of grade-level vocabulary. When tested on their reading comprehension, they should be able to match words with their definitions. In addition, they should be phonetically proficient at sounding out words that contain more than one syllable. By systematically increasing word complexity and word length, students will be able to learn and practice decoding skills.
