First Grade Reading Lessons & Activities by CoreKnowledge

In these first grade language arts reading lessons and units, students first learn to listen for and isolate a single sound and are then taught the spelling for that sound. Typically in this type of lesson, the teacher introduces the sound and conducts various oral language activities with the students to be certain they can identify the sound orally. The teacher then presents the spelling for that sound and models writing the spelling, as well as sounding out simple one-syllable words that use the spelling. Additional reading and writing practice opportunities for students then follow. The listening units include an anthology, supplemental guide, flip-charts, image cards. Also look at CoreKnowledge’s Second Grade Reading Lessons and Activities by CoreKnowledge and Kindergarten Reading Lessons & Activities.

Basic Code Spellings taught in these Grade 1 Lessons and Activities

Vowel Sounds and Spellings:

/a/ as in hat
/o/ as in hop
/i/ as in it
/e/ as in pet
/u/ as in but
/ee/ as in bee
/ae/ as in cake
/ie/ as in bite
/oe/ as in home
/ue/ as in cute
/oo/ as in soon
/oo/ as in look
/ou/ as in shout
/oi/ as in oil
/aw/ as in paw
/er/ as in her
/ar/ as in car
/or/ as in for

Consonant Sounds and Spellings:

/p/ as in pot
/t/ as in top
/d/ as in dot
/k/ as in cat, kid
/g/ as in gift
/n/ as in nut
/h/ as in hot
/s/ as in sun
/f/ as in fit
/v/ as in vet
/z/ as in zip
/m/ as in mad
/b/ as in bat
/l/ as in lip
/r/ as in red
/w/ as in wet
/j/ as in jump
/y/ as in yes
/x/ as in tax
/ch/ as in chin
/sh/ as in shop
/th/ as in thin
/th/ as in them
/qu/ as in quit
/ng/ as in sing

The Advanced Code consists of all other spelling alternatives (over 100) used to spell the 44 phonemes in English. Examples of alternative spellings include ‘mm’ > /m/, ‘ss’> /s/, ‘c’ > /s/, ‘g’ > /j/, ‘ay’ > /ae/, ‘ey’ > /ee/. Some of these spelling alternatives occur relatively frequently in the English language, while others are quite rare.

The new Advanced Code taught in Grade 1 includes: