Science of Reading Guided Practice and Lesson Plans | First Grade

Are you looking to teach Science of Reading based curriculum for your First Grade classroom? It’s easier than you might think! The Science of Reading Guided Curriculum provides the necessary materials to guide you through explicit instruction based on the best practices aligned with the Orton-Gillingham approach to instruction.

These guided curriculum units for the Science of Reading are designed to align with SOR research and incorporate best practices to ensure that your instruction times are both enjoyable and effective.

Each lesson has been scripted for you and provides 30 minutes of explicit instruction. This can be used with your whole group, small group, or individual student tutoring practice. We have taken the guesswork out of planning your lessons. Simply print and teach! It is that easy!

If you’re new to the science of reading, don’t worry! This science of reading guided curriculum has got you covered. With systematic and explicit lesson plans for every day of the school year, you can feel confident you are teaching reading in a way that is aligned to brain research.

HOW IS THIS SET OF SCIENCE OF READING LESSON PLANS FORMATTED?

✔️ Teaching Slides for Each Day of the Week (Over 170 Slide Decks)

Each lesson begins with teacher slides that replace the need for flashcards. (YAY). The teacher slides provide a review of the previously taught phonics skills, blending practice, and high-frequency word recognition. These foundational skills are spirally reviewed. So not only are students practicing the skills introduced for the week, they are reviewing previously taught skills from the previous 6 weeks!

⭐ What the Science of Reading Research Says: Scientific research tells us that students need at least 4-6 weeks of practice with letter sounds to build mastery. Some students who experience reading difficulties may need additional practice. These slides can be used in your small groups to build a proficient reader.

✔️ Speech-to-Print Daily Practice (34 weeks)

Students will hear a sound and recite the letter that represents the sound. For example: In the scripted lessons, the teacher says, “/m/” and the students respond, “m says, “/m/.”

⭐ What the Science of Reading Research Says: Students need multi-sensory learning in order to become proficient and fluent readers. Oftentimes, teachers see a disconnect between what a student can read and what a student can write. Reading and writing are reciprocal so they are taught together. This is what teaching for mastery means.

✔️ High-Frequency Words Taught with Phonics Practice

We have structured the introduction of high-frequency words to align with phonics skills. Students will learn to read most of the high-frequency words by decoding them. Students will also learn irregular words using the heart word method of instruction.

⭐ What the Science of Reading Research Says: Rote memorization of sight words is unsustainable and will take a toll on reading fluency around the 3rd grade. Brain research suggests teaching students to first decode and orthographically map words instead of memorizing them. Once students have been TAUGHT how to read these high-frequency words, these words will be reviewed each week until the high frequency words become words students can read immediately (or in other words, sight words.)

✔️ Daily Dictation of Sounds, Words, and Sentences (Over 170 suggested dictation lessons)

• Sounds: Each day students will review 5 previously taught sounds. This is similar practice as the Speech-to-Print Practice. However, this portion of the lesson asks students to write what they hear.
• Words: Students will practice phonological awareness skills as they segment and write the 5 daily words that are dictated to them. Each word has been selected to align with the phonics skills the students have learned so far.
• Sentences: Each day a simple sentence is dictated to the students. Students practice sentence structure, spelling, writing conventions, language structures, high-frequency words, punctuation, handwriting, and more.

This is a perfect opportunity to work on handwriting. We have provided a set of dictation paper options that are designed to be laminated and reused each day. During your daily practice, you will see which students might need individual or small group support.

⭐ What the Science of Reading Research Says: Handwriting is important. Practicing the correct path of motion for each letter helps students learn more efficiently. Proficient reading and writing skills need to be practiced daily. These foundational literacy skills are essential for systematic instruction.

✔️ Decodable Readers (34 Decodable Texts)

Each week we have written a decodable reader that reviews the phonics skills practiced. There is also a page with the previous high-frequency words are reviewed and practiced for fluent reading. These decodable texts are used for the entire week and are available in three different formats:

• Printed Book
• Printed Single Page
• Digital Book

⭐ What the Science of Reading Research Says: Early reading instruction states that students should spend the majority of their time in texts where they can read all of the words. This means early literacy instruction must include decodable texts where over 75% of the text is decodable. Skilled reading should not include the 3 cueing system that was used during guided reading. Instead, students should feel successful by reading books they can decode.

I have provided professional development to over 8,000 teachers and over 27 school districts on the Science of Reading research and the best ways to bring effective reading instruction to their own classrooms.

FOR ADDITIONAL DECODABLE TEXTS TO USE IN YOUR SMALL GROUP, YOU WILL FIND AN ADDITIONAL 175 DECODABLE BOOKS IN THIS LINK:

• DECODABLE BOOKS SCIENCE OF READING ALIGNED DECODABLE READERS

PLEASE NOTE: THESE SCIENCE OF READING LESSONS ARE TEACHER-LED ACTIVITIES. THE SCOPE AND SEQUENCE ARE ALIGNED TO OUR ENGAGING READERS PHONICS SCOPE AND SEQUENCE:

• Phonics Worksheets & Lessons for First Grade

Here is what you will find in this Science of Reading Curriculum unit:

• Detailed daily scripted lessons to make your planning a breeze.
• Students will practice daily encoding and decoding.
• Dictation of letters, sounds, and words to teach toward mastery!
• Aligned with Orton-Gillingham best practices
• Multi-sensory lessons!
• Decodable texts in a book format for each week in a printable PDF and Google Classroom ready PowerPoint file! (34 for kindergarten)
• Decodable texts in a single page PDF format to practice weekly skills and review previously taught sounds (34 for kindergarten.)
• Daily Review Powerpoint (editable) set of slides that will review previously taught sounds, blending, and sight words. (180 kindergarten slides)
• Charts for your sound wall are included, plus helpful charts to guide you through the marking of words, sentences, and syllables.
• Scope and sequence for the whole year.
• Sound Wall Cards (editable)
• Flashcards for kindergarten (editable)
• Assessments (also added to ESGI- GET A 2 MONTH FREE TRIAL NOW!)

Download the preview and find a link to a FREE WEEK SOR lesson plan sample and the high-frequency word list for kindergarten.

Want to read up on the science of reading lesson plans? You can find these detailed science of reading articles:

• What Does a Science of Reading Lesson Plans Look Like? Free File Too
• Science Of Reading: What Is Word Mapping And How Do I Teach It?