30 gap-closing lessons plus 6 above-grade enrichment challenges. The diagnostic pulls from this library automatically; enrichment unlocks only for readers placing Proficient or Advanced.
Phonemic Awareness Entry: K
Rhyme & Rhythm: Clap the Beat Use call-and-response chants and jump-rope rhymes to build rhyme awareness, then sort picture cards into rhyming families.
K.RF.2.A.b-c
Materials Playground rhyme chants Picture rhyme card deck Hand drum or clapping Phonemic Awareness Entry: K
First Sound Detectives Isolate initial sounds using students' own names and family names, then move to picture sorts by first sound.
Initial phoneme isolation K.RF.2.A.g
Materials Name cards for every child Sound sorting mat Mirror for mouth position Phonemic Awareness Entry: K
Blend It, Say It Say-it-slow / say-it-fast routine with counters. Students push a chip for each sound, then sweep to blend.
Blending phonemes into a word K.RF.2.A.f
Materials Sound chips and blending mats Teacher script with 24 CVC words Phonemic Awareness Entry: 1st
Sound Surgery: Add, Change, Take Away Elkonin boxes for four- and five-phoneme words, then oral manipulation games (say brand without /r/).
Phoneme deletion Segmenting four phonemes Medial phoneme substitution 1.RF.2.A.c, 1.RF.2.A.e
Materials Elkonin box strips Word ladder deck Timer for 3-minute rounds Phonemic Awareness Entry: 2nd
Syllable Drumline Drum and count syllables in long words drawn from the week's science and social studies vocabulary.
Syllable counting in multisyllabic words 2.RF.3.A.a
Materials Content vocabulary list Percussion or desk tapping Syllable tally sheet Phonics Entry: K
Letters in My Name Identify, build, and write the letters in the student's own name before moving to the full alphabet sequence.
K.RF.1.A.a
Materials Magnetic letters Name tracing strips Alphabet arc Phonics Entry: K
Sound Wall Anchors Introduce consonant and short-vowel graphemes with articulation cues and a sound wall the class builds together.
Letter-sound correspondence K.RF.3.A.a
Materials Sound wall cards Mirrors Decodable word list Phonics Entry: K
Heart Words: The Irregular Ones Map high-frequency words sound by sound and mark the 'heart part' that must be remembered by sight.
High-frequency word recognition K.RF.3.A.b, 3.RF.3.A.f
Materials Heart word mapping mats 50-word high-frequency set Phonics Entry: 1st
Digraphs & Blends Studio Contrast blends and digraphs through sorting and dictation, then read a decodable passage loaded with the target patterns.
Consonant digraphs Long vs. short vowel spelling 1.RF.3.A.c-d
Materials Sort cards (sh, ch, th, wh vs. sl, sp, st) Decodable passage Dictation notebook Phonics Entry: 2nd
Vowel Teams & Diphthongs Teach oi/oy, ou/ow, and vowel digraph patterns with a pattern-of-the-day routine and word building.
2.RF.3.A.d-e
Materials Vowel team chart Word building tiles Pattern journal Phonics Entry: 2nd
Bossy R Syllables Six-syllable-type instruction focused on ar, or, er, ir, ur, including two-syllable words.
R-controlled syllable patterns 2.RF.3.A.h
Materials Syllable type poster R-controlled word sort Reading passage Phonics Entry: 3rd
Spelling Rules That Actually Hold Doubling, drop-the-e, and change-y-to-i rules taught as decisions, with a flow chart students keep.
Doubling the final consonant 3.RF.3.A.b
Materials Rule flow chart Sorting deck Dictation set Phonics Entry: 4th
Chunking Long Words Scoop-and-read routine for four- and five-syllable content words, including ch = /k/ and other variant spellings.
Syllabication of multisyllabic words Variant spellings in academic words 4.RF.3.A.a, 5.RF.3.A.a
Materials Content-area word bank Scoop-and-read strips Highlighters Decoding Entry: K
Decodable Text Power Hour Read decodable stories with Black child protagonists that use only taught patterns, tracking accuracy each day.
K.RF.3.A.c
Materials Decodable story set Accuracy tracking sheet Decoding Entry: 1st
Compounds & Contractions Build and break compound words, then match contractions to their expanded forms in real sentences.
Compound words Contractions 1.RF.3.A.i
Materials Compound word puzzle pieces Contraction matching cards Decoding Entry: 2nd
Two-Syllable Word Attack Divide VC/CV and V/CV words, flexing the vowel sound when the first try does not make a real word.
2.RF.3.A.c
Materials Syllable division cards Flex-the-vowel prompt card Decoding Entry: 4th
Big Words in Real Books Apply the chunking routine to self-selected nonfiction, logging every long word conquered.
Irregular multisyllabic words Multisyllabic word attack Stress patterns in academic words 4.RF.3.A.a, 5.RF.3.A.a
Materials Nonfiction library shelf Big word log Peer check partner Fluency Entry: K
Tracking & Turning Pages Shared reading with a pointer, naming return sweep and one-to-one word matching.
Directionality and tracking K.RF.4.A
Materials Big book Pointer Chart of print concepts Fluency Entry: 1st
Does That Make Sense? Teach the stop-and-fix routine: reread the sentence when meaning breaks, confirm with the letters.
Self-correction using context 1.RF.4.A.a
Materials Stop-and-fix bookmark Partner reading pair list Fluency Entry: 2nd
Poetry & Preaching Voice Repeated reading of poems by Black poets, marking phrase scoops and emphasis before performing.
Expression and prosody Phrasing at clause boundaries 2.RF.4.A, 3.RF.4.A
Materials Poem set (Nikki Giovanni, Langston Hughes, Kwame Alexander) Phrase scoop pencils Fluency Entry: 4th
Read Like a Scientist Timed rereads of informational text with a purpose card that changes the reading rate and note-taking.
Adjusting rate for purpose Reading across genres with expression 4.RF.4.A, 5.RF.4.A
Materials Informational passages Purpose cards Rate/accuracy chart Vocab & Comp Entry: K
Sort, Name, Explain Category sorts using foods, tools, and objects from students' homes and neighborhoods, with oral explaining.
K.R.1.B.a
Materials Photo card sets from the community Sorting hoops Vocab & Comp Entry: K
Opposites & Shades of Meaning Build antonym pairs and synonym ladders (warm → hot → blazing) using words from the read-aloud.
K.R.1.B.b, 2.R.1.B.d
Materials Word ladder chart Read-aloud text Personal word bank Vocab & Comp Entry: 1st
Retell With the Details Five-finger retell with beginning, middle, end plus two key details, using family-story texts.
1.R.1.A.d
Materials Retell glove Story sequence cards Picture book set Vocab & Comp Entry: 3rd
Say What You Mean: Literal vs. Figurative Collect idioms from home and from books, then chart literal picture vs. real meaning.
Non-literal meaning Idioms and figurative language 3.R.1.B.d, 5.R.1.B.d
Materials Idiom collection journal Two-column chart Family interview prompt Vocab & Comp Entry: 3rd
Prove It With the Text Claim-evidence routine: state the central message or conclusion, then underline the exact lines that prove it.
Central message Drawing conclusions from evidence 3.R.1.A.c, 4.R.1.A.a
Materials Short text set Claim-evidence organizer Highlighters Morphology Entry: 1st
Root + Ending Machine Peel off -s, -ed, -ing to find the root, then rebuild words and read them in sentences.
Root words and inflectional endings 1.R.1.B.b
Materials Root word cards Ending strips Sentence frames Morphology Entry: 2nd
Prefix Power: re-, un-, pre-, dis- Teach four high-utility prefixes with meaning, then read and define unfamiliar words that use them.
Common prefixes Analyzing multi-affix words 2.R.1.B.a, 3.R.1.B.a
Materials Prefix meaning chart Word matrix Content-area word list Morphology Entry: 3rd
Suffix Studio: -less, -ful, -able, -ly Word matrix work: combine bases and suffixes, define the new word, and use it in speech.
Suffixes change meaning Building words with affixes 3.R.1.B.a
Materials Word matrix templates Suffix meaning cards Morphology Entry: 4th
Roots Across Subjects Study port, bio, graph, tele, and struct, then hunt for them in science and social studies texts.
Latin roots Greek roots in academic words 4.R.1.B.a, 5.R.1.B.a
Materials Root of the week poster Content textbooks Root notebook 