Lesson 1 · Syllables
This module works like a pre-game huddle: one short preview before each curriculum week, so the concept comes out of your mouth smoothly on Monday. Week one's new idea is the syllable: the definition, the hand signals, the song, and the chin trick for counting.
Why syllables come first
Every long word your child will ever decode gets broken into syllables first. It's how fantastic becomes three easy chunks instead of one impossible wall. So the curriculum spends its very first week planting the definition deep: said aloud, signed with the hands, and sung. By Lesson 2 your child starts labeling syllable types, which is why this one has to be automatic.
Say it, sign it, sing it
The definition gets all three channels. Say it together at least three times with the signals: hands apart for a word, finger and thumb an inch apart for or part of a word, one finger up for with one vowel sound. Then play the Syllable Song and do the signals every time the definition comes around. It will be stuck in your head by Tuesday. That's the point.
The chin trick
Counting syllables needs zero theory: learning fingers under the chin, say the word, count the chin-drops. Vowel sounds open the jaw, so the chin counts vowels, which is the number of syllables, by definition. Monday's list: seven (2), mice (1), hotdog (2), window (2), truck (1), paper (2), yellow (2), toys (1), elephant (3). Keep it playful; try a family member's name or spaghetti for the giggle.
Mice has one syllable, not two
The trap word on Monday's list: mice has two vowel letters but one vowel sound. The chin knows: it only drops once. If it comes up, celebrate it: that's the definition doing its job.
Watch before Monday
Count syllables at dinner
Fingers under chins, everyone. Count spaghetti, each family member's name, and whatever's on the table. You're rehearsing Monday's activity, and your child gets to meet it as a game first.
Lesson 2 · Digraphs & Closed Syllables
Week two carries two new ideas: digraphs join the sound-card deck, and your child meets their first syllable type: the closed syllable. Both come with a hook: a thumbs-up game for digraphs, and a three-question sort for closed syllables.
Digraphs: two letters, one new sound
The five digraphs (sh, ch, th, wh, ck) each make a single new sound, and your child learns each as one card: sh as in shop, ch as in chat, th as in thin, wh as in whip, and ck, which just says /k/ as in duck. The contrast to teach is the blend: in stop, you can still hear both /s/ and /t/. In shop, the s and h have disappeared into something new. That's the test your child applies in the thumbs game: drip (blend, down), ship (digraph, up), then chip, clip, whip, slip, thin, chin, plan, than, duck, dust.
Closed syllables: the first syllable type
Three rules, counted on fingers: one vowel, followed by one or more consonants, and the vowel is short. It's called closed because the consonant closes in the vowel: cat, wish, mend, dog. Like the syllable definition last week, it gets said with hand signals and sung (the Closed Syllable Song). Then the word sort puts it to work: cat yes, boat no (two vowels), hi no (nothing closes it, the vowel says its name).
Blocks change this week too
In the phonemic awareness drill, a digraph is one sound, one block: chug is three blocks (/ch/ /u/ /g/), not four. If your child grabs four, that's the teachable moment.
Watch before Monday
Play the thumbs game on yourself
Run the word list without looking at the answers: drip, ship, chip, clip, whip, slip, thin, chin, plan, than, duck, dust. Any you hesitated on, say out loud and listen for whether both letters survived (blend) or vanished into a new sound (digraph).
Lesson 3 · Double Letters & Welded Sounds
Week three brings the first spelling rule (the double letter rule, with its unforgettable memory phrase “Lizz will miss Muff”) and the first welded sounds: chunks of letters your child learns as single units.
The rule, told as a story
The letters f, l, s, and z are shy. They don't like standing at the end of a word alone, so they bring a friend. In closed-syllable words, when the word ends in f, l, s, or z right after the vowel, the letter doubles: will, fall, ball, cliff, puff, miss, class, jazz, buzz. The memory phrase carries all four letters at once: “Lizz will miss Muff”: double z, double l, double s, double f. Point at the poster in the workbook (page 87) as you say it.
Three questions before doubling
The picture sort trains the full logic, because the rule has conditions: Is it a closed syllable? Is the last letter f, l, s, or z? Does it come right after the vowel? That third question is where the No-column words live: milk ends in k, shelf has an f after the l, gift has a t after the f. Walk the three questions out loud per picture, then switch to “Does this follow the doubling rule? Why or why not?”
Welded sounds: learn the chunk
This week also adds the first welded sounds (all, an, am, alk), letter chunks that always travel together and are easier to read as one unit than sound-by-sound. Introduce each card with its key word (ball, can, ram, chalk) and brainstorm more together: call, fall, wall… fan, man, tan… The chunks go into the sound-card deck and onto the tile mat, so from now on the quick drills include them automatically.
One careful distinction for alk
alk covers words spelled with a-l-k: walk, talk, chalk, stalk. Hawk sounds the same but is spelled differently. Keep it out of the brainstorm.
Watch before Monday
Test yourself on the sort
Without peeking: does it double? milk, pill, shelf, chess, waltz, cliff, kiss, cast, fizz, gift, lens, ball, golf, jazz, smell. (Answers: no, yes, no, yes, no, yes, yes, no, yes, no, no, yes, no, yes, yes.) The ones you missed are exactly the ones your child will ask about.
Lesson 4 · Plural ‘s’ & the Exceptions
The last week of month one. Your child discovers that plural s makes three different sounds, and meets five welded chunks that break the closed-syllable rule on purpose: old, ild, olt, ind, ost.
Let them discover the three sounds
Start on the tile mat with three words: cat to cats (s says /s/), bug to bugs (listen: that s says /z/), and dress to dresses (it already ends in s, so we add es, and it says /iz/). Then the three-column word sort does the real teaching: your child sorts words, then you look at each column together and ask what the endings have in common. They find the rule themselves (f/k/p/t/th take /s/; b/d/g/l/m/n take /z/; j/s/x/z/ch/sh take /iz/) and write it at the top of the column. A rule you discovered is a rule you keep.
The exceptions that prove the rule
Five welded chunks look like closed syllables but keep a long vowel: old (gold, sold, told), ild (child, wild, mild), olt (bolt, colt, jolt), ind (kind, find, mind), ost (post, host, most). Don't present them as rule-breaking. Present them as a short VIP list your child simply learns as units, the same way they learned all and an last week. The cards go in the deck; the chunks go on the mat; the quick drills handle the rest.
Your ear already knows this
Say cats and bugs out loud with a hand on your throat: /s/ is quiet, /z/ buzzes. Your child's mouth has been doing this correctly for years. The lesson just gives it letters.
Watch before Monday
Hand on throat, sort out loud
Say these plurals with a hand on your throat and call the sound: cups, beds, foxes, moths, cans, wishes, lips, frogs. (/s/, /z/, /iz/, /s/, /z/, /iz/, /s/, /z/.) Monday you'll be doing this with your child. Now you've already done it once.
You can run the whole first month
The weekly rhythm, every drill, and all four concepts: you've previewed it all. The optional knowledge check below is there if you want it; otherwise, go run Lesson 1.
Review Your First WeekThe four concepts, five questions
Totally optional. Your progress doesn't depend on it. Instant feedback on each question.