You will find as we go along that we keep introducing new material, plus reviewing some of the old

Lesson One

Review sounds: m, short-a, t, s, short-o, and n.

List of sounds to introduce: hard-c (sounds like “k”) and d

Build some words using all the sounds so far: on, at, cat, mat, sat, sad, mad, man, tan, can, cot, sod, and & sand

Read: Set 1, Book 2 (“Sam”) pp.1-3

Lesson Two

Review sounds: short-a, hard-c, d, m, n, short-o, s, t

New sight word: O.K.

Read: Set 1, Book 2 “Sam” pp.4-ff

Again, as a reminder, when you are playing with word-building, you need to remember you have introduced sounds rather than letters. So do not use hard-s (z) sounds or soft-c (s) or long-o sounds, because you only introduced the other sounds for those letters. This is why, for instance, you will not put as or son on the list.

Also, because you are writing all of this down in your binder, when you do review, you do not need to reinvent the wheel, writing everything down again, unless you think this helps your particular student. You can point to where you already wrote out words or sounds, and simply review from there.

One more tip: use a pen or your finger to lead the child in sounding out the words from left to right. This will keep them from starting in the middle of the word. I don’t know why children like to do this, but they often do. This is why teaching them one-on-one is so helpful–it prevents these bad habits. As the student advances you can introduce to them the use of their own finger to sound the word out.

Lesson Three

Review sounds: short-a, hard-c, d, m, n, short-o, s, t

Review sight word: O.K.

Build some words using all the sounds so far: Dad, Mom, not, dot

Read: Set 1, Book 2 (“Sam”) pp. all

Please note that some students just cannot read the book all the way through. I find this to be especially true if the child is three (I have never taught a student younger than three). It is just slower going the younger the child is. So, if you have to stay on “Sam” for a few more days, that is fine.

I would encourage you not to ignore where a child lacks mastery. These books build one upon the other, so what the child struggles with needs to be pretty well smoothed over before moving on.

If a child is really struggling, you could play some word games. One thing that could be done for a change of scenery is to print out the Letter Matching Game, take out the letters the child has learned sounds for, and practice building some words. This can also be done with refrigerator magnets, or whatever else you have on hand. It makes it fun while offering review before progressing.

Another option for an extra-young or slower student is to slow down on the book itself. Reading a real book is what gives statisfaction to the student. So, if you do review and then only read a page or two, you can offer a bit of satisfaction each day without rushing so fast through the books.

If a child is struggling a lot, or just plain not having fun, and he is under the age of six (or has not yet lost his two front teeth), please consider reading my post Mortimer Adler on Reading Readiness. Sometimes, later is better than sooner! I recommend waiting until older ages to teach reading, unless the child is begging you to teach them. Initiating reading lessons before a child is ready doesn’t typically go well, in my experience.

It really just depends on whether or not a child is struggling with remembering all the sounds. A super-quick child might go faster than what I’m offering here, and then you’d just condense the lessons on each book down to two days. I would hesitate to do a book a day unless you are simply trying to figure out where a child is at in their competency.

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Read More:
–A Brief Argument for Phonics
–An Argument for Good Books
–A Brief Argument for Reality