Courses · Phonics & Reading · Kindergarten to Grade 2
Phonics & Reading
A systematic, explicit phonics course that teaches children to read by sounding out every word. Short daily lessons (15–20 minutes) move from letter sounds to long words in three years. Each week brings a little story that retells a Bible story or an Aesop fable using only the sounds already taught, a verse from the King James Bible, and ball-and-stick handwriting.
Choose a grade
Not sure where to start? Every course opens with a 10-minute placement check.
Ages 5–6
Kindergarten
First Sounds, First Words: listening for sounds, every letter sound, blending and spelling short words, sh, ch, th, wh and ck, ng and nk, and blends.
Ages 6–7
Grade 1
Long Vowels and Many Words: silent e, -tch, -dge, -es, -ed and -ing, vowel teams, bossy r, oo, ou, oi, ew, aw, soft c and g, silent letters and two-syllable words.
Ages 7–8
Grade 2
Syllables and Stories: the six syllable types, dividing long words, prefixes and suffixes, ph, gh, eigh, air, -tion, -ture, schwa, ough, and reading chapter stories and poems.
How every lesson works
Each course is one school year: 8 units of 4 weekly lessons, plus an optional review unit. Every day follows the same short routine:
- Ears. A two-minute listening game with no letters.
- Card review. Flip the sound cards; say the sound.
- New sound. See it, say it, write it in ball-and-stick print.
- Blend and read. Tap each sound, sweep, say the word. No guessing.
- Spell and write. Say a word, tap its sounds, write it.
- Read the story. A decodable story that uses only what has been taught, checked word by word.
Heart words are taught by their sounds, with a heart over the one tricky part. Weekly quick checks and unit checks have answer keys. Each grade has a free printables pack: sound cards, heart-word cards, letter formation pages, word lists, story sheets and checks.