Parent guide · Grade 1 Phonics & Reading: Long Vowels and Many Words · Unit 6
Lesson 6.4 Bossy R Review; Unit 6 Check
Written for the parent. Read the Say this lines aloud as they are, or in your own words. Answers for you are marked Listen for.
At a glance
- Time
- 5 sessions of 15–20 minutes
- Goal
- I can tap and blend words such as farm , harvest , corn . I can read the heart words woman and say which part is learned by heart. I can read “The Farmer and His Sons” and tell it back.
- You need
- Heart-word cards (printables pack)
- Primary-ruled paper and a pencil
- A King James Bible
- the lesson page (it also has an explainer to read aloud (about 10 minutes))
Steps
Do this: Read fast: car, fork, her, bird, fur, more, star, turn.
Do this: Tap and blend. For each word your child touches each letter (or letter team) and says its sound, then sweeps a finger under the whole word and says it smoothly. Never guess from the first letter or a picture. If a word is misread, point to the part that was missed and blend again from the start.
Do this: Spell it. Say a word. Your child says it back, taps the sounds on his or her fingers, then writes one letter (or letter team) for each sound. Check together, sound by sound.
Do this: Heart words. A heart word is mostly regular. We tap it like any other word, and draw a heart over the one part that does not follow the rules we know yet. Practise the heart words on cards every day this week (see the table below).
Do this: The week at a glance. Day 1: warm-up, new sound, handwriting. Day 2: card review, word lists, spelling. Day 3: second new sound or more words, heart words. Day 4: read the story, talk about it. Day 5: reread the story for fluency, play the game, quick check (10 words, 1 sentence, 5 spelling words). Read the read-aloud at another time of day.
Show: Blend farm.
Say this: “Touch and say: /f/ /ar/ /m/.”
Say this: “Sweep your finger under the word and say the sounds again, faster, without stopping between them.”
Say this: “Say the word: farm . Use it in a sentence.”
Answer: farm
Show: Blend harvest.
Say this: “Touch and say: /h/ /ar/ /v/ /e/ /s/ /t/.”
Say this: “Sweep your finger under the word and say the sounds again, faster, without stopping between them.”
Say this: “Say the word: harvest . Use it in a sentence.”
Answer: harvest
Do this: Your child does these with you. Let them try first; help only after a real try.
Ask: Read: farm · harvest · corn · worker
Listen for: farm = f | ar | m; harvest = h | ar | v | e | s | t; corn = c | or | n; worker = w | or | k | er
Ask: Read: burst · dirt · shore · smart
Listen for: burst = b | ur | s | t; dirt = d | ir | t; shore = sh | ore; smart = s | m | ar | t
Ask: Read: storm · sister
Listen for: storm = s | t | or | m; sister = s | i | s | t | er
4 more practice items on the lesson page.
- Guessing from the first letter or the picture. Cover the picture and ask the child to tap every sound.
- Dictation: farm, corn, her, bird, turn.
- Use the ball-and-stick lines: tall letters touch the top line, short letters touch the middle line, tails go below the base line.
Copywork: Write each word once, saying the sounds as you write: farm, harvest, corn, worker, burst, dirt.
Word Sounds Heart part woman /w/ /ŏŏ/ /m/ /ŭ/ /n/ ♥ o says /ŏŏ/ The Farmer and His Sons
A farmer was sick. He said to his sons, "There is gold in the farm. Dig for it."
The farmer died. The sons got up first thing and dug and dug. They dug up all the dirt of the farm. No gold!
But the farm had been dug so well that the corn sprang up. The harvest was the best in the land.
Then the sons got what the farmer meant. The gold was the harvest! Hard work is better than gold.
Retold from Aesop. Before reading, show your child these story words and read them together: thing, better, harvest.
Every word in this story uses only the sounds and heart words taught so far (checked by the School Launch decodability checker). Read a page a day on Days 3 and 4, and the whole story on Day 5.
- What did the farmer tell his sons?
Answer
There is gold in the farm; dig for it.
- Did they find gold?
Answer
No.
- What happened to the farm?
Answer
It gave the best harvest in the land.
- What is the lesson?
Answer
Hard work is the real treasure.
Then ask your child to tell the whole story back in his or her own words (narration).
- What did the farmer tell his sons?
Aesop: The Farmer and His Sons. Read the original.
The read-aloud is for listening, not decoding. Read it to your child at another time of day.
Bingo with ar, or, ore, er, ir and ur words.
Say this: “Tell me the new sounds you learned this week, and read me one word.”
Listen for: I can tap and blend words such as farm , harvest , corn .; I can read the heart words woman and say which part is learned by heart.; I can read “The Farmer and His Sons” and tell it back.
Pippa's Song (Robert Browning)
The year’s at the spring,
The day’s at the morn;
Morning’s at seven;
The hillside’s dew pearled;The lark’s on the wing;
The snail’s on the thorn;
God’s in His heaven—
All’s right with the world!This week: Pause at the marks. Stop briefly at every comma and a little longer at every period. Pauses help listeners think.
- Day 1: The teacher says it twice; the child echoes it one line at a time.
- Days 2–4: Say it together each morning; drop one line of help each day.
- Day 5: Say the title and the poet, then the poem. Stand up and say it alone for the family.
In all labour there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury.
Work brings good; empty talk does not.
Spread over the week
5 sessions of 15–20 minutes. Stop while it is still going well.
- Session 1. Warm-up, then teach the new idea (steps 1 and 2).
- Session 2. Warm-up again, then show how with the examples.
- Session 3. Practice together, then play the game.
- Session 4. More practice, handwriting and reading, and the daily habit.
- Session 5. Quick check: narration and a few practice items. Move on when it is mostly right.
For you
For families. Keep each session short and cheerful: 15 to 20 minutes, then stop. If your child is tired or frustrated, stop and finish tomorrow. A lesson can take more than a week; move on when the quick check on Day 5 is mostly “Got it.”