FirstieStart Curriculum

Have you found yourself that first month of first grade completely FRAZZLED!? You know your students need the basics {rhyming, single sounds, syllables, alphabet work, character education}, but you are spending hours hunting down engaging activities to teach the skills? FirstieStart has you covered and the best secret, it's absolutely NO PREP! The first grade version requires no laminating and no cutting! Win!

FirstieStart is a very versatile 4 week first grade starter curriculum created by a teacher for teachers! The program is designed to give first grade students a 4 week introduction to skills in the areas of phonemic awareness, phonics, oral listening, and character traits. You can find success in using this program in your whole-group instruction, intervention groups, RTI groups, guided reading, or as a resource for non certified staff members assisting in the classroom. The program is based upon a slotted thirty minutes of instruction. However, this too is versatile as you can limit or extend this time frame to best fit your classroom needs.

FirstieStart is broken down into four major areas: phonemic awareness, phonics, oral listening/storytelling, and character education. For the oral listening/storytelling the teacher will read an included daily script about the adventures of Sam and Sophia, twins that are starting first grade. The students will have an opportunity to listen as Sam and Sophia go on their daily adventures. Included in the lesson plans as well are daily follow-up questions. The students will respond to the story they had just heard. In the area of phonemic awareness the students will be introduced to the skills: rhyming {identifying and generating}, segmenting, blending, sound identification, and manipulating of sounds. The teacher will lead the students in a variety of activities each week to help build mastery in the skill. The lesson plans provide explicit instruction on what games to play and best of all the games all require NO PREP. The students will also have a phonics piece each week. They will work on a quick review of the entire alphabet included letter formation, letter sound, and daily quick practice sheet.

Keep in mind that all lessons can be adjusted to fit your needs. However, a sample whole-group FirstieStart lesson could look like this; students meet at the carpet, students listen to the Sam and Sophia read aloud story, teacher reads read aloud questions and students respond, teacher introduces phonemic awareness skill, students participate in a game/activity that matches the phonemic awareness skill, teacher introduces letter focus, students do a quick letter follow-up practice sheet.

You have so many great programs...how/when will YOU use this program?

This program is best used the first 4 weeks of school! You can use this during your intervention block or fill your entire small group/setting routines block.

What is included in FirstieStart?

FirstieStart is designed for a 4 week curriculum and contains 20 days of lesson plans. FirstieStart is not a full academic year of instruction because it is implied that FirstieStart would be solely used those first four weeks of school. FirstieStart would be paired wonderfully with Firstievention. Students would complete the FirstieStart program and then move onto Firstievention.

Skills Covered in FirstieStart

Week 1: Rhyming, Bravery, and Letters Aa-Ee

Week 2: Rhyming, Respect, and Letters Ff-Ll

Week 3: Segmenting, Responsibility, and Letters Mm-Rr

Week 4: Sound Manipulation, Perseverance, and Letters Ss-Zz

Please view the preview to see the sample lesson plans/materials!

*A neal font version of all the practice sheets is also included!

If you are a kindergarten teacher you can check out my KinderStart!

If you have any questions at all about this packet please email me at littlemindsatworkllc@gmail.com

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