Teaching an “Explicit Phonics” Lesson
It is important to follow steps in order and to complete the sequence from 1 to 4 for the best practice. The steps
move from a warm-up to practice to application.
1. Auditory Sounds Practice Warm-Up (2-3 minutes)
a. Begin with a Phonemic Awareness warm-up of phoneme blending, segmenting, substituting or
deleting specifically using the new sounds introduced/practiced in the decodable text.
b. Cards/Templates 5 and 6 may be used for this activity. Also, see the Phonological Awareness
Sequence for example activities.
2. Teach and Practice Sounds and/or Sound/Spelling (3-5 minutes)
a. Introduce and review sounds or sound/spellings
b. Card/template 2 may be used for single sounds (kindergarten)
c. Card/template 7 may be used for sound/spellings (first grade +)
3. Practice Blending (10 minutes)
a. Select the appropriate blending routine in the sequence below:
i. Continuous sound blending – used with single sounds by singing or holding out the sounds
for cvc and ccvc/cvcc words. Card/template 9 may be used. After students are fluent with
continuous sound and can apply to words independently, the bumpy smooth method can be
used - say each sound, them read the word.
ii. Sound by sound blending is introduced as students learn sound/spellings. This blending
routine is taught after students are fluent with continuous sound blending. This routine
may also be introduced as students are completing Continuous Sound blending.
Card/template 8 may be used.
iii. Word reading spelling focused – this blending routine is used after students are fluent with
sound by sound blending. Students will also use this blending routine with multisyllabic
words. Card/template 10 may be used.
4. Practice Reading Regular and Irregular Words (5 minutes)
a. Identify irregular words to be introduced and use the “Say it, Spell it, Say it” method of instruction.
Practice words by reading them within 1-3 seconds.
b. Identify regular words to be practiced and read them within 1-3 seconds. Correct with the
appropriate blending routine.
5. Apply to Decodable Text (10 minutes)
a. Read decodable text focusing first on accuracy and then fluency. The following Cards/templates
may be used:
i. Card 11/12 (kindergarten - 1st grade)
ii. Card 13/14 (1st grade – 2nd grade)
b. Read the decodable text 2-3 times
i. First time for accuracy as a group
ii. Second time for a accuracy/fluency as a group
iii. Third time for accuracy/fluency having students take turns reading individually.
c. Then read for fluency practice at the sound, word, phrase, or sentence level.
i. May use Lines of Practice.
ii. See “Procedures for Lines of Practice”.
6. Dictation/Spelling Application (10 minutes)
a. Dictation – not a spelling test, but a much scaffolded analysis of the spelling of a word using the
sound/spelling cards. Start with a sound analysis of the word and link sounds up with the visual
sound/spelling to encode the word.
b. See “Dictation Routines” for sounds, words, and sentences.
7. Word Work Application
a. Word work may include centers with related instructional activities, or practice book pages.
b. Centers should be differentiated to be appropriate for each small group’s instructional needs.
c. See the “Florida Reading First Student Centered Activities” on the Florida Reading First Website.